Benediction and Blessing

Bishop Todd Hunter's new book Giving Church Another Chance includes a chapter on the Benediction of the Christian worship service. Yesterday I posted a short review of the book; today I want to share a story and focus on the passage of Scripture Hunter dissects in this chapter.

For starters, Hunter points out the backward attitude we tend to bring toward the Benediction, viewing it as the end of a public worship service (and thus our escape clause) instead of an opportunity for "the blessing [to go] out the door with us." Hunter sees a real need here for us to reorient our lives as blessings, not simply as evangelists or prophets, apostles or teachers. Dorothy Day, the founder of the Catholic Worker Movement, serves as a posthumous guide for Hunter during this discussion, reflecting the joy of living a life outwardly blessing others.

This chapter resonated with me in part because of Hunter's exploration of the Aaronic Blessing found in Numbers 6. That blessing has been used in tens of thousands of church services around the globe, but for me it is tied to a person and a moment from several years ago.

In my teenage years, my best friend was in ways my complete opposite. Her goals, my interests, they never really meshed, yet we still found enough commonality to spend hours each week on our parents' cordless phones. We encouraged one another, made each other laugh, and tried to set each other up on dates as we got older. And of course, we had the obligatory "if we're both single at 30, we'll buy such-and-such-a-house and get married" plan all set up, realizing of course that 30 is a lifetime away when you are 15 years old.

This backdrop was really just a small part of a friendship built in prayer, laughter and love. We knew each others' faults, our greatest strengths, we prayed for one another and held each other responsible for being better at living the image of God.

One spring, as the school year was quickly winding down and we knew camps and programs would prevent us from chatting for a while, she took a moment to write a Scripture reference inside the cover of my Bible. That Bible, Duct tape cover and all, is long gone by this day, but the power of my first Benediction has remained for a decade after the fact. I have only seen her once since that day (and our meet up was 5 years ago) but still the invocation of Aaron's Blessing speaks God's power to me in a way I cannot always explain. Hunter explains God's intentions for us that lie in the blessing:

• May he give you favor and cause you to prosper richly in every good spiritual gift there is in Christ Jesus.
• May you know the goodness of God in action, may he guard you, watch over you and protect you.
• May you sense the favor of your Creator God, that he is please with you.
• May you be aware of God's forgiveness, compassion and mercy.
• May you see in Jesus' face you much pleasure God takes in you and how very much God loves you and accepts you right where you are.
• May you have shalom - the fullness of well-being. May you experience the sum of all the good God intends for his people; may you be at rest and centered in Christ Jesus, who is our Lord.