Beginning Again
FROM THE RECTOR
New shoes, a new lunchbox, and a new backpack filled with new school supplies. A new teacher and new classmates. New lessons, new challenges, and new opportunities. Although back-to-school preparations get less exciting as our children get older, I still feel a touch of nervous and joyful anticipation as they prepare to go back to school—a small remnant of the butterflies that I felt when I was a child.
In a university town, the rhythms of the academic year affect us even more than those who do not experience the energy and, at times, frustration that accompany the thousands of students who return each fall. Nevertheless, every church I have known has used, at least to some extent, two different and sometimes competing liturgical calendars—the ecclesiastical version that revolves around Christmas and Easter and the academic one that governs semesters, exams, sporting events, and graduations.
Occasionally a colleague from another part of the country will express surprise that our church would take into account something as profane as a home football schedule when determining what our fall programming will look like, but I have learned that our secular and sacred lives often intersect in unintentional but mutually informative ways.
The people of ancient Israel, influenced by their neighbors, frequently blurred the distinctions between agricultural festivals and cultic feasts. As the economic year reset with the fall harvest, God’s people celebrated the abundance of God’s goodness while asking for another “sweet” year ahead. Some scholars think that Psalm 99, which we will recite in worship this Sunday, and others like it are evidence of a annual liturgical commemoration of God’s enthronement, a now extinct but at one time a regular part of Israel’s autumnal holy day observances.
Nowadays, Rosh Hashana has lost some of its connection with the harvest, but it remains a celebration of the Jewish new year and God’s act of creation, but that new year festival takes place in Tishri, the seventh month of the Jewish calendar. The first month of the year is Nisan, during which Passover occurs. As God said to Moses in Exodus 12, “This month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you.” This identity-defining festival represents the beginning of the cultic year, while the economic cycle provides a second new year celebration. Although it may seem strange to celebrate the new year twice, we do the same thing with fiscal calendars, academic cycles, agricultural rhythms, birthdays, and anniversaries.
As our academic new year begins again, I invite you to think of the ways in which this is an opportunity to recommit to your own lifelong formation as a child of God. As students and teachers come forward for the Blessing of the Backpacks on August 18, ask yourself what sort of holy learning you might commit to during the year ahead. When it is time for the Ministry Fair on August 25, look around for new opportunities for your own spiritual development. Maybe this is the year to take on a spiritual discipline like reading the Bible every day, volunteering with Community Meals, or participating in Morning Prayer once a week.
At St. Paul’s, our Rule of Life is to worship weekly, pray daily, grow constantly, serve joyfully, and give generously. Rather than strictly governing our lives, this rule is a gentle guide for how we live out our faith as Christians. It serves as a reminder of the ways in which we renew our commitment to God, to our faith, and to the community on a daily, weekly, monthly, and continual basis.
As the summer ends and the school year begins, many of us return to a pattern that is defined by class schedules and carpools. (All of us are affected by the traffic!) While I look forward to the consistency that the academic year brings, I know of no one who is energized by the strictness of that schedule. Instead, those of us who look forward to the start of school are buoyed primarily by the opportunities for growth and development that come with a commitment to the academic schedule. Summer breaks are great and restorative, but reengaging an intentional pattern of waking up, navigating the obligations of the day, setting aside time for renewal, and going to bed at a reasonable hour help everyone in our family grow.
Regardless of your age and situation, think of the start of the school year as your own opportunity to return to intentionality. Celebrate the opportunities for spiritual growth that the fall semester will bring and look for ways to commit to them. Even if you do your best to avoid back-to-school shopping, make August a month to get ready for the year ahead. Decide to make this a year for your own spiritual development. When next summer comes, you will be glad you did.
Yours faithfully,
Evan D. Garner
