“How are we feeling about starting the 2016-2017 school year?”
This is the question I asked the children gathered for the Community Blessing of the Backpacks at Douglas Community United Methodist Church on Sunday, Aug. 14. I received a grab bag of mixed emotions including nervous, excited, happy and sad (that summer is over). The beginning of each school year brings a newness that calls forth mixed emotions. Our children’s expressions of these emotions are right on.
The beginning of something new always calls for an ending to something else. The falling of the leaves is calling summer to an end. The routine of the school year is calling the more relaxed schedule for our children (maybe not our parents) to an end.
There are ways to honor the transition from one season to the next, from one thing ending to another beginning. The way that I find meaning in transitions is with ritual. Ritual honors what was and what is to come, while holding time and space to honor the here and now. Victor Turner, a symbolic anthropologist who studied ritual and cultural performance, called this liminal space “betwixt and between,” neither this nor that, neither what you were or what you are going to be, but what you are in this non-binary space: vulnerable, filled with humility, and without status or rank. This liminal phase we pass through, which ritual holds for us, is an important part of a rite of passage to mark change in our lives.
The Community Blessing of the Backpacks provided that ritual for not only our children and other individuals heading back to school but our parents, grandparents, guardians, and various school workers as well. This ritual provided a few moments in and out of time and space for passage between one grade level and the next before the ending of summer break and the beginning of the new school year.
As I mentioned, we began with the expression and recognition of the emotions that this change brings up for us. Each emotion was met with affirmation and rather than let our emotions go to embrace the change immediately, we spent time in silence to center and ground ourselves in that experience and to name this moment as sacred. A prayer was offered in gratitude for the resources that help students of all ages learn, for children and all involved with education, and for all those seeking to learn and grow. Then, students were welcomed forward with their backpacks, other symbols of school they brought, or just their selves for a special blessing asking God to bless them as they learn and grow, and to reach out to serve, help and care with compassion.
Parents, grandparents and school workers were welcomed forward as well to receive a blessing for their special calling to serve students in this way as they create and nurture space for learning and growth. Before sending them from this ritual, I invited all who were present to consider and pray for those who prepare for school without the resources they need or those who only dream of pursuing education. All present committed to praying for them, sharing what they have with them and offering kind words in the name of Love. Finally, a charge was issued to go to school and into the community with words and acts of compassion so that peace, love and compassion might be the ethic of our community. We were given space to recognize and name our feelings as we prepare for this transition, recognize what is to come and receive a blessing, and to state a hope for the future.
We enacted a transition that our community goes through each year and named it as sacred and meaningful. Ritual can help us transition between the little deaths and the new creations of our life spans. Though the space ritual creates is an uncomfortable one because it is non-binary and different than our categorical status quo, it is a powerful space where transitions can happen with symbolism and meaning.
The meditations of my heart are with all going back to school: may you name, find and make meaning in this transition!
• Melissa Engel is pastor of Douglas Community United Methodist Church.
