The day’s materials
Early Years and Primary Education
Faith and Early Learning
Psalm 25:4-7
Old Testament
Show me your ways, LORD. Teach me your paths. Guide me in your truth, and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation. I wait for you all day long. LORD, remember your tender mercies and your loving kindness, for they are from old times. Don’t remember the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions. Remember me according to your loving kindness, for your goodness’ sake, LORD.
Colossians 2:2-3
New Testament
that their hearts may be comforted, they being knit together in love, and gaining all riches of the full assurance of understanding, that they may know the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ, in whom all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden.
Psalm 25 sounds like a child’s prayer grown into adult words: “Show me your ways… teach me your paths.” It is learning addressed to God, not to pride. And it is learning that makes room for mercy: “Do not remember the sins of my youth.” The psalmist wants guidance and forgiveness together, and he dares to ask for both.
Colossians directs our hunger for knowledge to its true home: in Christ are “all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” Not hidden to mock us, but held safely. In him hearts are encouraged and drawn together, so that knowing is not a lonely competition but a shared strengthening.
Early learning is not only about information; it is about formation. What do we call true? What do we love? What do we do when we are wrong? The classroom is one of the places where these loves are quietly trained, and where a child first learns whether truth is safe, and whether mistakes can be redeemed.
Lord Jesus, make our teaching and learning gentle and brave. Guard curiosity from cynicism. Give teachers patience, clarity, and joy. And let the Church offer young minds not slogans, but Christ himself: steady wisdom and tender mercy.
Prayer Points
- Lord, teach children your ways, and make their learning places of kindness and truth
- Give wisdom to teachers as they shape early minds, and protect them from discouragement
- Guard children from shame, anxiety, and cruelty, and give them friends and adults who are safe
- Strengthen parents and carers, especially those with little support, and provide patient help
- Make your Church a humble school of Christ, where young and old learn as brethren at one table