As I consider dusting off this blog and recommitting to regular writing and publishing, I am adding recent email newsletter content shared with my congregation.
Beloved of God,
If you follow New Joy on Facebook and Instagram, you’ve seen this graphic several times over the past few days. We’ve posted this on the first day of school for many of the nearby school systems that touch our congregation’s life – Noblesville, Carmel, Sheridan. Later this week and next we’ll post it some more when Westfield, Guerin Catholic, Zionsville, and University have their first days of school. May God bless our students, our school teachers and staff, and our communities at this pivotal time of year!
Schools are amazing places of learning and growth, nurture and connection, experimentation and exploration. Whereas failure is frowned upon in the adult world, failure is an expected and welcome part of the learning process in school. Hobbies and crafting are increasingly monetized in the adult world and squeezed out by the lack of leisure time. Yet in our schools kids try new things all the time – art, music, games, and more – as part of their growth and self-discovery. As adults it can be really hard to find and make new friends. Yet our schools are communities of young peers learning, growing, and thriving together, forming lifelong friendships along the way.
Let us pray for our schools at this start to the school year, that they would be blessed, safe places for our kids to try new things, make mistakes and learn, meet new friends and, ultimately, learn who they are and how they will thrive in this world that God so loves.
O God, source of all goodness: we give you thanks for the gift of reason and the opportunity for education. Bless our schools, that they may be places of learning and safety where teachers challenge the minds and nurture the hearts of students. Grant that teachers and students may work together in mutual respect and find joy in the challenges of academic life; through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.
Prayer from Evangelical Lutheran Worship
The Lutheran Zephyr 