For those who cannot attend the Sept. 13 “Blessing of the Backpacks” for the children and youth of CV.

First, load up your backpack or book bag, or whatever you use to carry your books, computers, and classroom materials.  Second, invite some friends to join you and bring their backpacks/book bags, etc.   Third, pile them all together, then say/pray this blessing together (or if you’re really creative, turn it into a responsive reading).  After you are done, maybe pin or tie something to your bags as a reminder that God goes with you wherever you go.

Lord God Almighty, creator of the universe, source of all Truth, Wisdom, and Knowledge, thank you for the precious gift of education.  Bless this bag that I haul around, for it holds within tools for learning.  Bless these tools for learning, sources of facts and figures, dates, names, and places, ideas, theories, equations, theorums, and questions yet to be answered, information about the cosmos and all that is within it.  Bless those that use these tools to teach, to impart knowledge, skill, and understanding - the professors, teachers, and assistants charged with my education.  And bless the one who carries the bag, who uses the tools, and learns from the teachers, for being a student is no easy job.  Bless me, dear Lord, for I am a student in need of your help and guidance.  May my education not only lead to fulfilling employment, may I also find my calling in life, where my knowledge, skills, talents and gifts intersect with the needs of the world.  In Jesus name, amen.

“Every organization is uniquely designed to exactly produce the results it achieves.” – Peter Senge, “The Fifth Discipline”

Think quick: How long would it take to graduate from four years of high school if you only had one hour of class a week?  Answer: about 24 years!!!

Think quick:  How effective is it to raise children, youth, or young adults in the faith if they spend less than an hour a week learning about the faith?  Answer:  NOT EFFECTIVE AT ALL!!!  That’s one of the primary reasons why the Churches in America, especially the mainline, are shrinking and getting older and older.  

We have designed a church system that offers something you’d hear on a late night infomercial.  “Folks, you just won’t believe this special offer!  I’m talking fully mature disciples of Jesus Christ.  That’s right, we’re talking making disciples, fulfilling Jesus’ Great Commission, and all in less than an hour a week.  Heck, you can probably skip a couple Sundays a month and you won’t know the difference.  That’s right, if you act now, for only a couple bucks in the offering plate, we will make God-fearing, Jesus-following, Christians out of your kids.   And all you need to do is sit with them for an hour in the pew on Sunday morning (optional with our platinum plan), and then drop them off for an hour of Sunday school while you grab a coffee and a donut, and Wa-la!  Little Christian disciples.  BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE!!!  For only an extra hour and a half on Wednesday nights (pizza included) by the time they are going into high school, your job will be done.  We’ll slap a robe and red carnation on them, take some pictures, and you’ll never have to bother with going to church again.  At least not until there’s a wedding or somebody dies, but hey, at least they’ll be serving food and bars!”  (In many churches there isn’t anyone left to make the bars anymore.)

My friend Sam, an Anglican Priest from Uganda, told me about a saying they have in his country, “The Family is the First Church.”  He went on to explain that what they mean by Family is not what we mean by family.  Their Family is mom, dad, the kids, the grandparents, the aunts and uncles, the cousins, and even the close neighbors and friends.  In Sam’s family growing up, talking about faith and scripture, singing, and praying together was part of the daily rhythm of life.  It wasn’t a rigid thing where everybody had to sit down and have a mini-Bible study and sing-a-long together.  Family members would share things they read in the Bible, or ask questions, or sing while doing the chores, or talk about something they learned or experienced and how that impacted their faith, randomly throughout the day.  But the one thing they always did every night was to check in about the day and then pray together.  ”That’s what Family does, they live the faith every day,” Sam concluded.

 

Gubrud Family Christmas Sing-a-long.

Jesus calls us to be the answer to the problem.

 

“At the heart of a learning organization is a shift of MIND – from seeing ourselves as separate from the world to connected to the world, from seeing problems caused by someone or something ‘out there’ to seeing how our own actions create the problems we experience.” Peter Senge, “The Fifth Discipline”

As Pogo famously quipped, “We have met the enemy, and the enemy is us!”  But while that is true, the opposite is also true, we can be the solution to our own problems.  We need to change our thinking, change the way we look at things, and we need a deep change of heart, so that we can change the way we do things.  And all of that will mean really listening to God, because only God can change and transform us.  In fact God gave humanity a little process to follow that leads to that kind of deep change.  It’s probably over 4,000 years old, but it might be worth dusting off and trying again.

“Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one.  Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.  These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts.  Impress them on your children.  Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.  Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.  Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates.” - Deuteronomy 6: 4-8

What might that look like in your family, in your home, in your daily routine?  Would your kids, nieces, nephews, or grandkids have some clever ideas what to paint on your doors and gates?  Why don’t you ask them?  And at the same time, why don’t you share with them why you love the Lord with all your heart, soul, and strength?  Don’t worry, you don’t need to answer that one quickly, but don’t waste too much time thinking about it, because there is not much time to waste.