August 17 will be a very busy day in the life of our church and school, and we’d like to share with you what will be happening.

First, we are delighted that the Day School will once again be joining us in the 9 AM worship service to be installed for the new school year. Our partnership with the school is vital to the ministry of our church, and so sending them into the classrooms with our blessing is important. We will also install our church education staff, who are the unsung heroes who tirelessly give of themselves in teaching our children, youth and adults about our faith in Christ.

At both the 9 AM and the 10:45 AM services, we will once again offer The Blessing of the Backpacks. We highly value our little ones, and we want to do everything we can to prepare them for school so that they can grow into their full potential as children of God. Starting a new school year can bring anticipation and excitement, but for some kids, it can also come with some anxiety. 

For all those reasons, we at LCC want to surround our children with prayer and support. To do that, we will give each child who attends either the traditional or family worship service their own backpack tag. 

At the Back-to-School Fair, which will be in the lobby from 10 AM to 11 AM, children will have the opportunity to decorate and personalize the tags with beads and other items. Of course, there will be several other stations at the Fair for kids to create other school-related craft items.

But as important as the message on the tags is, perhaps what we will do in the worship services is even more crucial. Children are invited to bring their own backpacks to either the sanctuary (for the traditional service at 9) or the Fellowship Hall (for the family worship at 10:45), where they will be arranged in front of the Communion Tables. Then, during the services, we will offer prayers of blessing over the backpacks, asking God to encourage, protect and empower the children who will be wearing them as they go through their school days. 

What better way to start off a new school year than with prayer and a reminder of God’s continual love and protection? So please mark your calendars if you have children or grandchildren and remind them to bring their backpacks to whichever worship service they want to attend, and encourage them to also come to the Back-to-School Fair. LCC stands for Lutheran Church of the Cross, but it could also, on August 17, stand for Loving Children Continually, because that’s what God does, and what we strive to do too.