ASSEMBLY - THE QUIRE

On Monday of this week under the direction of Mrs Jackson, and accompanied by Mr Puranik, students were treated to a performance by the Quire who sang Seal Lullaby by Eric Whitacre and What is this feeling? from Wicked: The Musical.

ACT OF WORSHIP – MIRACLES NOT MAGIC

Didi O-S (12S) read from the Book of Acts, chapter 9, verse 36 to the end after which Reverend Kate told us that the first public words of Pope Leo XIV were a greeting familiar to us in Chapel: ‘Peace be with all of you’ he said to the people of the world. Before thanking the cardinals for choosing him, Pope Leo said ‘we are all in the hands of God’.
Reverend Kate said that as well as being Head of the Catholic Church, every Pope is the Bishop of Rome and ‘Peter’s Successor’; the successor to the Apostle, one of Jesus’ original twelve disciples, and the same Peter named in our Bible reading this morning. The same Peter called to ‘come ……without delay’ to where Tabitha lay dead, surrounded by grieving widows; the same Peter who instructed Tabitha to ‘get up’ - upon which she opened her eyes and seeing Peter did just that.

Reverend Kate reminded us that Peter was one of Jesus’ closest disciples and was appointed by Christ himself who said to him: ‘You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church….’ (Matthew 16:18).

In his first speech, Pope Leo said that the Catholic church wants ‘to ….. always seek charity, ……and be close to those who suffer’; words which may well have been uttered by Tabitha who was devoted to good works.

Reverend Kate said that there is something beautifully simple in the telling of Peter bringing Tabitha back to life; however, some scholars think the story lacks a ‘theological message’ because while we learn that people hear of Tabitha’s return to life and believe, we are not told what they believe.

Reverend Kate said that she believes this miracle illustrates that, to borrow Pope Leo’s expression, ‘we are all in the hands of God’ but then asked us what we believe when we hear that Tabitha was brought back to life, not by Jesus, but by a disciple, an ordinary human being like her and us?

Reverend Kate said that miracles may be difficult for us to comprehend. While a miracle is an act of God, performed through Jesus, the apostles or believers by the power of the Holy Spirit, in faith; first-century magic, by contrast, was a human attempt to control spiritual forces or outcomes. In the New Testament, magic is recognised as real and spiritually dangerous.

Whatever our thoughts about magic and miracles, Reverend Kate said that Tabitha being raised from the dead challenges our assumptions that the situations in which we find ourselves are beyond God’s reach and favour.

In Acts Chapter 3, Peter heals a lame man and in a subsequent sermon offers the sort of theological explanation missing from Tabitha’s story. Peter preaches that this miracle was not performed by the Apostles in their own power as human beings, but by the power of ‘the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the name of the crucified Jesus Christ’ (Acts 3:13-16); as such, Peter makes it clear that ‘Christians are able to restore things not through magic but as agents of God’s miracles’.

So, Reverend Kate said, let’s not leave Chapel today thinking that miracles belong only to the past or only to the hands of saints long gone. If we, like Peter, live in a close relationship with Christ – through prayer, acts of charity, openness to the Holy Spirit and confidence in the power of our faith – then we too can be people of restoration in a world that often believes nothing broken can be made whole again.

Reverend Kate prayed:

God of Love,
We thank you for the example of Peter and Tabitha,
for faith that restores.
Help us to trust that we are truly in your hands,
even when life feels broken beyond repair.
Strengthen our relationship with you and grant us the courage to live as agents of your miracles.
Amen.