I am never bored in spite of all that is same. There is always something special and something unique and it is often a complete surprise. This year, it happened during communion.
At our churches we welcome everyone to come forward during communion. Young children who are not yet communing, taking the bread and wine, receive a blessing. With my thumb I trace a cross on their forehead (just like at baptism) and say the words, "Jesus bless you as you grow". I blessed a young toddler in his father's arms, and he looked me straight in the eyes and said confidently, "He does. I know." Then he smiled.
It brought smiles and giggles all around.
Just another cute kid story? Yes and also a wonderful confession of faith: 'Yes, I know that Jesus blesses me.' We should all be so confident in the love God has for us.
It reminds me of something that happened in my first year of ministry. It had become my habit to begin the benediction with the words, "And now may the Lord bless you and keep you...". It didn't take too many repetitions for a retired pastor in the congregation to take me aside and remind me to go back to Hebrew of the benediction.
In the Hebrew (and in the Greek translation) there is no maybe. The blessing is imperative. There is no question of whether or not God can bless us or may and might not bless us. "The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord's face shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord look upon you with favor and give you peace."(Numbers 6:24-26) What God promises, God keeps.
Without really thinking about what I was doing by adding my own words before the blessing, I was changing the faith statement of the blessing into a question. My friend and mentor was right to question me and to get me to not only change my words but to think deeply about what I was doing.
It is all too easy for us to turn God's love and grace into something that we are somehow responsible for either by merit or worth. Perhaps the hardest part of faith is accepting that even faith itself is God's gift to us out of God's love, that knowing us even deeper than we know ourselves, God loves us that much. It is the story Jesus tells over and over again in the parables and his teaching of God's abundant, extravagant love.
Without really thinking about what I was doing by adding my own words before the blessing, I was changing the faith statement of the blessing into a question. My friend and mentor was right to question me and to get me to not only change my words but to think deeply about what I was doing.
It is all too easy for us to turn God's love and grace into something that we are somehow responsible for either by merit or worth. Perhaps the hardest part of faith is accepting that even faith itself is God's gift to us out of God's love, that knowing us even deeper than we know ourselves, God loves us that much. It is the story Jesus tells over and over again in the parables and his teaching of God's abundant, extravagant love.
Unlike much of the giving that happens during the Christmas season, God's giving is sure and true. God so loves the world that Jesus comes and we are blessed. This is the love that God has for me and for each of you. It is not a maybe. It is not dependent on what we do or what we don't do or how we feel. It is God's promise, given and kept. Read John 3:16-17
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