School backpacks brought before the altar at local church blessing ceremony (4 photos)

Backpacks were formally blessed at Emmaus Anglican Church Sunday morning.

During the church’s Sunday service Rev. Pamela Rayment called students and educators in the congregation and say a prayer in the name of Jesus.

‘We ask you blessing on the backpacks. They will hold the work of each student and will carried from home to school and back again. As these students carry these backpacks, may they be reminded of the love and care of the congregation that surrounds them each school day,’ read the prayer.

Rayment said blessings like this have been done in other congregations and she thought it was a good idea to mark the beginning of the school year and to let students know they are an important part of the church community.

During the ceremony the backpacks received tags that said ‘blessed to be a blessing’, which related to the idea that loving other people was an extension of God’s love, and a blessing for both the giver and receiver.

Emmaus Anglican Church is less than one year old.

The church formed as a merger between St. John the Evangelist and St. Matthew's Anglican Church, and it is located on Wellington Street East, in the old St. Matthew's building said Rayment.