Why does the church think our partnership with Burnside Primary School is important
by Christine Arnold
God calls us to act out our faith.
The prophet Amos preached to people in the northern kingdom of Israel. It was a time of great prosperity, religious piety, and apparent security. But Amos saw that prosperity was limited to the wealthy and that it fed on injustice and oppression of the poor. Religious observance was insincere. Amos 5 is a call to the people to repent. Verse 15 says “Hate evil and love good, then work it out in the public square.” The issue of wealth and poverty is not new. It has been around for centuries. It is the issue of who has access to resources and how they are used. Where is our public square? I would say that it is in the community we live, serve, and work in.
The centre of most communities is the school. I grew up in a rural district, which I visited a fortnight ago. The centre of the district was the church, which is no longer there, the school, and the hall. There were no shops. The Village at Bryndwr has Burnside Primary School just along the road from it. So, we have focussed some of our parish outreach to this school as a gathering place in our community. The school has children from different backgrounds attending it. Some are from well-off families; some are from less well-off families. Approximately a quarter of the Burnside Primary zone is classified as the most deprived households in the country. Amos is speaking into this environment. He asks for justice and fairness. The people’s religious practices need to bring this to the community. Thus, we are called to act out our faith in the community. We are doing this with the support we offer Burnside Primary.
In the Mark readings, we have the disciples speaking sternly to people bringing children to Jesus. But Jesus says, “let the child come to me for the kingdom of God belongs to them.” Jesus understood that a child was open to faith and a relationship with God. There is an importance in teaching children this as they hold this with them as they grow up. The government sees this as important too by the amount of money they put into education and child welfare, even if we think it is not enough.
The disciples argue about who is the greatest. Jesus takes a child and says, “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.” At Burnside Primary we are welcoming children by providing warm clothes and quilts and helping them learn to read. Through these things, we are bringing God’s love into their lives. We are recognising their need and that they are important as individuals. They are shown that they are loved, valued, and appreciated.
Think of how they feel when they have a warm pair of socks or can cuddle
into a colourful quilt or read a book themselves. They take this feeling with them through the day and home to their families. We are not only affecting the lives of these children but also that of their families. There is a ripple effect through the community and through the rest of their lives.
That is God’s love spread by his Spirit through us. Why do we do this? Because God calls us to use the talents and skills he has given us. We are not to hide our light under a bowl, we need to let it shine so that it lights up the lives of others. We don’t all have the skills to help with reading, sew quilts, or knit socks, but as a community, we can bring these things to the children of Burnside Primary School. Our parish profile which we adopted last week states that “we want to convey the openness of God’s love and that there is space for all people.” Our work with Burnside Primary School and other community groups is doing this. As Josh said last week, we are spreading Shalom.