Honor Students and Teachers with a Public Education Sabbath

Public schools stand in the breach between chaos and a thriving society.

Public schools offer our thriving students and our struggling students the challenges, enrichment, and nurture they need to grow into adults who think, observe, assess, and solve problems.

Public schools offer arts education, physical education, and diverse community, which research shows builds resilience.

Public schools serve children whose families do not speak English, whose homes do not have enough food, who have no transportation, and who have no other access to interventions that can change their lives.

Public schools serve children who love to read and do complicated math and learn new languages and play music with their peers.

Public schools give children the skills to read and reason that support the study of holy texts, the ability to lead in communities of faith, and the ability to articulate the mystical, life-changing experiences which grab them in the thin places and flow forth from their precious souls.

And in North Carolina, public schools struggle to overcome the negligently insufficient funding they receive from the state, from counties, and even from the federal government.

This is a season in which the tenacity of our public schools and those faithful servants who labor in them must be nourished by faith communities who know and champion the value of public education.

In this season where students, teachers, administrators, bus drivers, janitors, support staff, nurses, psychologists, counselors, and volunteers all begin a new year, faith communities have a powerful opportunity to hold public schools in the light of love.

We invite you to use this resource to plan a Public Education Sabbath in your own faith community, and to encourage those who gather to support the stated needs of the public schools, and to advocate on behalf of the schools to those in leadership who have the power to make things better.

Please also consider joining NC Faith Leaders for Public education, a network that will support these efforts across the state. You can learn more by visiting www.ncchurches.org/ncflpe.

May this be our prayer: that the God who formed and loves every child, who grieves over their suffering and whispers courage in the midst of their struggle, would embolden us all; that we would not shrink in the face of hard things; that we would sustain our commitment to strengthening our schools by showing up, by advocating, and by speaking truth in the face of injustice. May God be our gumption and our redeemer.