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Good morning. In towns and cities all over the UK, college and university campuses are springing back into life. This is the start of Freshers' Week for many - or the middle of Freshers’ Fortnight, as it has become in my home city of Cardiff. My student days are long past, but I’ve been part of that ritual twice since then - as a parent, saying good bye to my own 18 year olds, and as a university chaplain, part of the team ready to welcome students into their new life. 

As a mum, I worried about things like whether they’d eat properly; only half joking when I said I’d be Skyping them at meal times to make sure there were green vegetables on their plates!  But as a chaplain, there was a much bigger range of eventualities which I wanted to help the young people face. Many of them would be making decisions for the first time on their own about their learning, their friendships and ultimately their future. 

For some, choosing the things that really mattered to them would involve the explicitly spiritual: finding a place to worship, a group of people with whom to pray. For the many who hadn’t seen that as an option in their lives, the university chaplaincy would be there as a safe space to share things that challenged or troubled them. 

Being part of the student community isn’t a distraction from the learning experience; it can be integral to it. The Christian Faith has a long tradition of shared life and learning, going all the way back to Jesus himself. He asked his followers to leave their old life and travel with him. He called them ‘disciples’, a word that means pupil or apprentice. The name says it all. Those who follow Jesus are encouraged to become life-long learners sharing the journey of faith.

Loving God, bless all who make a new beginning this day, that they may seek truth, discover wisdom and learn to rejoice in all that is good. Amen.