September 2024
This is one of my favorite weeks of the year. Kids go back to school. Students and teachers may well have mixed feelings about this return to classrooms and being inside while the sun still shines warm, but for those of us who hang out on Facebook, only June graduations rival early September. All my friends post back-to-school pictures of their kids, and it makes me happy. So much hope, so many smiles, so much excitement for the newness of the day and of the year. I have friends online whom I’ve known since our babies were babies. Now even their youngests are cool juniors and seniors heading to high school. Some of the kids I’ve never met in person, but I’m fond of them even so. I suppose if I were up early enough to see the school bus go by, I could watch the new school year begin in real time, but I slept through that. So, I see it online, and my hope is renewed that time marches on and the kids are all right. They’re loved, they’re hopeful, they’re on track, and they’re beautiful.
Newness each day is at the heart of our faith. ‘God is doing something new,’ says Isaiah, ‘do you perceive it?’ (Isaiah 43:19) That is, the newness and hope is happening all the time; the challenge is to pay enough attention to see it. Parents of school kids know that they’re pretty excellent. Early September reminds me that this world is full of good kids, families who love them, and teachers who share heart and soul, even if I don’t see all that goodness every day. Paul says, ‘if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation.’ (1 Corinthians 5:17) Let smiling kids and school busses remind you that hope is possible. God’s grace brings new possibilities into our lives.
A new school year also means a new year of Kids’ Club, which also makes me happy! If you know any kids in elementary school, encourage them to join us on Wednesday afternoons. We have a great time!
We’ll celebrate kids in worship on Sunday, September 8th.
Grace and peace,
Pastor Cathy
