Dear Friends & Colleagues - 

In church this week, the Bible readings explored the idea of faith – the faith of the bleeding woman who touched the hem of Jesus’ clothes (Matthew 9.21), the faith St Paul talks about in his letter to the Romans (Romans 4), the faith of the father whose daughter had just died (Matthew 9.18).

I find faith a tricky concept. Too often, people talk about faith as though it were a fixed and immovable entity – once you have it, that’s it, everything will be fine. My own experience is a little different: for me, faith is something that is always on the move, like the tides of the sea. Sometimes it feels a little easier, sometimes a little harder.

In many Christian writings, faith is inextricably linked with hope – a confidence in the things that are not yet, a trust in what is unseen. However, I’m not sure faith and hope are necessarily the same thing. The great American poet, Mary Oliver, puts it like this:

“I would speak here of the darkness of the world, and the light of———. But I don’t know what to call it. Maybe hope. Maybe faith, but not a shaped faith—only, say, a gesture, or a continuum of gestures. But probably it is closer to hope, that is more active, and far messier than faith must be. Faith, as I imagine it, is tensile, and cool, and has no need of words. Hope, I know, is a fighter and a screamer.”

As I visit many of our schools this term, I realise how much fighting and screaming is going on – fighting for the resources and support to enable every pupil to access school and flourish, screaming about the increasing challenges faced by school leaders and staff. I try hard to focus on the hope that lies in the depths of this fighting and screaming: a hope that things can be other than they are, and that continued advocacy and collaboration will lead to smoother paths for everyone.

Rooted in our vision to CARE, we are alongside you in this messy, active pursuit of the flourishing of all. We hold you in our thoughts every day and we are always here for you when solutions feel far off. Thank you for everything you do, day in and day out, to give hope a chance to bloom.

from Gillian Georgiou, RE & SIAMS Advisor