First Day of School Every Sunday

Date Published: 09/07/2009

Thanks to the magic of the internet (email, blog and Face Book), from Texas I get a bit of the experience of first day back to school for my grandchildren: Hannah 6th grade (middle school) and Isaac 4th grade in Pennsylvania; Sam 2nd grade in Wisconsin. Daughter-in-law Rachel muses about being old enough to have a 2nd grader while looking forward to being able to focus on 2 ½ year old Elizabeth while Sam is in school. Isaac was so excited he could hardly sleep before the first day of school.

Though distant for me, I do remember that excitement of the first day of school. Seeing friends. Anticipating new adventures. Hope to perform a little better than last year. The joy of a fresh start. At a somewhat diminished level, I had those kinds of feelings with the start of every new semester in college and grad school. In the church, fall program season, Advent and Christmas, Lent and Easter still give me a tingle. In fact, I often feel this kind of excitement with the opening hymn of each Sunday’s worship, and the adrenaline rush of stepping up to speak the first words of the worship message.

As I enjoyed a long distance sample of my grandchildren’s excitement about the new school year, I thought about the excitement of the worship planning team that met last week and wondered and prayed for that excitement, that thrill, that anticipation to be there for the whole congregation as they assemble on Sunday morning, for every congregation as they gather in the presence of God for worship.