Last week, in my first newsletter article of the year, I noted the newness of the year and how it can quickly fade into feeling drab and common. Now that we are two weeks in, I hope your newness is lingering and that every day of 2026 is still an adventure. I also encouraged us all to regularly read 20 minutes of our Bibles and feed on the Sermon on the Mount in the book of Matthew, chapters 5, 6 and 7. In our Homerooms every Monday, we have been looking at the sermon that Jesus spoke on a hillside over 2000 years ago.
Jesus opens His sermon by giving the greatest key to living a flourishing life ever spoken or written. Jesus knows that created life is not a closed or isolated system. Our Year 11 and 12 students learn that closed and isolated systems function with very little interaction with an external supply. Our human bodies, and our whole beings, are not closed but open systems! This means we need supplies from outside ourselves. If we stop all external supply, all air, all food, all water, our lives will not last very long. It is the same with our spirits, and the first point Jesus makes in His sermon focuses directly on this truth.
Jesus makes the point, “Blessed are the poor in spirit…..”. This starting point is the beginning of true living. Poverty is when we don’t have a stockpile to draw on, and our existence depends on the daily supply. Knowing our spirit’s need for daily supply will direct all our energy to seek the supply we need for life. In Matthew 5:3, Jesus also says that He will supply the Kingdom of God to the poor in spirit.
I hope you can keep following our journey through the book of Matthew and let us all endeavour to read 20 minutes each day!
Peter Chase
College Chaplain • Pastoral Care
