Greeting:
As we begin a new school year, we recall the past and look to the future. We remember the refreshing days of summer, and prepare to enter a new time of our lives.

We welcome both the the old and new members to our Ben Calf Robe School community. We are grateful for the chance to make new friends, to work with new teachers and new staff, and to begin a new year of learning adventures, together.

Today's celebration will help all of us to begin this year together. Sometimes we need to do things by ourselves, but most of the time we need to do things together. We work together. We play together. We pray and celebrate together.

Today we ask the Lord's blessings be given for each one of us, and for each day of this year we will share together.

And so we begin...
"In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit...Amen"

Reading:
Legend

Response:
We show our love for others at home, in school, and at play.
We show our love for God by praying, by taking care of ourselves, and by helping others.
Jesus, we want to be your friends. Teach us how to love God. Show us how to be friends with You and each other.
Take us by the hand...as we reach out for one another's hand.
Amen

Song: Open the Circle
(During this song, each class will bring up their open circle of hands, to be hung at the front.)

Symbolic Story:
A Bundle of Sticks

Hold up a stick.
Ask the students if this stick would be easy or hard to break.
Have a student come up and break the stick.
Now ask the students what would happen if you had 20 of these sticks together. Would they be as easy to break?
Have that same student (or another) attempt to break the bundle of 20 sticks.

"My friends, each of us is like the stick that can be broken. But when we stand together with other sticks, we are not easily broken.
You can see for yourselves...
ALONE each of us is WEAK. TOGETHER WE ARE STRONG!"

At this time, each class will take a turn bringing up their class bundle of sticks.
As each bundle is placed, the students respond...

"May the Lord enlighten your mind to new knowledge and move your heart to greater love. May we be patient and open to change. May we make solid friendships that last a lifetime and may we live in a spirit of cooperation in school, at home, and in our community. This we ask, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit."
Amen

Closing Song:
Taking Our Place