This year, we have a Spring Service video made with the help of a number of our Class Seniors and Prefects. We also feature some of the beautiful flowers on our school grounds - do you have a favourite?

Today I’m going to start with something that is a little bit gross. It’s also something that gardeners might know about. I’m going to talk to you about compost.

In my house, food scraps, like fruit peel and tea leaves and bits of carrot, get put in the compost bin. Over time, they become this beautiful, rich, dark compost. There are even some little worms hiding in there. In springtime, I dig the compost into my garden and it makes the soil really fertile for me to grow veges and cherry tomatoes and strawberries and flowers.

The Bible talks about something kind of like this. It recognises that there are rotten and bad things in life. Things that are not good. Maybe like the way school was a bit strange sometimes this term, or we weren’t always able to play with our friends, or people being a bit grumpy. But God’s goodness and love are so powerful, that God can bring good even out of the rotten stuff, just like my flowers. There is a fancy word for this: ‘redemption’. God likes to redeem things that have gone wrong.

In spring, it is nice to think about all the new things that are living and growing. Psalm 98, which was read to us by some of our Class Seniors and after school helpers, celebrates God’s goodness and the way God wants to bring justice and rescue people. Penelope and Georgia, our Chapel Prefects, read us a passage about God creating new things and bringing life. We certainly see that in spring.

In the northern hemisphere, Easter is in spring. It’s a reminder of God’s redemptive power over the worst things in this world, even death. Jesus came back to life and offers to bring a new way of living and eternal life to us.

This term has been a bit strange, but we have the opportunity to join in with God’s redemptive purposes. We can check up on people. We can invite people to join us and form new friendships. And remember, God’s goodness is so powerful that God can bring good out of the difficult things in our lives.