As a school-teacher for some years before becoming a stay at home father (and, now for seven years, a DRE) I always loved the days leading up to a new school year. I still do. It is, of course, a time of sometimes stressful preparation. But it is also a time to examine and to reflect on and absorb into our souls the nature of this work. Our really outstanding Lifespan Religious Education Committee met earlier this week and we started with a chalice lighting using these words of William Ellery Channing:
"The great end in religious instruction, whether in the Sunday-school or family, is, not to stamp our minds irresistibly on the young, but to stir up their own; not to make them see with our eyes, but to look inquiringly and steadily with their own; not to give them a definite amount of knowledge, but to inspire a fervent love of truth; not to form an outward regularity, but to touch inward springs; not to burden the memory, but to quicken and strengthen the power of thought;"
Blessings
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