We began our new year together in Children's Chapel in the Library, where we set our Prayer Table and read the Summary of the Law (Mark 12:30-31).
30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”
Then we read Todd Parr's "Love the World," which gives colorful images of loving yourself and loving the world. "Love your face, love your space...Love Yourself! Love the World!" Here are some things on the list of “what we love,” as volunteered by the students and recorded on easel paper.
Books, Trees, Yourself and Being Yourself, Doing Science, Walking, Your Pet, Your House, Languages, Vegetables Gardens, Opportunities, What You Make, The Planet and The Environment, Your Nose, Your Clothes, Slime, Family, Friends, Your Name, Your Nation, Hugs, School, Your Money…
So, this list can lead to some further thinking and conversation about what we each love– or what we each think other people might love. Although the book doesn't explain this directly, the author Parr offers things we can love about our individuality, like "Love your giggle. Love your wiggle," and how we can actively share love in our community, like "Love lending a hand. Love making a stand." The wide variety of things we can love can lend your family some guidance when thinking about prayer. If we conceive of God as the source of love, manifested in the magnificence of the natural world, in our relationships of comfort and support, in the persistence of human generosity, then spending time in prayer is as straightforward as spending time thinking about where and how we experience love.
We introduced the book to the students by saying that this is the theme of our school year together: Love the World. It seems to be a simple theme. Is it? For our children, with their natural sense of wonder, our forty minutes naming Love was simple, and also expansive and layered. Amen. May it be so!
To download a copy of our Sunday School calendar, click here.