Sermon for Dauntsey's School Leavers
All Saints' Parish Church
3rd July 2010
Revd David Johnson
What comparisons might we make with Dauntsey’s school leavers and the England world cup football team?
Certainly, they are both talented groups of unique individuals, but Dauntsey’s sixth form are a better example of what it means to work and play together; as well as having the ability to achieve good results.
This is not the occasion to bemoan England’s disastrous exit from the world cup, not least if you are one of our German students. But this has been a week of inescapable reflections and I will try to get them over with quite quickly.
The first lesson is that it is not enough in the world to simply be a gifted or talented individual; we need to be able to work together and to communicate effectively with one another. We need to able to be give the best of ourselves in more than just our one preferred team; and not just expect everything to be to our personal preference before we show all of which we are capable. We need to be motivated to give of our best even faced with injustices and difficulties. Finally, I hope that if we ever achieve results less than we might expect – or in England’s case (I hope not yours!) disastrous results – we might be willing to take responsibility for our own part in this; not always look for someone else to take the blame.
I know that what you take from Dauntsey’s will be more than the results you achieve in the summer. What you take from Dauntsey’s is the person that you are. That is very much defined by experiences and friendships as well as the ideas in your head. It is an immense sense of pride, especially for your house staff, but for all of us as well, to know that we have played some part in the process of the good people you have become. That is the immense joy and privilege of the teaching vocation we follow.
Especially in the sixth form we get to know some of you so much better, and perhaps you also get to know us more as people who are sharing in your education rather than dictating your learning to you. That change in relationship, is something that is echoed in the first reading I chose for this morning. Jesus, in his farewell words, calls the disciples ‘friends’ and does not simply define them by their obedience to him. The value of life is in friendship and doing good things of love. That is the relationship with God I would want for you: not blind faith, fear or unquestioning obedience, but a sense of finding our true selves to be in accordance with what God already wants for us.
Jesus said:
‘This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you.
I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father.
You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.’
(John 15)
Rather than fighting and looking for the reasons and arguments against certain stereotypes of religion, I hope we can all come to a point of peace and purpose in our lives when we realise that the flourishing of humanity has always been the intention of good religion. I hope that you may look back on your times as a community in chapel together, or even just here in this church, as being something good from your years at Dauntsey’s. I hope that you may find occasions for times of prayer, of stillness or of silence. I hope that you may find yourselves from time to time in a college chapel, the relative stillness of a city centre church or the perfect peace of a quiet church in the countryside.
Sometimes it is only when we are still that we can find ourselves. Strangely, we are sometimes only still at times of transition or change or even a time of sadness. Perhaps being here this morning, and certainly as the day continues, there is a sense that today is the end of something special. It is a day of goodbyes: a difficult day for all of us. It is part of the reality of life that saying goodbye is part of the process of opening up the possibilities that lie ahead.
No-one feels that immense tension more today than you. There is excitement for the future: university, gap year, work and responsibilities. In looking forward to the rest of life it is right that you feel an impatience and a readiness to be getting on with things. If you were not excited about these things and could not bear to leave, then the school would not have done part of our work in preparing you for the rest of life. And yet it is also very hard to be saying lots of goodbyes.
In the years ahead it is an understatement to say that life will become more complicated, and so treasuring the memories and friends and the pattern of these last years will be precious resources to carry you into the years ahead. Those of you going on to university will have the immense privilege of three more years of concentrated study. It may be that you appreciate this opportunity all the more after a gap year away from education. But, just as you look back with thankfulness upon these years here, so these next years – and, I hope, the whole of life – will also be a time of growing. Work hard, study enthusiastically, think deeply, be aware, strive always to be the best you can. It is the goodness of your character that ultimately defines who you are.
With this in mind, there is one final reflection on England’s defeat last week that comes from an article by the modern philosopher and ethicist Peter Singer. Whilst everyone is complaining about the match officials not seeing Lampard’s shot bouncing over the goal line and proposing yet more technology, such as that in tennis or cricket, to signal such a thing happening, there is a bigger issue at stake. One person, more than anyone else on the pitch, saw what happened and Manuel Neuer the goalkeeper, in a split second made the decision to “carry on so quickly [that it] fooled the referee into thinking it was not over”. Those are his own words. Right and wrong, as I have said to you many times before, can too easily be re-defined by whether or not you get caught. That is not how it should be.
There may be in your lives the temptation, the culture of those around you, or perhaps even the demand of those above you, to break the rules; to do what you know to be wrong. You may even be convinced that you can get away with it. Regardless of what the eventual result of the match would have been, think about the statement of goodness and values that would have been conveyed by Neuer admitting that it had been a goal? Look up the Australian cricketer Adam Gilchrist and the moral example he seeks to provide by his honesty in admitting that he is out, regardless of whether or not the umpire has seen or heard that he might have edged the ball before being caught.
I hope that what you have gained from Dauntsey’s is the experience of a community in which honesty, friendship and integrity have been expressed at the heart of what we have stood for: from sports matches, to dramatic and musical productions, to the routine of day to day work and simply the times of being together.
From the school, as well as from your families and each other, you have gained so much, and become people of far too much value to ever let go of your integrity. Your integrity is the most valuable thing you have.
And as a final inspiration I would ask you to take away the orders of service from today, and look again at the second reading from time to time. It is, for many people, a magnificent statement of what a human being can be.
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God — what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honour.
Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord.
Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer.
Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers.
Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.
Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.
Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are.
Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all.
If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.
(Romans 12)
There are many reflections of St. Paul’s words already in the people whom you are. But remember that with regard to learning and character, all of us are work in progress. Life will bring many opportunities to test us and to build us up.
And so finally, today is made all the harder by many of us having been to St. Mary’s church in Marlborough yesterday for the funeral service of Lizzie MacGeagh. It was a celebration of the life of much loved member of the school, whose memory will always be strong in all those who knew her.
It was a reminder that whatever happens in life or in death, there is something in the nature of the love of God that defines us and connects us within this life and beyond.
You will always be part of Dauntsey’s and I hope that remembering this will inspire you for years to come. You will be in the thoughts and prayers of us all; and we wish you success and joy at the heart of who you become, and in all you do.
The Revd David Johnson
Dauntsey’s School Chaplain
July 2010
Web links:
To article in The Times on Adam Gilchrist follow: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/cricket/article6565043.ece
To article in The Guardian by Peter Singer follow: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jun/29/cheating-football-germany-goalkeeper
