Reflections for Choral Evensong on the Occasion of the 100th Anniversary of the King’s-Edgehill School Cadet Corps
I.
Words written on the wall. As we came into Christ Church we passed under the arch of the swords of the honour guard. But we also passed under these words, “Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God.” None of us read these words, probably because we were watching our feet! We are probably not the only ones who missed those words! What do they mean?
The words are taken from the Book of Ecclesiastes, the most philosophical book of the Jewish Scriptures. The passage goes on to exhort us to “be more ready to hear, than to give the sacrifice of fools.” In other words, these words speak to our life as a School and a Cadet Corps. They mean, quite simply, “pay attention,” or, as Major Miles often says, “Listen up, youse guys!”
II.
Tonight we celebrate 100 years of the Cadet Programme at King’s-Edgehill School. The connection between the school and the military, of course, is much older. The commitment to leadership and public service is part of the educational project of the school. For over two hundred years, students from King’s have served in many of the great military contests throughout the world: in the wars of the Napoleonic era; in the battles of the rise and fall of the British Empire; and in the devastating wars of the twentieth century. The grandson of the Founder of our School, Sir John Inglis, for instance, was the hero of Lucknow, a battle fought in India, in 1858. The events of our past are inescapably part of our identity.
III.
We have just marched through the town of Windsor. Rather than going madly off in all directions, each one of us has had to learn how to pay attention to one another and to a common purpose, marching to the beat, not just of one band but of two: our own King’s-Edgehill Cadet Corps band and the Black Watch Cadet Pipe and Drum Corps Band from Montreal who have joined us for this special occasion. We are honoured to have you with us this weekend.
Isaiah, in the lesson which Ciaran read, speaks about the divine purpose which gives meaning and joy to creation and human lives. Through the discipline of learning, there is the joy of accomplishment. Who could ever have imagined how hard it is to keep one foot in front of another while keeping time and step with 600 other feet?
IV.
Learning is about paying attention. Leadership is about recognising thought in others, as William Golding suggests in Lord of the Flies. This weekend we salute the leadership of Major Miles and the teaching of Mr. Guy Payne, our own Mr. Chips. Their long-standing commitment and compassion for us, the students of King’s-Edgehill, is simply outstanding. We have, perhaps, learned more than we realise. Their lessons will live on in our lives; their legacy, long-lasting.
Even as students of the school in the past have gone forth into all the corners of the world, so, too, we now come from all the corners of the world. We are a microcosm of the global world and are engaged in learning the lessons of toleration and forbearance, of dignity and respect, of compassion and care through the ideals and principles that our teachers and coaches, our Headmaster and Major, our Chaplain and House-Parents have set before us. Our challenge is to learn and to be leaders ourselves – in Cadets, in Chapel, in Athletics, in Residence, in Theatre, in Academics, and in life.
It has been a year of learning and leadership with the reintroduction of the Duke of Edinburgh programme at the school; and it has been a year of commitment and compassion with outreach to the hospital and the local nursing homes and through the reading buddies and tutoring programmes to other schools in the community. There was the outreach to students in Poland who struggle with terminal illnesses. In such things we learn to reach beyond ourselves and to give something of ourselves. That we may learn from this strengthens us all the more.
V.
In the golden glow of Canada’s Olympic year, there have been outstanding athletic endeavours and achievements and moments of great poignancy and joy, such as Mallory Sanford and Charbel Rouhana carrying the Olympic torch through the town of Windsor on its westward way to Vancouver.
We have known the agony and the ecstasy of victory and defeat, moments that are forever bittersweet and others that are sheer joy, and in a wide range of competitive and recreational sports, both team and individual. And yes, real progress by our headmaster in his pursuit of being the pumpkin king of Windsor, coming in a close second in this year’s pumpkin regatta. O, the agony and the ecstasy! Olé!
VI.
The hills of Windsor and the halls of King’s-Edgehill have been alive with the sound of music, both literally and metaphorically, with the outstanding productions of musicals, like Rent and The Sound of Music, and lots and lots of singing with choir, lots and lots of instrumental performances by our bands, lots and lots of dancing and several wonderful concerts.
Our musicians and thespians have learned from excursions to such places as New York, performing splendidly and taking in theatrical and musical extravaganzas such as “Wicked”. How wicked is that!
VII.
Learning and leadership belong to the academic life of a School. They happen in the classroom and in the intense exchange of ideas that belong to what Plato calls the eros or the passionate desire to know. They carry over into debating and public speaking, and into the Call to Remembrance programme, in spelling bees and math and chemistry competitions, in Science Fairs, in University lectures and trips.
Our International Baccalaureate Diploma students have provided inspiration and academic leadership and we wish them, and all who are about to write IB exams next week, all the best. “Words”, after all, as Margaret Laurence has Morag imagine in her novel, The Diviners, can “do anything. Magic. Sorcery. Even miracle. But … only occasionally”. That “occasionally” is sometimes everything. May words work magic for you in the next two weeks!
In the lesson which Victoria read, heaven, itself an image of the best and greatest thing that we can imagine and yet is beyond imagination, is pictured as a city in which there is a garden in its midst and where sorrow and pain are no more but only joy. The image suggests the perfect unity of city and country, the harmony of urban and rural, the unity of our humanity and nature in God.
It speaks to our concern for the environment and for our responsible use of creation, the very things which underlie the Green Team initiatives in the School. What have they been all about? Simply this: learning how to take responsible leadership with respect to wherever we are.
Moral and ethical principles are essential features of learning and leadership. They are our challenges.
Our School is on Parade tonight. It is the parade of learning and leadership by which we hope to march into a life of service and commitment to our world and day.
We are bidden by the wise philosopher to “keep [your] foot when [you go] to the House of God”; only so, will we become learners and leaders wherever we go.
(Read by Beka B., Alex W., Francis L., Ciaran D., Victoria D., Hannah B., Janis M., Laura S., Frederico C., & Kerri B. at Choral Evensong, April 30th, 2010 on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the King’s-Edgehill School Cadet Corps, held at Christ Church, Windsor, Nova Scotia.)
(Rev’d) David Curry