On this particular Sunday, many churches share a prayer that draws from Thomas Cranmer’s preface to the 1549 Book of Common Prayer: that people should “hear, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest” the Bible. The last bit is key – the point is not only to listen to, read, memorise, analyse the words in the Bible, but to think on them and reflect deeply on the messages they convey. This prayer moves swiftly from head knowledge (texts in the Bible) to heart knowledge (wisdom).

We ask something similar of the curriculum you deliver in your schools: that pupils should not simply know more and remember more, but be able to engage deeply with their learning so that they are able to make wise choices in their own lives. At the heart of this is both imagination and faith. Christians see the world and engage in it as it really is, but through deep reflection, they are able to imagine ways in which it could be better and they have faith that, with God’s support, they can bring about something of these changes.

This time is a time of transformation for Christians.  It is a time in which the whole of creation holds its breath and waits with faith for the child who gifts those around him with the imagination to see how the world could be other than it is. We know that this is your work too: you see things as they really are – the good and the bad, - and imagine how they could be better. We are in awe of the ways in which your faith in that better future is transformational for the adults and children in your care. We wish you a smooth and peaceful week, and joyful anticipation for the events to come in the last few weeks of term.

from Gillian Georgiou, RE & SIAMS Advisor