Happy Birthday LCS!

Today we celebrate our 84 years since the refoundation of our school in 1942. Foundation Day is a cause for great celebration here in School and it's not lost on us that the refounding of a school during a world war was an audacious endeavour. Our day traditionally starts with a popular cooked breakfast prior to our service of rededication in the cathedral. We are provided with the opportunity to give thanks for the year we have shared and for those who have supported the School in a variety of ways since its origins as a song school.

The bible reading each year is the story of Jacob’s Ladder. It paints a clear picture of Jacob setting down for the night in a chosen place and seeing in his dreams a ladder from earth to heaven, with many angels going up and down. He then sees the Lord who tells him that he and all peoples shall be blessed. The Lord also promises that he will always be with Jacob and will deliver him home.

When he wakes Jacob is struck with the realisation that the place that he has chosen to set down and rest is exactly the place where he was meant to be, a holy place, or as he puts it ‘How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven’. Jacob’s vision has great relevance to us today, not least because it was meant to teach him, and is meant to teach us, the nearness of God, and how easily we can communicate with him.

The landscape where Jacob sets down does not seem special in any way and does not suggest the presence of God. It is night time, he is using a stone as a pillow and yet something fabulous happens. He realises that this place, this barren, rocky, nondescript place is very special indeed. Once upon a time there was no cathedral here in Lichfield, once upon a time, there was no Cathedral School here either, and yet again we are celebrating a significant anniversary in its existence. The School and the Cathedral are both special places. Like Jacob felt thankful, we too have so much to be thankful for – our friends; the learning and wisdom given to us every day; our shared experiences; sense of community and opportunity to be true to ourselves (to do what is right because we know it to be so); to be a rich community of vibrant individuals with potential brimming over in all directions; to be welcomed regularly here in this Cathedral, this blessed place.

As we celebrate 84 years since our refounding, we need to be grateful for our firm foundations and optimistic about the opportunities ahead and, as Jacob noted, that we are 'exactly where we are meant to be'.

So, Happy Birthday LCS!

Inservi Deo et laetare