STORYLINE
  • A Community Collective
    • What We Do
    • Clackamas Land and Housing Cohort >
      • The Housing Highway
    • Community Organizing 101
    • SE PDX Youth Collective
  • A Community of Faith
    • What is Our Sunday Gathering like?
    • Schedule + Rhythms: Pentecost 2025
    • Sermon Bibliography
    • The Naked Sermon Podcast
  • Our Story
    • Our Values and Welcome
    • Our Team
  • Give
    • Give
    • Our Financial Values and Practices
    • Neighborhood Mutual Aid
  • Connect
    • Stay in the know!
    • Coffee with a leader
    • Contact
  • Press

Backpack Blessing

A blessing for our students and teachers and families to carry with them as they step into the first week of school!
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We bless this backpack that you, the wearer, …[name]...
May carry with you the
life-giving, love-weaving, courage
of your whole community
and of a God who comes close, 

who lives in every breath of being human,
And even in the threads of this backpack, to remind you…

You are always loved, and you are never, not for one second alone.
Something special and sacred lives
In every ordinary moment you touch because
you are a part of growing life.


In every pencil your hands sharpen
In every question and curiosity that pops into your mind.
In every page you turn to see what’s next.

In every note you sing,
In every loud (or quiet) cafeteria conversation.
In every chore - (even the boring ones) - that help your family get ready for the day.
In every little part of your bedtime routine that leads your body to rest.

May you sense that you are growing life,
In every smile and warm hello,
In every moment that you feel confident and can help someone else,

AND every moment that you feel lost and need help yourself.
And may you know that you are never alone,
Both when your body is filled with happy, connected energy,
AND when you are so frustrated or anxious that you feel like you just might explode!
Every inch of you is loved.

As you wear this backpack may you feel that life-giving, love-weaving, courage, stretching into your hands, through your chest, into your lungs, and all the way down to your toes.

So that whatever is yours to do, you may do it with your whole heart.
Knowing that you are you are held by a community who loves you,
and a God who is always with you. ✢

Printable copy:

backpack_blessing.pdf
File Size: 27 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File


EMAIL

[email protected]

phone

503.683.2857

MAILING ADDRESS

Storyline Community
PO Box 22147
Milwaukie, OR 97222
  • A Community Collective
    • What We Do
    • Clackamas Land and Housing Cohort >
      • The Housing Highway
    • Community Organizing 101
    • SE PDX Youth Collective
  • A Community of Faith
    • What is Our Sunday Gathering like?
    • Schedule + Rhythms: Pentecost 2025
    • Sermon Bibliography
    • The Naked Sermon Podcast
  • Our Story
    • Our Values and Welcome
    • Our Team
  • Give
    • Give
    • Our Financial Values and Practices
    • Neighborhood Mutual Aid
  • Connect
    • Stay in the know!
    • Coffee with a leader
    • Contact
  • Press