Words can be so inadequate when it comes to the depths of our experience, the depths of our feeling, and the depths of the realities for which we use words like “soul” and “God”. Words cannot convey our awe, our grief, our joy, our fear, our gratitude, our struggles, our experience of grace, our experience of blessing.
Yet there are certain ways of using words that have a real power to them.
One such way that we use often in the practice of our faith is to use words of blessing.
“Peace.” I wish you peace. From my heart to yours, in the full light of God, may you each be blessed with Peace, the Peace of Christ, which surpasses understanding.
Jesus’ final blessing to his disciples was to bless them with the peace that he knew in his heart, from God: “My peace I give to you.” That gift has been a gift that has kept on giving through a great lineage of blessing. (John 14:27)
Blessings are gifts from God, which we receive and we pass on, gifts that multiply through the giving and receiving.
Speaking to one another in words of blessing can have a sincerity and a power and a musical resonance that leaps across the distance from heart to another.
Blessings don’t just say. Blessings do. Blessings truly bless.
To speak sincere words of blessing to someone is to invite them to be open to the Spirit of God, that Spirit which can humble is, sanctify us, transform us. To speak sincere words of blessing opens us to truer relationship with each other, truer relationship with God. A sincere blessing can open the horizon for someone to a much greater Realm, a Holy Realm, of what is possible when we live open to the reality of God. That is a blessing.
So, offering words of blessing is a spiritual practice.
And like any good spiritual practice, it can be simple. It can be enough to wish someone “Peace,” or “Be well,” or “Stay safe,” or “Have a good day,” or even “Keep it real” (these days we need that kind of blessing).
It’s all about how we do it, so it’s not rote but truly from the heart.
The practice is to be intentional about how speaking words of blessing asks us to touch in with our soul, and with our soul’s living relationship with the living God, which we know through Christ. And from that place within ourselves, the practice of blessing leads us to touch in with the soul of the one we are blessing and to invite that soul, to harken that soul to its living relationship with the living God.
This all can happen in an instant, when we simply are being earnest about what we truly wish for this person, what we truly pray for them and for the state of their soul.
The act of blessing is an embodied way of praying. If you’re giving someone a blessing or receiving a blessing, don’t you just naturally want to put your hand on your heart? Feel that warmth. Blessing calls us to feel the union of body and soul, the communion between heaven and earth, in this act of being present in this moment of communion between two people.
The act of blessing is a good way to get out of being self-absorbed, or otherwise entrapped in toxic thoughts. If we’re invited to bless one another it calls on our better selves, it calls on us to see more deeply into the true needs of the person we’re blessing.
Like any good spiritual practice, blessing is good to do even – or especially – when we don’t feel like doing it.
Remember that Jesus taught, “Bless those who curse you.”
The Apostle Paul urged this too. And it was a strong feature of the early followers of the Way of Jesus: they were known as holy fools who answer a curse with a blessing.
When we find ourselves just clenched in fury with someone, or gnawing on some long resentment, what would it be like to pray for them, to pray a blessing upon them, in the light of God’s strength and mercy?
This does not mean praying against our own safety. I want to be clear about that. Be safe. Be of good courage to fight for what is true and good and just.
Praying for our enemy does not mean praying for someone’s success in being a jerk.
This means sincerely praying that they may be liberated from their jerkhood – because jerkhood is a form of suffering too.
May they allow themselves to feel some mercy from God, who created them … and who can destroy them. This means putting justice in God’s hands, not ours. This means praying for their humanity, for the wellness of their souls. Praying for our enemies means freeing our own souls from being constricted and defined by them, and by our conflict with them. To bless is to once again remember the blessings that we receive, and the blessing that we are created to be. And sometimes the person cursing us who we need to bless, is ourselves.
Offering a blessing is also a powerful practice when we encounter someone who suffering in a way that just tears at our hearts. Compassion compels us to do what we can to ease that suffering. But sometimes, many times, what we can do is not enough. Offering someone a blessing for what you sincerely wish for them, grounding that blessing in God, letting the Peace of Christ breathe into that blessing, this is something we can always do for someone who is suffering, near or far.
This is a helpful practice to remember when we are looking at the news, and perhaps feeling distressed and helpless.
What words of blessing would express your sincerest wish for each other, and for this beautiful and broken world?
So, I thought it’d be fun if I shared with you some blessings.
This is the blessing that Moses received from his revelation of God, along with the guidance to have the priests of Israel bless the people:
“May God bless you and keep you!
May God’s presence shine upon you and be gracious with you!
May God’s countenance be lifted to you and give you peace.” (Numbers 6:23-27)
And here is a blessing from John O’Donohue who was an Irish poet and teacher of Celtic Christianity. Just notice as you experience these words how they have a way of moving us to truly experience the blessing they wish for us:
John O’Donohue “For Presence” (To Bless The Space Between Us, pg. 42)
Awaken to the mystery of being here
And enter the quiet immensity of your own presence.
Have joy and peace in the temple of your senses.
Receive encouragement when new frontiers beckon.
Respond to the call of your gift and the courage to follow its path.
Let the flame of anger free of you of all falsity.
May warmth of heart keep your presence aflame.
May anxiety never linger about you.
May your outer dignity mirror an inner dignity of soul.
Take time to celebrate the quiet miracles that seek no attention.
Be consoled in the secret symmetry of your soul.
May you experience each day as a sacred gift woven around the heart of wonder.
And then there are blessings that are just as rousing as they are comforting. Here is well-loved Franciscan blessing:
May God bless you with a restless discomfort
about easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships,
so that you may seek truth boldly and love deep within your heart.
May God bless you with holy anger
at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people,
so that you may tirelessly work for justice, freedom, and peace among all people.
May God bless you with the gift of tears
to shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation, or the loss of all that they cherish,
so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and transform their pain into joy.
May God bless you with enough foolishness
to believe that you really can make a difference in this world,
so that you are able, with God’s grace, to do what others claim cannot be done.
The most powerful blessings directly name and speak to our troubles as they bless us to grow beyond them with the help of God.
Just listen to this blessing, again by John O’Donohue:
John O’Donohue “To Come Home to Yourself” (To Bless the Space Between Us, pg. 97)
May all that is unforgiven in you
Be released.
May your fears yield
Their deepest tranquilities
May all that is unlived in you
Blossom into a future
Graced with love.
Our grief, our guilt, our fear, all of us, all is fodder for the hearth-fire of a blessing.
So, let me give you some homework:
In the course of this week, find at least one person in your life to offer a blessing to … that person could be someone close, someone far, someone you know or don’t know, someone you like or don’t like … that someone could be yourself.
Pray on what that blessing could be, that expresses your deepest wishes for them, for the wellness of their souls. And then find a way to give them that blessing. Whether that’s in a letter, or a message, or over the phone, or in person. Or maybe circumstances are that you can only pray that blessing for them between you and God.
Let’s all endeavor to do this at least once this week. And then notice what happens. We may find we want to keep doing it. We find more people to bless, more ways to bless them. We can pray on what blessings we would wish for ourselves. We may then experiment with blessing our enemies.
Alright? Let me know how that practice goes for you.
Now, all that said, allow me, if you like, to offer you a blessing:
Beloved of God
May you know, more and more, your beloved-ness before your Creator
May you grow in knowing the beloved-ness of each and all, before the Eternal Source of all Life
Beloved of God
May you grow in knowing the blessing you have to offer others
May you grow in your openness to receive the blessings that others have to give you.
May the cycles of these blessings free your heart, and strengthen it.
Beloved of God
May you know that is not by your virtue that you are saved or by its lack that you are condemned
But that you are surrounded and filled at all times by the abundant Grace God freely offers.
May you say Yes to this Grace, and keep saying Yes. May your moments of No not deter you from always returning to the eternal invitation. And as you return and return to your true home in the embrace of God’s Grace, may those voices of “No” diminish in their power over you. May you become free from the judgment you suffer, and the judgment you inflict.
Beloved of God
May your souls awaken
May you arise as embodied souls
Embracing the powers and potentials to which God has entrusted you
Hearkening to your Call to use those powers and potentials in whatever station of life you are in, in your special role in our beloved community tasked with serving and uplifting all on behalf of the Realm of God.
Beloved of God,
May you be blessed, head to toe,
body to soul,
as individuals, and as a community, within this interconnected world.
In the Name of the Creator, the Christ, and the Holy Spirit,
To Whom I give thanks and praise.
Amen.
(Delivered Sunday, July 10, 2022, by Rev. Nathaniel Mahlberg, at the United Church of Christ at Valley Forge)
(Image by Christine Schmidt from Pixabay)
The Dandelion Way 