New School Year Blessings

We stand at the threshold of the year…
some of us stand solidly on two feet, ready to take a bold step forward.
Some of us are more tentative–
we have one foot still lingering in the summer break,
reluctant to put that foot forward in the new season.
We’ve come today and we’ve reconnected with our colleagues,
we have imagined ourselves into the new school year.
And so I offer a blessing for the school year–ten blessings.
Can you count with your fingers, as I name these blessings for the school year?
This is a type of prayer, an open-eyed prayer:
we look through our fingers at our friends and colleagues
who count the blessings with us one by one.

Thank you for the blessing of life and breath
that we are alive now to have this experience.

Thank you for the blessing of meaningful work,
and a beautiful campus on which to do it.

Thank you for the blessing of a peaceful country
where we are not at war.

Thank you for the blessing of compassion
that you give us for our students and each other.

Thank you for the blessing of education
and how it can transform us all.

Thank you for the blessing of hope
in a world that needs hope.

Thank you for the blessing of wisdom
which we will draw on in complicated dilemmas.

Thank you for the blessing of humour
which lightens our way.

Thank you for the blessing of community;
we do not carry our burdens alone.

Thank you for the blessing of joy
which will spring up in unexpected places this year.

Hands full of blessings,
we stand together
ready to meet the year.  Amen.