UUFA will be holding a backpack blessing on Sunday, August 7th at 10:30 AM. All students are welcome to bring their backpacks to be blessed at an intergenerational service with Rev. Pippin.
Blessing of the Backpacks
More Unitarian Universalist congregations are holding backpack blessings at the beginning of the school and congregational year: each child (and an invited friend, sometimes!) brings their school backpack to worship on the appointed day, and the congregation “blesses” the children and their backpacks. In some congregations, children also receive a small token (like a special talisman) to clip to their backpack.
In the words of Carolyn C. Brown,* backpack blessings embody two important messages to children:
- They realize that they and their lives are important to the church. They see themselves as significant members of the congregation.
- They hear that God (or the Source of Love) is with them at school and that their church cares about what happens there. God and church are not “off to the side” or just a Sunday thing.
*Carolyn Brown is a Certified Christian Educator in the Presbyterian Church USA (PCUSA).
