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Issues from 1998
Issues from 1998
 
 
 
 

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What would Forbes think?

Rev Graham Bradbeer

I was at the MCG on Friday 3 August.

I was wearing blue but cheering for the boys in cardinal. As I made my way back to the bus after the complete overwhelming of the MGS team, I caught up with a Scotch teacher. A Grammar Old Boy, his shoulders were slightly hunched, and he seemed depressed. 'I went to MGS', he confided, 'but don't tell anyone.'

He had been cheering for the boys in cardinal, but hoping for a more equal outcome. I put myself in his shoes. How would I have felt if my team had only had three scoring shots in four quarters of football? I could begin to imagine how he felt, even understand why the Grammar crowd began to deplete at half time. There was a gulf between the performances of the two teams. Sure, their colors were different, but their feelings moved in the same spectrum. The human difference between them and us was small.

By way of contrast Israel was different, really different, from the other nations. Everything in Israel's national life proclaimed a God you couldn't see. God owned the land, not the people. They merely held it in trust.

There was no twenty-four hour shopping, and hardly space for a workaholic. They had to remember what slavery was like and have a day off every week.

One of the twelve tribes provided the priesthood. It was their job to help the people understand and approach God. Everything was identifiably clean or unclean. Forgiveness was necessary, and, like garbage disposal in every age, accompanied by costs, whether hidden or overt. Even Israel's food was different. We are not told why, but the detail in Leviticus II has made the chapter a happy hunting ground for cultural anthropologists for the last fifty years. And who hasn't enjoyed some of those lovely kosher specialties!

These features made tiny Israel glaringly distinct among the conquered in the vast empires of successive overlords. Eventually, after the death of Herod the Great, the Romans were forced to take direct control. During their administration Jesus of Nazareth was executed.

Based on all Israel held dear he had issued a call for radical love of God, and others for God's sake. He said 'Follow me.' Christians believe his death was more than just a miscarriage of justice. Difficult as it is they hold that it was part of a vast eternal plan.

In that plan the heart of Israel's God was revealed. His love reaches to all kinds of men and women. Making it known is the mission of the Christian church. As I watched Visions Through Time: A Coloured Perspective it was clear that Scotch College, like MGS, began as a tiny fragment of that Christian mission.

James Forbes (acted by Brendan Ferguson, the school captain) was portrayed as a man of evangelical passion, energy and breadth of vision. However, that was then, what of now? The end of the play presented us with the cardinal, gold and blue searching for their place on stage and asking what our history might mean? It is, after all, past. This is an important and searching question that invites reflection.

No matter how great the teams, how impressive the buildings, how beautiful the grounds, how brilliant the VCE results, how prestigious the Old Scotch Collegians, if Scotch exists for it own sake, its existence will be the merest blip on the seismograph of history. Like the man wrapped up in himself, it will make a very small package. If it exists to serve it will be an exception. It is this road less traveled that makes all the difference.

Jesus, 'who came not to be served but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many' called Forbes, to follow him. What about the boys in cardinal gold and blue?

Rev. Graham Bradbeer
Chaplain


Scotch College Prayer Breakfast

There is a beautiful moment that I look forward to each year at the Prayer Breakfast. It's when people pray at their breakfast tables. Slowly at first, and then with increasing confidence a hum of voices arises. It dawns on everyone that we have shared hopes, prayers and dreams that we want to bring to God.

Eventually, as the chaplain, I have to bring proceedings to a close. People lift up their heads looking refreshed. The old Negro spiritual says I'm going to lay down my heavy load, but few of us do. We often seek renewal where there is no spiritual water. Join the growing numbers from the Scotch Family who gather for spiritual refreshment at the Prayer Breakfast.

The annual Scotch Prayer Breakfast is scheduled for 7.15 am on November 23 2001 in the Cardinal Pavilion. The Principal, Dr Donaldson, will welcome participants to a hearty breakfast, Christian fellowship, and prayer. All members of the Scotch Family are warmly invited to attend. The cost is $25. Booking is essential. Phone Lynley Nimmo on 9810 4302 to book your place.

Updated: Monday 24 June 2013