Dear People of St. David’s,
I was away from St. David’s from 2004 to 2022, serving several other Episcopal churches. Even so, I remained connected: this is our sons’ parish, and we expect, at length, to join my mother in our graveyard. It is hard to overstate the abundant blessings that my family and I have found at St. David’s through our 43-years-and-counting. We see the abundance most in the faces and voices and energy of our youngest members! On any given Sunday, our young people are serving at St. John’s in Norristown, singing in the choir and attending the children’s sermon in the Chapel, worshipping in the Family Service, playing in the nursery, and sitting sedately at the 8 a.m., 11:30 a.m., and 5 p.m. services. I am so grateful for the presence and participation of our children in our abundant parish life—especially more so now that my three are grown.
I come by my sense of God’s abundance expressed in the lives of our children naturally. My great-grandmother, Julia Sublett (for whom my mother and daughter were named), was an art teacher in the segregated black schools in Staunton, Virginia. As a young widow, she supported my grandmother by teaching and running a boarding house. I have her prayer book, and written by her hand on the back fly leaf is this “School Prayer.”
O God give me clean hands, clean words, and clean thoughts. Help me to stand for the hard right against the easy wrong; save me from habits that harm; teach me to work as hard and play as fair in thy sight alone, as if the whole world saw; forgive me when I am unkind, and help me to forgive those who are unkind to me; keep me ready to do a little good every day, and so grow more like Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
During the recent pandemic isolation, the parish I served boasted 25 young people under 18. When schools got back in session in 2021, there were still restrictions on the numbers who could gather in indoor spaces. We did not have a room that could accommodate even half of our young population, much less their adults. So, I developed a new liturgical expression: Prayers on the Playground.
Every Sunday, we invited families with children to our small, fenced playground. We sang a song, heard the Bible story for the week, and offered some prayers. When attention was flagging, I would begin to sing a rousing rendition of the nursery favorite, Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes. Then, I would offer the final blessing, written that fall by my daughter, The Rev. Julia Offinger, for Grace Church School in New York.
Bless our heads to learn as much as we can this year. Bless our shoulders to be as strong as we can this year. Bless our knees to be as flexible as we can this year. Bless our toes to take us where we need to go this year. Bless our eyes to see each other and ourselves as God sees us this year. Bless our ears to listen to each other this year. Bless our mouths to say what we believe this year. Bless our noses—they need it the most—as we wear masks to protect each other this year. And the blessing of God be with you all this year and forever. AMEN.
Last Sunday, there were 69 of us gathered to praise God at the 9:30 a.m. service—and I saw nearly that many come to the altar for a school year blessing at our 9:15 a.m. service when I watched the livestream later in the afternoon. At both services, our kids and teachers were given goody bags containing reminders of God’s love for all of us and offering this prayer for the school year.
Dear Lord, open my eyes to see new friends. Open my ears to hear my teacher. Open my mind to learn new things. Open my hands to help others. Open my heart to love like you. Amen.
Let us pray for this new school year, for our children, and for our adults—all of us, the children of our God of great abundance and love.
Blessings,
Nancy+
The Rev. Nancy Webb Stroud
Priest Associate
Published September 12, 2024