SEASONS | RESOURCES
Back to School
Car lines return, lunchboxes reappear, and weekly schedules reset. Even for those without children, the back-to-school season brings us into a collective rhythm.
“Where would any of us be without teachers? Without people who have passion for their art or their science or their craft and love it right in front of us? What would any of us do without teachers passing on to us what they know is essential about life?”
ABOUT THE SEASON
Autumn arrives not all at once, but in small signals: earlier sunsets, the scent of sharpened pencils, a shift in the sidewalk rhythm. The backpacks return, and so do the bells and bus stops. Schedules tighten, and with them, the temptation to drift into hurry. But this season is sacred.
The Spirit of God moves through lunchbox notes and hallway hellos, through parent-teacher conferences and after-dinner walks.
This is a time to refocus our attention - to the names we learn, the neighbors we pass, the invitations we receive and offer. As the pace of life returns to weekly schedules, we remember: formation is not reserved for sanctuaries. It happens in crosswalks, carpools, classrooms, and across dinner tables.
Rhythms
RESOURCES FOR BACK TO SCHOOL
As routines reset we’ve gathered a set of simple practices to help you stay rooted. Whether your days are full of meetings and school drop-offs, or quiet walks through the changing trees of your neighborhood, these rhythms are created to anchor your faith in place.
Prayer for Neighborhood Schools
Father in Heaven,
We pray for our neighborhood schools
And the spectrum of students
Who enter schools each day.
We pray for safety for those
Who are waking themselves up and walking home alone.
We pray for provision for those
Who make their own lunches
And those who have no lunch to make.
We pray for rest for those
Who spend hours riding on a bus.
We pray for peace for those
Who begin or end their day in a car
With an anxious or angry parent.
May each crosswalk and school zone
Be a place of prayer for children
And holy practice in patience.
We pray for those
Who are new to the class,
Looking for a single friend to sit by at lunch.
We pray for those
Who are new to the city,
Missing familiar people and places.
We pray for those
Who are new to the country,
Learning not only the lesson,
But also the language.
May we not only be aware of the problems and pain,
But also the beautiful potential and possibility.
May we see our neighborhood schools
And the spectrum of students
Who enter school each day
As You do.
This we pray in the name of the Father, Son, and Spirit.
Amen.
Prayers
Practice | Pancake Breakfast
“There is hardship in everything except eating pancakes.”
Hundreds of pancakes are served at the Gilley house every other Tuesday morning before students leave for Arapahoe High School. It began for Sean and Jill Gilley with a simple question, “What if?” What if there could be a place for their high school sons to invite their classmates to begin the day talking about things that matter in a space where everyone belongs? What if there could be a place for students to connect across the dividing lines of affluence, participation in athletics, or achievement in academics? This simple question led to a creative solution. Host an open house and provide a pancake breakfast, invite a trusted voice to talk about Jesus, and then pray for students to send them out to school.
Jill had established connections with the mothers in the neighborhood from her family living in Cherry Knolls for 10 years. When she extended the invitation to moms to participate, there was immediate buy-in. It was an easy ask to help provide breakfast for their kids every other week. “You have to ask for help,” Jill shared. A SignUpGenius was created for the food which included dozens of pancakes and a lot of toppings! Whipped cream, bacon, sausage, fruit, chocolate milk, and hot cocoa quickly became staples and a celebrated part of the bi-weekly rhythm. “I would have dreams of running out of bacon on Monday nights,” laughed Jill. It never occurred. There’s always enough.
Sean and Jill’s two sons (Sophomores and Juniors when Pancake Breakfast began) created a GroupMe and invited students. The invitation quickly spread and grew from a few dozen to over 60 students. Kids shared the invite with their mothers and asked them to volunteer. The invite was simple and clear. Pancake Breakfast was a place to share a meal and talk about what mattered most.
Pancake Breakfast ends with a 5-minute talk from a teacher, coach, parent, or local pastor sharing about their love of Jesus and His love for the students. It’s the moment they guard most. Jill shared that the house is completely silent, with people of varying faith backgrounds and church affiliations sitting in the room. The final moment is a prayer of blessing and protection over a houseful of high school students who just ate hundreds of pancakes at a common table.
Pancake Breakfast will be hosted at Sean and Jill’s home for only half of this school year as their youngest son is now a Senior. The second half the school year Pancake Breakfast will move to a home with a Junior and Freshman. The practice will continue to create a place for students and parents to belong and begin a Tuesday knowing they are seen, known, and loved. And, how great it is to begin a day with pancakes.
Jill’s pancake recommendations: Kodiak pancakes are protein-packed, Costco pancake mix is the most economical for making hundreds of pancakes, vanilla extract is the “secret sauce,” and she is amazed at the idea of “pan sheet pancakes.”
Practices
Places
Back to school brings with it the gift and the tension of structure. Calendars fill, routines return, and time feels both limited and freshly ordered. But constraint can be clarifying. Within the rhythms of back-to-school life lies an invitation: to reimagine what it means to live with intention in our neighborhoods.
When we embrace the cadence of the season, our neighborhoods become places of formation. The walk to school, the weekly grocery run, the Tuesday night PTA meeting; all of it can shape us. Rooted in place, faith doesn’t compete with our schedules; it finds a frame to develop within them.
Places
Reading about Place
RESOURCES FOR INTEGRATING FAITH IN PLACE
Reading we have found to help excavate, equip, encourage, and establish faith rooted in place.
SPIRITUALITY | STORY | PRACTICES
THEOLOGY | GEOGRAPHY | PRACTICES
NEIGHBOR | GEOGRAPHY | PRACTICES
PRACTICES | STORY | NEIGHBORHOOD
PRACTICES | STORY | NEIGHBOR
PRACTICES | NEIGHBOR | STORY
RESOURCES FOR AUTUMN
The Hopeful Neighborhood Project was created to equip neighbors with the tools and resources needed to engage your neighbors. That engagement will lead to deeper community connections, and those connections will help you create change in your neighborhood, to pursue the common good, right where you live.
National Good Neighbor Day
RESOURCE
National Good Neighbor Day
National Good Neighbor Day was created in the 1970s and officially recognized by President Jimmy Carter in 1978. We invite you to participate in National Good Neighbor Day.
Need ideas? Our partners at nationalgoodneighborday.org have practical ideas, conversation starters, and resources to help you connect with your neighbors.
More rhythms to root your faith in place.
