Back to School Sunday/Blessing of the Backpacks Sunday
August 18, 2019
10am service
Proverbs 3:1, 5-6; Psalm 25: 4-5; Philippians 4:6-7
Mark 10: 13-16 (from the Children of God Storybook Bible)
The kids are getting ready to head back to school this week…
Lots of excitement in the air for some…maybe a tinge of worry for some…but for most kids…they are probably dreaming of a wonderful year ahead…
Next week will mark the beginning of a whole year of new adventures, experiencing new things, learning new things, meeting new friends…doing things that they haven’t even imagined or dreamed of yet…
It can be a wonderful time of life, for children…to be free to wonder and dream and play and laugh and sometimes cry…but mostly to love and live freely, trusting in the world around them…trusting in the adults who love and care and watch out for them...in their homes, and in the arms of their extended family members, in their schools, in other places in the community, and here in the church…
Do you and I remember what it was like to get ready to head back to school? Can you go back in time, and look through the lens of your five year old self…and remember what life was like back then and how you viewed the world around you?
It is difficult to do…we’ve learned and lived through so many things throughout our lives, good things and bad things, joyful times, and times of suffering and heartache…we have so many responsibilities now, that we are adults…
Something else can happen along the journey to adulthood… we forget to live and love and laugh and play and dream…we give up on a dream of a world where all will know and believe that God loves all of us…and of a world where we can show each other the same care and love we have received…and that really…there is enough love to go around, for all of us…really…there is…
IN God’s family…there is enough love to be shared…with God, one another, and all of creation…It’s a dream that can come true…with faith and hope…and through the eyes of a child…
In our gospel reading today…we are reminded of this, through the words of Jesus to his disciples,
“Everyone who wants to see God’s dream come true must see with the eyes of a child.”
So, as we turn to the start of a new school year, let us dare to dream again with the young people, and look to life again with faith and hope, through the eyes of a child…because everything we really need to know about life and loving God and one another, we learned in Kindergarten…
― Robert Fulghum, All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten
1. Share everything.
2. Play fair.
3. Don't hit people.
4. Put things back where you found them.
5. CLEAN UP YOUR OWN MESS.
6. Don't take things that aren't yours.
7. Say you're SORRY when you HURT somebody.
8. Wash your hands before you eat.
9. Flush.
10. Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
11. Live a balanced life - learn some and drink some and draw some and paint some and sing and dance and play and work everyday some.
12. Take a nap every afternoon.
13. When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands, and stick together.
14. Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the Styrofoam cup: The roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that.
15. Goldfish and hamster and white mice and even the little seed in the Styrofoam cup - they all die. So do we.
16. And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first word you learned - the biggest word of all - LOOK.”
Look…look for signs of God’s love wherever you go…Look and remember that God loves us all…
Voices Found - #68 We bring our children
We bring our children, Lord, today
as once they did in Galilee,
embrace them with your love, we pray,
and bless each home and family.
On their behalf and in their name
our own commitment we renew
with them we die to sin and shame,
with them we live again in you.
Help us in all our ways to show
these growing souls your truth and grace,
till they shall come themselves to know the beauty of our Father’s face.
Rev Julie Platson
St Peters by the Sea Episcopal Church
Sitka, Alaska
The Gospel Reading (from the Children of God Storybook Bible) Mark 10: 13-16
Jesus spent many hours teaching people about God and how he loves us all. One day, when Jesus was tired and resting, some parents arrived with their children. The children were giggling and laughing and running around making noise while their parents asked the disciples if they could speak with Jesus.
“What do you want with the Master?” asked the disciples.
“We want him to bless our children.”
“The Master is resting,” the disciples said. “You can’t bother him now. Go home.”
But Jesus heard them. “Do not chase away the children!” He called. “Let them come to me. God loves children, and when they smile, he smiles; when they laugh, he laughs; when they cry, he cries.”
Jesus went to the children, and they laughed and played together for awhile. He took them in his arms and hugged them. He placed his hands on their heads and blessed them. Then he told the disciples, “Everyone who wants to see God’s dream come true must see with the eyes of a child.”