Honoring the Past, Celebrating the Present

My first thought about what I was going to write today was to tell you about all the wonderful things that are happening with the Children and Youth programs right now, I will get to that. Then I looked at the date, September 11^th. It almost feels like a lifetime ago and I’m sure those of us that were around at that time remember exactly where we were that day in 2001. For me, I was living between Washington, D.C. and Baltimore, MD and it was before I had children. I was working out of the house for Polaroid and used to travel quite a bit. We were all checking in to see if any of our employees were on any of the planes. Thankfully, they were not. I remember thinking how can this be happening and immediately terrified for all of those in the buildings and for their families that life would never be the same. I prayed for them and asked God for them not to feel pain and to help their families move forward one day at a time. I can’t imagine what it was like for all of those who lost someone, but I pray that they live on in the hearts of those who love them. Let us all take a moment today to remember those who were lost and pray for those families still moving forward today.

As we remember those families, I also want to remember to thank the families of St. Alban’s for supporting our Children & Youth programs and being an integral part of the Christian upbringing of our young people today. You have a defining impact just by bringing them to church on Sunday and having them attend Sunday School or teaching Sunday School and being a part of the St. Alban’s community. I see an intergenerational community that supports one another, and I am filled with the Holy Spirit just to be a part of it all.

It is with great pride that I want to share the joys I experienced this past Sunday as we launched Sunday School and a Youth Group event. We had at least 35 children downstairs and that is not even counting Youth Sunday School, with about 10 I believe, and nursery. My heart is full to see all those faces coming back again for another school year. So many in fact, that for the first time post Covid we are going back to three Children’s Sunday School classes because two classes were just too full! Amazing!

Our Youth were helping scoop ice cream at the social and then came outside for burgers, hot dogs, and slip-n-slide fun! The weather was a little chilly and overcast, and we only had a few youth with us, but we wanted to share the fun. So, after asking the parents, we invited some of the young children playing on the playground to join in the fun. What resulted was an adorable intergenerational event with our youth and children. What joy the parents and I had watching the young kids sliding down the giant hill in their church clothes, laughing, and having an absolute ball! God is good and I am so very thankful for the St. Alban’s community and children!