During this season of Thanksgiving, it’s time to recognize our teachers and all those whose lives are invested in children. For schools and churches, I offer the following liturgy, written from the heart of one who remembers well the early morning alarm, the snowy mornings on the road, the late nights grading, the Sunday lesson-planning marathons, the joys and exhaustion that come from being a church school teacher.
A Thanksgiving Tribute to Educators
Sandra Doran
Reader 1: TEACHERS. Thank you for putting self aside as you give your all to the children you serve.
Reader 2: Thank you for praying for the most challenging student.
Reader 1: For searching and studying and discovering fresh ways to unlock the potential hiding in a hurting heart.
Reader 2: For making the Bible real and grace-filled and attractive.
Reader 1: For enlisting and encouraging and motivating.
Reader 2: For grounding children in their true identity as Seventh-day Adventists with a mission and a message.
Reader 1: For being there.
Reader 2: With unabashed faith, pride, and dignity.
ALL (Congregation or audience): For pointing our children to Jesus.
Reader 3: EDUCATIONAL ADMINISTRATORS. Thank you for sifting through the paperwork, filing reports, keeping our schools efficient and running.
Reader 4: For doing the tedious jobs when you’d rather be running around a field with kids or home cooking dinner.
Reader 3: For showing the world what it means to run a professional operation.
Reader 4: For keeping the bathrooms clean, the sidewalks shoveled, the buses running.
Reader 3: For speaking kindly to children.
Reader 4: For refusing to allow bullying to take hold in our halls.
Reader 3: For upholding Adventist standards even when it’s hard.
Reader 4: For planning and visioning and raising the bar.
Reader 3: For praying and crying and pressing on.
ALL: For pointing our children to Jesus.
Reader 5: PARENTS. Thank you for grounding your children in their Adventist DNA.
Reader 6: For modeling the joy of the Sabbath, the hope of the second coming, the vitality of healthy living.
Reader 5: For family worships and special Friday night suppers.
Reader 6: For prayers and quiet talks and Sabbath songs.
Reader 5: For the never-ending car trips to church school and Pathfinders and worship and summer camp.
Reader 6: For answering the hard questions.
Reader 5: For standing up for your faith as your family looks on.
ALL: For pointing our children to Jesus.
Reader 7: PASTORS. Thank you for understanding the value of children.
Reader 8: For respecting and uplifting our teachers.
Reader 7: For attending school board meetings, teaching Bible lessons, holding baptismal classes, conducting weeks of prayer.
Reader 8: For knowing that evangelism starts with kids.
Reader 7: For representing our faith with a positive spirit.
Reader 8: For listening to the words of those still young.
Reader 7: For preaching our doctrines with grace and love.
Reader 8: For painting a picture of a worldwide family united under the banner of the three angels’ messages.
ALL: For pointing our children to Jesus.
All Readers: To all who work tirelessly to show the love of Jesus to children, we thank you.