International Week Closing
The Closing International Week Chapel service was Multi-Faith. Students said prayers and readings from many different faiths and in many different languages. We heard a beautiful, ancient Chinese harp and one of our staff children lit a traditional Advent candle. Mr. Holland’s sermon spoke of the importance of our diversity and he ended it thusly:
“In the short time I have been at Shawnigan we have had many important moments together, many of them in this chapel, but I have never experienced a sense of community more than at last night’s International Week Stage Show. Last night we laughed together, our jaws dropped together, and we sat in awe together at the talent, the beauty and the diversity of our little microcosm of the world. What an irony really; the night that we all strut our differences, is the night that we are most one. I think the question of why should we bother with our past was answered on that stage last night and I hope in this chapel this morning. A world without traditional dance and song and a world without the Bible, the Koran, the Gita, would be a grim place indeed. I am thankful to be part of this community where that is not the case.”
After Chapel, the Shawnigan Concert Band played in Marion Hall and the School thanks them for their amazing music.
Jenny Ferris, thank you for orchestrating International Week and giving us so much to be proud of and so many wonderful memories.
Photos by Stephen Lane