Scotch College

'God of concrete, God of steel'

Graham Bradbeer

Set out below is the address given by the School Chaplain at the opening of Stage II of the James Forbes Academy on 10 February 2005:

In December I visited the late Campbell McComas in hospital. Thinking of a chaplain’s role in tonight’s events he directed me to, and even had a nurse photocopy for me, a speech delivered at the opening of another auspicious building in 1988.

Bob Hawke began that speech with these words: ‘At a time like this each one of us will have some thoughts of the ghosts or spirits of the past’, and concluded by alluding to a time ‘when we are all long gone’.

Taking my cue from these and other elements of that speech I have shaped the following prayer, to which I hope we shall each be able to add our own ‘Amen’.

And so, let us unite our hearts in prayer;

Almighty God, conscious of our transience in the presence of steel and concrete, we, who are but dust and ashes, bow before you tonight with reverence and awe.

To us at times it seems that ‘all the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players’; we have our ‘exits and our entrances’.

Yet, like James Forbes, we know O God that you are from everlasting to everlasting; to you a thousand years is like a single day. We look to you for a foundation on which to build, for a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens, for that city whose builder and maker is God. Our hearts are glad that the great drama of redemption unfolds your pledged love to the human family.

• Glad that Abraham saw this while it was yet afar off
• Glad that Moses made clear our obligation to love you and one another wholeheartedly
• Glad that you delighted in the music and the songs which David offered in your praise, and
• Glad that the prophets dramatically communicated to their generation your call to faith-filled living.

In particular we rejoice that in Jesus you have fully revealed your willingness to be with us and for us; to restore and embrace us as your children.

Accept us now, O God, and have mercy on us.

In the future, boys may wonder, ‘what was on their minds on that momentous evening at Scotch?’ May they discover our gratitude and our hopes for this great and imaginative building. Our gratitude

• for those seers who envisioned the potential of boys with ever more highly developed skills in music, drama and the spoken word.\
• for those in the School Council who nurtured and developed a plan to achieve this lofty vision
• for those within the Scotch Foundation and in the wider community who contributed energy, enthusiasm and money to transform ideas and plans into drawings, inventories and, finally, structures
• for those whose labour of mind and whose physical toil drew, then constructed this building; every line, every space, every tile, every switch

When, like Macbeth, we struggle with the meaning of life’s drama, when it seems ‘full of sound and fury, signifying nothing’, our hope is that boys tutored in this beautiful facility will remain mindful

• that their skills of music and song can contribute to that great chorus of Hallelujahs which will yet encircle the earth
• that their dramatic skills can engage empathetically and speak powerful truths to their own generation
• that their abilities, in all aspect of spoken communication, may become so vibrant and persuasive that many will be surprised by joy
• that their part in your great drama is to embody faith, hope and love in preparation for your opening night

And so, O Lord, as we ask your blessing on all who teach and learn within this building, it is to these great ends that we do we dedicate the James Forbes Academy of Music, Drama and Communication.
Amen.

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10th Anniversary Prayer Breakfast

The tenth Anniversary Prayer Breakfast was held in the Cardinal Pavilion on Friday, 18 March. A variety of members of the Scotch Family came together to listen to current parent Anthony Starkins (pictured below with School Chaplain Graham Bradbeer) discuss his faith and the importance that God has played in his life. Jonathan Green (Yr 12) talked about his experiences at the Crossing Melbourne convention and Graham Bradbeer then led a session of prayer and reflection.

Graham Bradbeer
Chaplain