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Teachers and families with children know that once September arrives it's never long before they need to get back into the old school routine. After a memorably long, hot and necessarily lazy summer the idea of being shoehorned into demanding and monotonous schedules is quite frightening. In September there is less time to have fun and relax. With September come those autumn smells and the first of those horrible dark, wet evenings. But September is also a good time to establish positive, new routines: "The Bridge" (see details in the magazine) could be one of them.
There are routines at Colleges and Universities as well, of course. As a University Chaplain the routines I am most interested in (apart from my own) are the ones which our new students will adopt. To a considerable extent their lifestyle patterns for the whole year will be influenced by the habits they develop very early on in term-time: where and when they eat, their friendship groups and - in the case of the 'faithful few' - how they will continue their commitment to Christian life and worship. Part of my job is to try and get as many of these as I can into some good routines, including Sunday and weekday services.
Sadly, the word 'routine' is often associated with repetitive or boring things: once something is 'routine' it is no longer interesting. 'Routine' is also used to describe an event which is considered trivial or unremarkable: people talk about going to hospital for a 'routine operation' and nobody gets too worried. It's a shame we use the word like that because the routines we get
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ourselves into can have all sorts of positive aspects: bright and happy is the student (for example) who gets up early, has a proper breakfast (included in the room price, but a foolish majority sleep through it!), organises his or her time in the library and at lectures and is then is free do enjoyable things in the evenings, without feeling under pressure. Most people can think of areas of life at home or at work which only make sense when undertaken as part of a settled routine.
Prayer and worship should be part of every faithful person's structured daily and weekly routines. And prayer and worship are so important that they should be really be the most fundamental elements of all our routines, reflecting their huge significance of our Christian faith in life as a whole. Once established as part of a routine things are, of course, easier to do and less likely to be forgotten about.
Lord of all grace and power, send your blessings on the young people of our church and community.
May they enjoy the good things which you have prepared for them and learn to use their time and talents rightly and unselfishly, thinking of others as well as themselves.
Guide their lives and routines according to your will, and strengthen them for the work and purposes to which you are calling them.
We ask these things in the name of our Saviour Jesus Christ.
Amen.
Stephen Laird
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