Blessings to you, this fine Sunday morning!
Blessings to those who are with us today, and those who are praying with us at a later time.
Blessings to those who want to be here but can’t.
Blessings to those whom you love… and those whom you like.
And blessings to those whom you dislike. And those you disagree with.
Blessings: it’s a word we use quite often; in scriptures and in ordinary, not-grand ways… like verbal punctuation (oh bless)
It can be self-directed in a casual acknowledgement of a surprise (bless my soul).
It can be a carry over from the medieval plague where a ‘Bless you!’ following a sneeze was a way of saying “I wish for your health”
And, if we’re not careful, we can misuse the word bless as a negative against something we don’t like (Bless her heart). The word hasn’t changed, but the meaning has.
So let’s talk about the meaning of bless:
A blessing is understood as a beneficial thing, for which we are grateful.
To be blessed means that we recognise that we are in the presence of God.
Blessings come from God: so, at times, we have understood that when something goes our way, it means that we have received a blessing.
And yes: often that’s accurate!
When there is a sunny day that brightens our mood, we are blessed.
When there is a move to peace and away from conflict, we are blessed.
When there is an expression of love, we are blessed.
And when there is a chance for us to recognise that God’s providence is for ALL people, not just ourselves and our preferred social circle, then we are blessed.
Because that is a substantial difference between a true blessing and a moment of good fortune:
Blessings are good for everyone.
Good fortune or good luck may not always be.
An easy, surface-level example, this SuperBowl Sunday:
Blessings will abound if there is a healthy and happy competition in sport; with no injuries or fights (between players and fans).
Good fortune will be with the winning team; but the team that walks away without a winning ring – less so. (That’s not to say that they’re not fortunate to be there- just getting TO the SuperBowl is a big deal! But only one team is fortunate enough to win.
And we can see this in every aspect of our lives: engaging competition that encourages us to do our best is different than a rivalry over a common goal that can’t be shared. When we think of life in terms of winners and losers, when we feel that only the winners matter, we have moved away from blessings.
That type of thinking moves away from community; it moves away from the connection that God has gifted us with.
It can be dangerous, then, should we start to ascribe our fortunate moments with experiences of blessing:
Winning a lottery is fortunate; but it is a personal gain.
To suggest that personal gain is a blessing is to suggest that everyone else who did *not* win that lottery is not blessed – or worse yet, that they are UNblessed.
And the UNblessed, of course, are the cursed.
To curse someone is to wish them harm – to extend malice – to have such a hardened heart as to reject their humanity.
To curse someone is not of God:
Curses may invoke another supernatural force, but that is an evil we refuse. We reject the spiritual forces of wickedness that take us away from God.
As that’s not where we want to be:
So we bless.
Knowing that God’s blessings will never inflict pain; they will never create division; they will not endure suffering.
Instead, they build up, they heal, they invite intentional self-reflection in a way that will challenge us to be the best version of ourselves.
God’s blessings will benefit everyone: bless the fortunate and the unfortunate; the Christian and the non-Christian; the rich and the poor; every age, every gender, everyone.
And if something doesn’t benefit us all, or is not accessible to us all, then it isn’t a blessing. And it’s not something we want to receive.
SO how DO we receive these blessings?
We receive the blessings of God when we trust in God:
As Jeremiah said “Blessed are those who trust in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord” – not that trusting God will make everything perfect. Again, that’s focusing on personal preference. Trusting in God is knowing that God is with us when everything is NOT perfect. Which is to say: every day. We trust in God despite the challenges of life; and we are blessed with the comfort that faith affords.
And with that comfort, we are empowered to go into the world and offer comfort: and thus BE a blessing.
We receive the blessings of God when we regularly return to scripture to learn more from God.
The psalmist makes it clear: their delight is in the law of the Lord”
Connecting with God is a lifelong commitment, it is a return to scriptures and a journey with other like-minded folk. It is a willingness to learn and grow and mature from one another, to choose wisely in how we will use our connections to better serve God’s people.
With this learning, we are empowered to go into the world and offer companionship; walking in the way of God’s peace, bearing fruitful actions of love, and thus BE a blessing.
We receive the blessings of God when we have the confidence that Paul shared with the church in Corinth, saying “in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died.”
For this statement assures the promises of the Messiah; it fulfills the prophesies of old, it embraces the audacity of hope: for the resurrection confirms our hope.
It emboldens our faith, it anchors us in the family of God. It articulates that we are loved, forgiven, free, in ways that are bigger and better than anything this world can provide.
And with this audacity, we are empowered to go into the world as ambassadors of hope, offering God’s Good News - and thus BE a blessing.
And of course we receive the blessings of God that Jesus himself identifies in the beatitudes: those expressions of everyday reality, of what it means to be human.
The blessings that we don’t always recognise as blessings: of poverty, for it means we have escaped being trapped by earthly things; of hunger, for it means we have not lived in greed but have shared of our bounty; for the heartbroken, who have risked love and know it’s benefits, and who will again know love and happiness.
Blessings, Jesus shares, happen here in earth when we come together for communal goodness; and these blessings are a foretaste of the goodness of the life to come, when the goodness of God will be fully known by all, and all shall rejoice and be glad. Jesus blesses with the challenging lessons that life’s not just about amassing favours for ourselves, but about seeking the blessings we have in the ordinary everyday, and sharing them.
with these blessings, we are empowered to go into the world and offer the blessings we have received: and thus BE a blessing.
We receive the blessings of God when we open our hearts, our minds, our lives to others: when we orient our gifts and skills and talents for the well-being of others;
When we seek new ways to come together, in a commitment to unity within diversity, with a desire for collaboration instead of competition, with a prayer for building the kingdom of God instead of dwelling in the power of the ego.
We receive the blessings of God together.
So let’s consider today: an ordinary Sunday: how has God blessed us today?
What blessings do we celebrate today?
What blessings do we overlook, or take for granted?
What blessings do we not even see – as we’ve never stopped to think about them?
And: How is God showing us a way to make this ordinary Sunday an extraordinary day of goodness and grace?
For God’s world – this world – is a joyous abundance of blessings.
We receive a blessing when we focus on the goodness that is in our lives;
We become a blessing when we work towards sharing that goodness.
We are blessed, indeed, when we recognise the opportunities that God has put before us:
Opportunities to love and care, to help and empower and encourage.
So let’s dive into the beauty of blessings. The audacity of hope; the comfort of community, the gift of faith: the presence of God.
We are blessed. And we are blessing: in the name of God.
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