Back to Life

Last week, my friend who moved to Texas posted about how, no matter where in the world people from NJ are – even the most beautiful, awe inspiring places – they will still find a way to mention how NJ has pizza and all four seasons. Winter, though barren, brings hot cocoa and cozy evenings; it’s often a time of intentionality. Spring brings new life and fresh starts. This past Monday, we mourned the end of summer: the end of beach days, of late nights, and of flexibility.  So what does this impending season bring? This is a time of “back to”: back to school, back to hustle and bustle, back to routine, and in tomorrow’s Bible Reading Plan passage – back to life (Matthew 28).

What if instead of mourning summer, we begin to focus on the back to life? 

We ought to see each season of life and of the year as a gift, an opportunity to be filled with joy (Matthew 28:8) and overflowing with worship (28:17), as we embrace each opportunity to go and…(28:19).

Rather than being filled with anxiety over what is next and all the “back to” we have to do, what if we chose to embrace this season of one where we come back to life?  
 

Back to the joy, back to worship, and back to the commission we were called and created for? 

Let us pray this back to life for ourselves, our families, our church community, and our town. Of course, specifically let us pray for our schools and our children. We will do this communally on Sunday during our worship service, but I also wanted to share a segment of this prayer for back to school with you: 

A Prayer for Back to School : By Kayla Craig 

O God of new beginnings,
As each child begins this new school year,
We are reminded that they are Yours
And Yours alone.

We have filled their backpack,
And we ask You to fill their heart
With the joy of new friends
And their mind
With the wonder of learning new things.

Be with them,
This piece of my heart,
As they embark on this new adventure,
Becoming more themselves
And needing me less
Every day.

Ignite passions in them
For Your world and everything in it.
Spark creativity and stoke the fires of imagination.
Give them a heart to see the hurting
And strength to show love in the hallways.
Give them friends,
But help them not to find their worth in others.
Give them concentration
And a holy kind of mischief
That keeps them asking why.

We think, too, of the students
For whom school is a refuge
From the storms of life at home.
May they connect with others who truly see them,
Not as under resourced or troubled or another statistic
But as Your beloved.
We thank You for the gift of education,
For we know it is a privilege
Not all have access to.

In my child’s anxieties,
May they find comfort in Your presence.
In their worries,
May they find peace in Your promises.
In their challenges,
May they find victory in Your power.

Amen

Grace and peace,

Rebecca DeLucia
Next Generation Pastor