Blessed Backpacks

“So Jacob rose early in the morning, and he took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up for a pillar.” — Genesis 28:18

It’s time once again. Textbooks bought, uniforms donned, backpacks packed, and a new year begins, with all the hope and trepidation that brings.

School can be exciting. New teachers, new ideas, new friends, new activities. Maybe it’s finally time to start that math class we’ve been looking forward to, or learn that musical instrument we’ve been wanting to try. Maybe this is the year we move up to the varsity team, join the school play, help make the yearbook. Maybe it’s our very first day of school, ever — or maybe it’s our last first day before we graduate.

There’s an energy in the air. The joy of imagining what can be. The natural momentum of something new.

But school can also be scary. There are new teachers, and new ideas, and new friends, and new activities. The familiar is gone, at least in part, and we have to reckon with the unknown. Maybe we’re in a new district or a new building this year. Maybe it’s finally time for that math class we’ve been dreading. Maybe it’s the year we have to choose between soccer and gymnastics because the practices have gotten too long. Maybe it’s our first time at school all day, every day — or maybe all we can think about is college applications.

Imagination is in the air, but sometimes it’s not so helpful. Sometimes we struggle not to focus on imagining all the things that could go wrong.

A lot of churches these days are celebrating the beginning of the school year with a particular ritual called the “Blessing of the Backpacks.” It’s one of my favourite simple moments in church life. Even into seminary and doctoral work, I used to bring my backpack to worship to be blessed with all the others. The haphazard pile grew like a makeshift altar of leather duffles, canvas bags, and staples from Staples, all dotted with unicorns and sharks and meticulous monograms and glitter. Bound in that altar of found stones were all the hopes and dreams and fears of a new school year, gathered together and lifted to God to help us hold.

Throughout the world, gathered stones have served as ritual markers of significant moments and holy places. There is the cairn in Scotland, the ovoo in Mongolia, the standing stone in the ancient Near East. We gather whatever is to hand, and we make it holy.

When Jacob dreams of the angels of heaven, he wakes to make an altar with the stone he had used as a pillow. And today, churches across the country are gathering backpacks to make them holy.

May those of you beginning a new school year feel all the love and support and encouragement you need to dream.

Grace and peace,

The Rev. Rachel Erin Stuart is Senior Pastor of Hurlbut Memorial Community UMC.