This term in Primary Chapel, our theme has been hope, and I’ve had the privilege of sharing with students about trust, help, and hope. This week, I was especially blessed to speak at the Chapel service, a true highlight of my role, and to worship alongside our primary students in this special time together.

Hope is a word that carries multiple layers of meaning. It is often defined as a feeling of expectation and a desire for a particular outcome. For example, as a PE teacher and a sports enthusiast, I hope that in 2025, the Parramatta Eels will win the NRL premiership, Arsenal will take home the Premier League title, and the Sydney Swans will secure the AFL flag. While I would love to see these things happen, I probably shouldn’t have an expectation or complete trust that they will.

Beyond being a feeling of expectation and desire, a deeper meaning of hope is closely linked to trust. Hope can be both the expectation of something and the confidence that it will come to pass. It is this trust element that deepens and enriches hope, making it something truly special. However, putting our trust and hope in the wrong things can lead to disappointment (as my sports teams have certainly taught me over the years!). On the other hand, placing our hope and trust in the right things can strengthen and inspire us.

Here at Green Point Christian College, we strive to help students place their hope in something eternal and truly trustworthy. We encourage them to put their hope in our sovereign Creator God and His Son, Jesus. We do this because, as Paul shares in Colossians 1:

"The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross."

Jesus’ past actions on earth reveal His trustworthiness, and for that reason, He is so worthy, He is the one in whom we can place our hope. He is the only one in the universe who will never disappoint us.

I pray that all of us at Green Point Christian College will continue to place our hope ultimately in Jesus.

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Joel van Bentum