Hope
The theme of the Y13 retreat was Hope; where do you find hope in the modern world; with the pictures presented to us across media platforms and in the news; where do we see positives?
Peter
The central theme for thinking about Hope was Peter. Peter’s story is one of transformation. Despite denying Jesus three times, he becomes a foundational leader of the early Church. Peter is reinstated and becomes “the rock on which [the] church is built”. He writes to condemned Christians and becomes “a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ”.
Through the example of Peter, we can look for and find hope all around us in the modern world, as exemplified by the Year 13 Students during this retreat as they found friendships in unknown places and discovered hope within their lives.
The parable of the mustard seed
We listened to the parable of the mustard seed, “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all your seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and perch in its branches.”
The students wrote and offered pledges, among which were:
“We wanted to focus on discrimination and reducing this will involve everyone. Everyone will do this by informing and educating people about discrimination and how it can affect others.”
“We choose those not as fortunate and homophobia. We choose this theme as it is an issue globally… We are privileged in our position we will involve ourselves and hopefully those around us…”
“I remember how fortunate we are… we want to raise money by bringing £2 to school. We’re doing this because we’ve noticed a high level of animal cruelty and local area.”
“We focused on discrimination, because it is normalised and in seen in schools and everyday life.”
Reflection - student reactions to the trip
During other parts of the retreat, students said:
“This has been the best two days of my life.”
“I’ve never made a cup of coffee before.”
“It was really inspiring.”
“Capture the flag was the best!”
“It was helpful for having a different perspective on things to give us hope.”
“It was very good – we learned how to understand the parable of the mustard seed.”
“We all grew closer and got to mix outside of our friendship circles.”
