"Books to the ceiling, books to the sky, my pile of books are a mile high. How I love them! How I need them! I'll have a long beard by the time I read them" (Arnold Lobel, American Author)This describes the scene in our library as this week we received the perfect Christmas gift from a gracious friend - around 500 new books! We instill in our children the importance of reading yet it is perhaps a bit of a lost art among some adults. Many of us live in an instant access throwaway culture where we are bombarded by vast amounts of information through a variety of media. However, there is something about a book which invites you beyond its surface cover to savour its pages and dwell on thoughts, thus allowing time and space to absorb and assimilate ideas and form convictions which is essential to the learning process. We all need to cultivate the discipline of reading which enriches our thoughts and awakens our imaginations.
As we near the end of one decade and anticipate the next, our recent acquisition has caused me to reflect on how the college has grown and developed since we moved to Oxford at the beginning of the new Millennium. I remember the days when the entire contents of our library fitted into a cupboard sized room which formed part of our make-shift premises located above a car-rental firm. This lack of space certainly facilitated a 'close reading of the text' ... humble beginnings indeed!
As we enter a new decade we find ourselves at a key moment in the life of the College as we cross into new territory. Such moments of transition bring things into sharp focus as we gaze intently upon that which is important and of eternal value and that which is less so fades into the background. It is during these times that we discover who we really are and what we are really living for. I'm grateful for the seed of faith that has been planted through this recent gift. As we take steps towards validation and all that entails, our library is going to have to grow substantially in the coming years to fuel the learning of many students. Books can serve as doorways to new places and I'm excited as I think about the priests, prophets and pioneers God is going to entrust to us to train as part of their journey and the adventures God has in store for them as life-long learners.
