Rev. Dr. James Goodlet…Stepping Out

Sunday Worship - FPC LaGrange - August 9th, 2026

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SPEAKER_01 0:00

Oh. There are plenty if they need to switch it out at the end, just so I've just been told. So if you'd like to do that, that is fine. What a great event, right? That is the best noise there is. And I will tell you, it's we we consider the high holy Sundays of the year or the high holy days of the year. Easter, which gets its own kind of sermon. Christmas time, which gets its own kind of sermon. But I will tell you, I'm beginning to think that Blessing of the Backpack Sunday is one of our highest holy Sundays of the year. And it deserves its own kind of message. If you're on social media much these days, you've seen them. And if you're not on social media, then you can probably imagine. Pictures. Pictures everywhere. First day of school pictures. I'm not exactly sure when it happened, but sometime over the course of the last 20 years, it became time-honored tradition for families to post pictures of their young ones headed off for the first day of school. Unless you think I'm cynical about this, let me just be very clear that the Goodlets are very much a part of this movement. But some I have noticed, they put their own kind of spin on this tradition, on this practice. For instance, some of our members here, the Westmoreland family. The Westmorelands, I've noticed, mandate that their children, Mary Maddox and Grady, jump off a series of steps mid-air and take a picture. So over the last 20 years, you've got various iterations of Mary Maddox and Grady mid-air with backpacks like this. And the practice has continued. Whatever it might be. And they put, they ask their children to hold these as a form of documentation. I've seen a number of our own people do that this year. Then there are those who go a different route. There are folks who take the first day picture and then the last day picture so that we can verify that, yes, their children survived the year. But then there's the flip side of this practice, the proverbial other side of the camera. Because standing opposite these children are parents and guardians experiencing the gamut of emotions. Some of them, some of us, I should say, are shamelessly sobbing, while others are pushing their children out the door. I heard about a local clothing boutique who on Friday was offering mimosas to parents at 10 a.m. after the inaugural drop-off of the year. And appropriately enough, this boutique dubbed the event Boohoo's and Yahoo's. For my part, I'll just say I'm not a fan of the kids getting older. Not just our own, but I will also say those of this church. Specifically, I will say it's not easy watching our recent high school graduates head off to Athens or Statesboro or Auburn or Tuscaloosa or West Georgia when they've been in our care for the last 18 years. One of my favorite movies of all time is The Shawshank Redemption. And there's a quote from that movie that I think is appropriate as we watch them leave, these students leave, and really any of our students. The quote is: I have to remind myself that some birds aren't meant to be caged. Their feathers are just too bright. And when they fly away, the part of you that knows it was a sin to lock them up does rejoice. But still the place you live in is that much more drab and empty that they're gone. Stepping out is both heartwarming and heartbreaking. It is the very definition of the word bittersweet. And it is part of this wild and wonderful life that we get to live watching our children, all of these children, chart a course on different waters, which can mean separate waters. All that we have going on today, blessing backpacks, and later we're going to hear from Anna Knight report from the session, and then we're going to have a congregational meeting, electing officers. I promised that I would keep my words relatively short for any preacher that's challenging. For me, it's nearly impossible. But for the sake of brevity, I want to simply say on this blessing of the backpack Sunday, as we watch our children grow up before our very eyes, smack dab, we are right in the middle of families dropping their children and grandchildren off at schools, colleges, and universities. It is a season awash in the memories of our own first days of school and those of whom we love. I just want to suggest that there is comfort in knowing that once a day comes along, when we or the people we love have to dip our toes or they dip their toes in the waters of uncertainty, whatever that may look like, there is comfort in knowing there is someone there amid the crashing waves and rolling thunder to lift them up when we inevitably begin to sink. Because stepping out isn't a solitary act, it is a faithful one. Both for the people leaving the boat and for those watching them take those first steps elsewhere. I can't help but relate to Peter's friends. Can you imagine Peter's friends? I bet all of you can really relate, actually, to Peter's friends. He was there, he was, he saw his Lord, and he wanted to get out of the boat. He wanted to leave the safety of the boat behind.

SPEAKER_00 8:15

And Peter's friends were probably like, no, you can't leave. You've got to stay right here. We gotta wrap our arms around you. We are going to protect you with every fiber of our being. You can't leave us. We you, if you do that, we might lose you.

SPEAKER_01 8:36

But deep down they also knew that they had to let him go. And they had to let him grow. And they had to trust that no matter the risks they might face, the only way forward for Peter and for them was to let him leave the boat. And it probably went against every protective instinct that they had. But they had to do it. It had to be done. They had to let him leave the boat behind so that he could grow up. Today we bless backpacks. We bless those who are wearing them. But we didn't only do that, we did something else as a church. We said to Peter, we said to our children, you may belong to us and we may want to keep you in the boat forever and forever and forever, but we understand that the time has come for you to step out toward something and someone else. And perhaps the most faithful thing we can do as a church is to let them leave the safety of the boat behind, even when or if the storms close in, trusting that what we have all done together as a church has gotten them this far. And that someone else will have to be there to reach down into the abyss and to pull them up by the hand and to let them know that everything is going to be okay, and to say to these Peters of the world, these children, don't be afraid. And it's not to say our work with them is done once they leave the boat. They will return to us, we hope, at some point. But when they do, they will probably be different. They will probably have changed, they will have learned something new. Because they will realize that there is a great big blue world out there with dangers and wonders of plenty, and they will also understand that wherever it is that they go, God is with them. And so it is that we launch into another school year with a dissonant chorus of boo-hoos and yahoos there. But it's not only the children among us who step out, it's we who make a choice each and every day to leave the boats of safety and security behind and risk the turbulent waters. I'm not just talking about the children. I'm not just talking about Peter. I'm talking about you parents who watched as your children, and you grandparents who watched as your children get on those school buses to walk those hallways, or drop your children off for the very first time in a new place. So that they can go, and so that they can grow. And it is part of this wild and wonderful life we get to live. Because when we walk on that water, wherever it is, it is Christ Himself who says to us, wherever we go, take my hand. Don't be afraid.