September 8th, 2021
This week, students go back to school. Do you remember those days? I sure do. I was not a happy camper. But by the time I was in the middle of High School, I began to enjoy being successful in school. Of course I would have still preferred to be home or playing outside, but at that point I had at least matured enough to say "well, if I have to be here, I might as well be successful". The little boy who went back to school in September kicking and screaming would surely be surprised if someone would have told him that when we grew up he would CHOOSE to go to school for another 7 years after High School, going all the way up to a Master's Degree.
This week, with a wide range of emotions, our young disciples are heading back into the classroom. For some of them, it will be their first time in a classroom in a year and a half. So, I would imagine that their emotions are even more intense than the ones we ever experienced. What we have learned, or re-learned, over the last 18 months is that school is about more than just the textbook knowledge the students receive. School provides social, emotional and physical skills as well. Those skills are just as valuable to human living as the lessons they will learn from their textbooks. Educationally, many suffered from not being instructed by a qualified teacher in person last year. Others may have actually done better educationally. But still it is good for our young disciples to be with each other, to make friends and to gain the communal skills of communication, compassion, friendliness, responsibility, empathy and love.
Would you join me in praying for our students and their teachers?
Dear Lord, with mixed emotions we have waited for this day for a long time. We pray for our students. We pray that they will work through the nerves of starting something new. You are a God who is always creating new things, and from those new things come hope and life. So we pray that our students will also find hope and life through a new school year. We also pray for their teachers. They, too, have been waiting and preparing for this day for a long time. They, too, are experiencing a wide range of emotions. We pray for all of our students and teachers as they prepare to do school in a way that nobody is familiar with. We pray for their safety, and we pray that their schools will be a place for them to learn, to grow and to play. Amen!
Blessings,
Reverend Dave
This week, with a wide range of emotions, our young disciples are heading back into the classroom. For some of them, it will be their first time in a classroom in a year and a half. So, I would imagine that their emotions are even more intense than the ones we ever experienced. What we have learned, or re-learned, over the last 18 months is that school is about more than just the textbook knowledge the students receive. School provides social, emotional and physical skills as well. Those skills are just as valuable to human living as the lessons they will learn from their textbooks. Educationally, many suffered from not being instructed by a qualified teacher in person last year. Others may have actually done better educationally. But still it is good for our young disciples to be with each other, to make friends and to gain the communal skills of communication, compassion, friendliness, responsibility, empathy and love.
Would you join me in praying for our students and their teachers?
Dear Lord, with mixed emotions we have waited for this day for a long time. We pray for our students. We pray that they will work through the nerves of starting something new. You are a God who is always creating new things, and from those new things come hope and life. So we pray that our students will also find hope and life through a new school year. We also pray for their teachers. They, too, have been waiting and preparing for this day for a long time. They, too, are experiencing a wide range of emotions. We pray for all of our students and teachers as they prepare to do school in a way that nobody is familiar with. We pray for their safety, and we pray that their schools will be a place for them to learn, to grow and to play. Amen!
Blessings,
Reverend Dave
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