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Ordinary Time (First Section)Early Years and Primary Education Week 7 · Day 1

Scripture References

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Old Testament

Exodus 17:8-13

⁸ Then Amalek came and fought with Israel in Rephidim.
⁹ Moses said to Joshua, “Choose men for us, and go out to fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with God’s rod in my hand.”
¹⁰ So Joshua did as Moses had told him, and fought with Amalek; and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill.

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¹¹ When Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed. When he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed.
¹² But Moses’ hands were heavy; so they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side. His hands were steady until sunset.
¹³ Joshua defeated Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.

New Testament

Galatians 6:2-10

² Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.
³ For if a man thinks himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.
⁴ But let each man examine his own work, and then he will have reason to boast in himself, and not in someone else.

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⁵ For each man will bear his own burden.
⁶ But let him who is taught in the word share all good things with him who teaches.
⁷ Don’t be deceived. God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.
⁸ For he who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption. But he who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.
⁹ Let’s not be weary in doing good, for we will reap in due season if we don’t give up.
¹⁰ So then, as we have opportunity, let’s do what is good towards all men, and especially towards those who are of the household of the faith.

Thought for the Day

In Exodus 17 the scene is almost unadorned: Moses stands with hands lifted, and, when weariness arrives, Aaron and Hur come close enough to bear the weight with him. They find a stone for him to sit on, and they hold his arms steady until sundown. The victory is not credited to solitary heroics. It is sustained by shared faithfulness.

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Galatians 6 names the same wisdom without drama: “Bear one another’s burdens.” Yet Paul also says each must carry their own load. Scripture is not calling us to blurred boundaries or to saviour-complexes. It is calling us to love that notices when the weight is too much, and steps in.

Teachers carry more than lesson plans. They carry rooms of small lives: questions, fears, tempers, gifts, hunger for attention. They carry targets, inspections, tired systems, and the ache of trying to be patient again. The Church’s calling is not to romanticise this, nor to sit in judgement from a distance, but to notice it and to pray.

Lord, teach us to ‘hold up the hands’ of those who teach: by intercession, by practical support, by honouring words, by encouragement when the week has been long. Guard our public talk from cheap suspicion. Make our common life kinder, for the sake of the children.

Prayer Points

Respond

Lord, strengthen teachers who are weary, and give them patience, joy, and steadiness
Provide wise headteachers and leaders, able to protect staff and children with courage and fairness
Heal what is brittle in schools: strained relationships, anxiety, and exhaustion

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Forgive us where we criticise from a distance, and teach us to bear burdens with love
Make the Church a faithful neighbour to schools, supporting staff and children as brethren at one table

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