Benedictions

Interesting thing, benedictions.

The word "benediction" derives from Latin, and means in its simplest form "well speaking." Well spoken. Good wishes. Nice blessings. Parting love.

One of the best worship experiences I ever had was once when there was no benediction. It was a Good Friday Service led by Joanna Adams. She finished her sermon, and just turned around and walked out the back door. It was a fabulous semi-colon type ending. It left me sitting still for a moment, not sure if she was okay, not sure if I should leave yet, not sure of quite anything. It was perfect theology too - this is how Good Friday ends, really - with no well speaking, no nice blessings. It ends without knowing the Easter ending. There are some times in life when there are no appropriate words. Sometimes things just end, just end, no good word.

It is times like these that we find ourselves wondering, "What's next?" What do I do now? What do I do at this point on the path? How do I get out of this ditch? Is it okay to go now? Where did everyone else just go?

In my own personal life in the last few years, I have been increasingly aware of blessings. It has struck me how incredibly rarely we share our blessings, and how incredibly much we all need them.

Barbara Brown Taylor in her new book An Altar in the World: A Geography of Faith spends her last chapter on this very thing - the Practice of Pronouncing Blessings. She discusses how as a professional she is often asked to bless everything from babies to boats; but she also argues that ALL of us are qualified and needed to share blessings. She recommends practicing on everything from plants to friends. At one point she tells about a friend who was uncomfortable with the idea of being so "important" as to share personal blessings. Taylor describes the situation this way:
She counted on me to raise my hands in the air on a regular basis and ask God to bless her. She belonged to a whole congregation that was willing to pay people like me so that we would not be otherwise engaged when they needed one of us to lay hands on a baby, or a sick person, or a loaf of bread, or one of them. They did not need anyone to tell them that blessings confer meaning. They could feel it when a blessing landed on them, like warm oil poured on their crowns of their heads.

It is a beautiful reminder of the deep need we have, we all have, as Humans - to have a good word spoken to us. We are needed to share our blessings with others. I don't mean financial here - this is not a traditional stewardship campaign asking for donations. This is a breaking open of stewardship, an invitation to meet a great need by sharing Blessing - Invocation - Benediction.

Taylor goes on to describe how in his dying hours, her father blessed her husband Ed by Ed's own request. She says,
This kind of blessing prayer is called a benediction. It comes at the end of something, to send people on their way. All I am saying is anyone can do this. Anyone can ask and anyone can bless, whether anyone has authorized you to do it or not. All I am saying is that the world needs you to do this, because there is a real shortage of people willing to kneel wherever they are and recognize the holiness holding its sometimes bony, often tender, always life-giving hand above their heads. That we are able to bless one another at all is evidence that we have been blessed, whether we can remember when or not. That we are willing to bless one another is miracle enough to stagger the very stars.

These final days of May will bring all kinds of endings to people around us. The end of school. The end of jobs. The end of relationships. The end of life. The end of some unknown story packed up in a suitcase at the end of the hall. Your job in these days is to share Well Speaking, to share Benediction. We are all needed to give good wishes, good words, good jobs to those in our circle of life and care.

One of the greatest personal benediction blessings I ever received was from my professor Dr. Loyd Allen in seminary. The Friday before I got married, just a few weeks into my first year of seminary, Dr. Allen met me in the hallway as I walked with friends. He walked right up and made the sign of the cross on my head, and said, "May you be present at your own wedding." It was advice I took to heart. In the chaos of the day, I managed to focus on those words, which helped me enjoy and experience those special hours - a guest at my own wedding, invited by a wise man through a blessing.

That is the kind of impact our blessings can be to one another. They pull us out of our ditches. They show us which way to go. They answer our questions, even if only by reminding us we are not alone.

So, as you say good-byes in these days, may they hold more Benedictions. As you slow down into summer, may your words harbor more Blessings. Ask for what you need, give what you can. It is the way of Well Speaking, and it is indeed Good Worship. Amen.

In Wisdom,
Brandi Calhoun Diamond