For use in councils/boards of schools who value or connect to the characteristics of the Uniting Church (or are just exploring them). It may take you about five minutes to read aloud at the start of a meeting. There is a video version of this reflection located at the bottom of this page.
Chair’s introduction (optional script)
“As part of our meetings this year, we’re taking a few minutes at the start to pause with a short reflection. It’s not a sermon or a lecture, just a chance to notice a story or idea and see what it might open up for us as a board. The goal isn’t to answer big questions on the spot, but to give us some shared grounding before we dive into the business.”
Why this reflection?
Every institution, no matter how purposeful, faces the quiet temptation to protect itself first. Processes harden, traditions become rules, and we start measuring success by continuity rather than vitality. These reflections are a small way to remember that good governance isn’t just about keeping the system running; it’s about keeping it alive.
What’s the story this month (one that many Uniting Church communities of faith are hearing)?
The Biblical reading Luke 20:27-38 tells of a group of religious leaders, the Sadducees, who question Jesus about resurrection. They pose a clever, almost legal riddle meant to trap him in logic. Jesus answers that their question misses the point: God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. In other words, the sacred isn’t frozen in past arrangements, it moves, breathes, and keeps renewing.
It’s a sharp story for any organisation that risks valuing order more than life.
Where else this idea shows up
The call to keep institutions ‘alive’ runs deep across traditions.
- In Judaism, the Torah isn’t a static rulebook but a living conversation across generations, each interpretation adding to the dialogue rather than closing it.
- In Taoism, harmony is found not by holding rigidly to form but by moving with the flow of life; the strongest tree bends.
- In Humanism, ethical purpose is found in how we treat one another here and now, in our capacity to build just systems that nurture life, not control it.
Across traditions, wisdom lies in keeping the spirit of something alive rather than enshrining its structure.
What this might mean for school boards
School boards hold enormous responsibility, not just for what a school does, but for what it becomes. When governance is at its best, it creates structures that serve life: curiosity, fairness, growth, belonging. When it drifts, it can start serving its own comfort or preservation instead.
Two Uniting Church characteristics resonate here
- Engaging with First Peoples – Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander philosophies remind us that law is living, carried in relationship and story, not locked in documents. Governance that listens deeply and honours connection keeps communities alive.
- Justice for all peoples and the environment – True justice doesn’t fossilise; it adapts to changing realities while holding steady to compassion and fairness. Boards that embody this create conditions for life to flourish in all its forms.
These characteristics invite us to build systems that don’t just endure, but evolve.
A few questions to sit with. Not for immediate answers, but perhaps to let hover around the edges of this meeting
- How can our governance stay responsive to life rather than rigid around structure?
- What might ‘living justice’ look like in our decisions this month?
- Where in our school might rules or habits be doing the opposite of what they were first intended to achieve?
