The day after Labor Day is a kind of unofficial start of autumn. At least it is part of my thinking about the passing of seasons. There were some years when I was growing up when it was the first day of school. Our grandkids had two and a half days of school last week followed by the three day weekend. I’m pretty sure that it would be difficult to make a case for such a schedule if you were basing it on the needs of children and the processes of teaching and learning. Of course the schedules of the school are developed in a complex interplay of state requirements about the number of days of teaching, contracts with teachers that often involve schedules as well as wages and benefits, local traditions and the needs of local businesses for summer employees, and a host of other factors.

There is an argument made that a slow start to school helps children make the transition from summer schedules to school schedules. 2 1/2 days last week, four days this week, and the first full five day week next week. Maybe that is the case, but the schedule certainly creates challenges for working parents and childcare agencies.

In the church, we pay close attention to school schedules. We check the calendars of the schools when planning our programs and activities. Christian education programs have long been influenced by schedules that are controlled outside of the church. The concept of Sunday School has its roots in literacy education that was offered by churches for children who were working in industry. The children only had one day off from their jobs, so that was the day when they could attend classes in reading and writing offered by churches. That concept changed over the years from the education of children who were part of the community, but not necessarily part of the church to the education of the children of the people of the church.

The bible rests responsibility for the transmission of faith from one generation to another squarely inside of the family. It is the job of parents to teach the stories of faith to their children. The bible doesn’t mention Sunday School. The attitude of churches and church leaders toward the process of faith education has shifted quite a bit in the span of my career as a pastor. I have always felt that the educational ministries are important and have been involved in them throughout my life. These days, there is little school language used in the church. We don’t speak of teaching and learning, or even of education. The currently popular term for these activities is “faith formation.” Our official title at the church is “Interim Minister of Faith Formation.” I’ve heard my colleagues go on and on about how faith is transmitted from one generation to another and how they don’t think that faith is taught in the same sense as one might teach reading or arithmetic. However, I think that the idea that we can “form” faith is a pretty vain notion. We don’t cause faith to occur. We don’t form the religious lives of children. While I hear the criticism of the verb “teach,” I don’t hear much defense of the verb “form.”

The jargon we use is every bit as convoluted and contrived as are the schedules we follow. There are lots of reasons why we use particular words to speak of these processes. Nonetheless, the program year at the church is beginning to spool up. The official kick off of the church school year isn’t until September 18 in our church this year. It probably would have been September 11, the first Sunday after Labor Day, were it not for the funeral of a prominent church member which will be that day. I’m not sure that one day is particularly better than another, but there are lot of programs that are gearing up despite the official kick off activities.

I will start my day helping launch the fall season of an adult education program this morning. I have the first regular meeting of the adult forum tomorrow. There are several other small groups who began regular meetings this week.

The starting of fall educational programs, however, is just one of the ways that we note the passing of seasons. Officially the first day of autumn in the Northern Hemisphere, which is the first day of spring in the Southern Hemisphere, is the equinox, which occurs on Thursday, September 22. It is the day when we are halfway from the longest day of the year in June and the shortest day of the year in December for those of us who live north of the equator. The term equinox comes from Latin and refers to the nearly equal amount of hours of daylight and of night that occur in some places. Of course the length of the day and night is affected by the distance between the pole and the equator, so whether or not they are equal depends on where you are located.

Harvest times and harvest festivals are common around the equinox, and the full moon that is nearest to the equinox is generally called the harvest moon. In some traditions, the full moon provides additional light for working at the harvest or for celebrating the harvest that is just completed.

Whether you are measuring by the public school year, or by the length of the days, or by the temperature outside, change is in the air and the seasons are passing. In our retirement, autumn has an additional meaning. Although we officially retired in June, we didn’t finish our move to the Pacific Northwest until October. Then we moved once again the following October. We are staying put this year and not moving this October, so it means that we are beginning to settle into this house and are feeling more at home. Having made one circuit around the year’s seasons brings us to a new sense of being settled.

However you measure it, I hope this season is one of joy and meaning for you.