From the Chaplain - Edition 2 - 2020

In Chapel this past week we have been reflecting on one of the founding tenets of the Uniting Church, in church-speak, ‘the ministry of the laity’, sometimes also described as ‘the priesthood of all believers’. What this means is that the ‘work’ of the church is not what its clergy do, but the sum total of that done by all its people. Every act of kindness offered, every goodness given, every word of encouragement spoken – even unacknowledged - is expression of being Uniting Church. And we at Westminster count in that.

So Chapel has taken up this theme. Not in those words, however. Our 2020 focus in the school community is on being ‘useful’ as a goal to which we all reach. The Uniting Church calls this ‘service’, and has its own strong emphasis on practical, giving acts; a helping hand, a gesture of support, a caring call. Our shared understanding is that God gives that we might give. Blessings are made ‘active’ by looking to the needs of others. Or as a keynote phrase in Uniting Church captures it from the letter to the Corinthians, “All are gifted, and there is no gift without its corresponding service”.

With thanks,

Rev Phil Hoffmann
Chaplain