Backpacks and Belonging

It's good to be back after a summer hiatus! There is much I want to write about, but today being the first day of school it seemed important to go here.

On the way in to work this morning we passed numerous kids out at the end of their laneways wearing first day back to school clothes and toting backpacks. Their expressions betrayed their excitement, anxiety, tiredness or impatience. Teachers are trying to begin a new year on the right foot with all the many knowns and unknowns of their students and their wide variety of challenges.

This past Sunday we talked at children's time about backpacks and all the various things we need for school. It's a new season, a new class, a new teacher, and with all that newness and transition can come worry. I loved that Illustrated Children's Ministry put out backpack stickers (or really, anywhere stickers) for kids as they got ready to go back, reminding them that they are loved and blessed (see https://store.illustratedchildrensministry.com/collections/illustrated-cards-stickers). 

Our Old Testament lesson on Sunday was the Shema, Deuteronomy 6:4-5 - the foundational words of the Jewish faith about loving the Lord your God with all your mind, soul and strength. These words are echoed in Luke 10:25-28 by a lawyer testing Jesus about how to inherit eternal life which leads up to the parable of the Good Samaritan and the question of who is our neighbour.

The Shema  goes on to talk about the importance of passing this commitment on to your children, living and learning and repeating this when they get up and lie down, putting it on bedposts and as an emblem on foreheads. Orthodox Jews at morning prayer will still wear a phylactery, a small box tied that rests on their forehead and is tied around the back of the head, containing scriptures from the Torah. This is their way of living out these words.

As new Sunday school and program seasons begin, we want to establish good routines that provide a strong foundation. We also want to be mindful of equipping young people to handle the world outside of church, and to give them confidence in their God being with them and caring about them. We want them to thrive and to shine light at school and soccer and dance class. The Shema is a great scripture for this time of year - to think about how we are equipping families to pass on the Word of God and the living Word, Jesus, to their kids. How are we thinking and teaching about what it means to love God with all that we are, and our neighbours as ourselves?

May this new season bring many blessings to you and to those you are on the journey of faith with wherever you are. May the words of the Shema bring you comfort and routine in a harried world.