Together with their parents and grandparents, godparents and siblings, more than 180 new fifth-graders at our school began a new chapter in their lives on 15 August 2025 when they joined our school community. As is already a tradition at Georgianum, the enrolment ceremony began with an ecumenical service at Maria Königin Church and ended with a joint meeting of the new classmates in their individual classrooms.
At the beginning of the service, Sebastian Grave from the pastoral team of the Maria Königin parish welcomed those present and expressed his surprise that so many had come to receive God's blessing together.
Ms Sander, who prepared the successful and appealing service together with Ms Kurnei and Ms Nottbeck, spoke from the hearts of the young Georgians in her short address when she introduced the theme of the celebration: "I want someone to go with me." For, as she noted, it is particularly important not to be alone on the first day of school. That is why the preparation team asked sixth-year students to write down and present their thoughts and fears about starting school and their experiences from their first year at the Georgianum in order to encourage their new classmates.
Malia, Marieke, Hanna, Jon and Lucia talked about their fears: the fear of not making friends, the fear that the new class community would not develop well, the excitement of the long journey to school from distant Emsbüren, and the uncertainty of what to expect at the new school. Even though they all started with a queasy feeling, they drew a positive conclusion about their fifth school year because they had made new friends, because the school had organised many great activities, and because they had laughed a lot on the very first day.
In a short prayer, Lisa asked God on behalf of all the fifth-graders to send them people who would walk with them and stand by them.
As Ms Nottbeck said in her introduction to the reading, finding a friend to accompany you on an unknown path at the start of a new phase in your life is not just a problem of the present, but was already a theme in the Old Testament story of the friendship between David and Jonathan.
David, victor over Goliath and invited to the palace by King Saul, meets the king's son Jonathan there. They like each other so much right away that they would give their own lives for each other. However, their friendship is soon put to the test when Jonathan, not wanting to anger his father, has to make a decision. King Saul sees David, who has enjoyed many military successes, as a threat to his throne and, interpreting the omens, believes that God has abandoned him. Both Jonathan and David sense the danger posed by the jealous king; so when the king sends another invitation to the successful commander, they make a plan for Jonathan to warn David if his father is plotting something evil. The king's son quickly discovers that King Saul would rather see his friend dead. Without hesitation, Saul's son decides to help his friend, even if it means breaking with his father. So he warns David, with the consequence that he never sees him again because David flees the country. Years later, David hears of his friend's death, mourns the loss in a lament and thanks God for the experience of having had such a friend.
In his sermon, parish worker Grave took up the theme of Jonathan and David's friendship again and reminded his congregation that friendship is something wonderful. Jonathan could have seen the conqueror of Goliath as a rival. But he stood by him and showed him that David was important to him. This is not something that can be taken for granted, nor is it something that can be bought – it is a selfless gift.
Mr Grave had also had this experience. He told of a friend he had known since nursery school, with whom he had taken his school-leaving exams and whose friendship had lasted to this day. This had been a stroke of luck for him, but it was not always possible to find a friend straight away. But then the young listeners could be sure that they would not have to do everything alone, because their parents, teachers and God would always be with them, even when things got stormy.
On behalf of the new students at Georgianum, sixth graders Jost, Marta, Leni, Anneke, Theresa and Clara formulated prayers of intercession. They asked God to continue to accompany the newcomers on their journey, to give them courage and joy in learning, to help them find many new friends, and to allow them to grow up in peace and justice.
Ms Kurnei concluded by reiterating that no one is alone. As a memento of this service, the sixth graders would then distribute small cardboard figures, which could be assembled into a garland and hung in the classroom as a symbol of the newly formed class community.