Above: Students from Valley Lutheran and Midland and Bay area grade schools fill the gym in a joint chapel service on Wednesday, March 4.

There’s an ongoing debate of when to “officially” hold Lutheran Schools Week. The debate is friendly, and really, it’s about celebrating Lutheran Schools – not “picking” a right or wrong week – but it goes on none-the-less.  The Lutheran Schools Week “debate” pits the last week of January and the first week of March against one another.

Remember the 2018-2019 school year, when nearly all schools in Michigan were closed for the entire last week in January??!! Many schools had planned Lutheran Schools Week for that week, only to send daily messages of the latest closure. In 2020, with many schools opting for the March week to avoid such cancellations, students have only had a couple snow days throughout the whole 2019-2020 school year!

Here at Valley Lutheran, we’re not advocating for your school to pick one week or another, but we are here to celebrate Lutheran Schools Week – and Lutheran School education throughout the year – with you!

And this year, we celebrated with over 800 students in a joint chapel service held on March 4, 2020. Lutheran School students and teachers from the Bay and Midland area joined together to hear a powerful message from Pastor Mandla Khumalo, from St. Peter Confessional Lutheran Church in Middelburg, South Africa.

Pastor Khumalo’s message was about trust – and the many places we can put our trust. We can trust in our education, in our mind, in our strength, and in our things. But did you notice all the “our” words in that last sentence? “Our” is not perfect. “Our” will fail.

Instead, Pastor Khumalo instructed, put your trust in the Lord, because that trust will never, never go wrong.  The Bible tells us to “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5, ESV).  When we put our trust in God, we are acknowledging that HE is our creator, He made us and loves us, and that HE is our provider, He gives us what we need, even our next breath!

*At the time of this writing, schools have cancelled all activities and school itself, for the remainder of March. It is fitting that this message was provided to our students and teachers a few weeks before the mandated shutdown. It is a wonderful reminder now, as we face upcoming weeks of uncertainty, that our trust should be placed in the ONE that gives us breath.