We are called to bless.
“We are called to bless,” from the SALT Project reminds all, who are willing and
inspired to click the watch button, what a blessing is.
Hammers, backpacks, the cup and bread, waters of Baptism, canned goods, casseroles, pastors, mission trip participants—we ask God to bless all these. We stretch out our hands above our heads and call down the mercy and grace of God. We lift up our voices calling God to bless lands filled with strife, with
peace. We pray for God’s love to be known.
What is a blessing?
A bond, a chain of forever, the “peacemaking, earth-shaking, dead waking, light creating, dark abating, source of all that is, power of God.” We are called to bless…to use this power each and every day, in everything that we do. We “learn it in church, practice it in worship,” but this video reminds us that we are to use it out in the world—that it works better when we are engaged in caring for God’s creation when we have our hands in the soil, are sitting at a hospital bedside, meeting someone for the first time, standing on a picket line.
We are called to bless. A blessing is a forever bond, it is a force of change, it not only affects the receiver, but also the giver. So, the video says, don’t ever think you can walk away, that you can “bless and leave” or not be engaged.
Why is the [C]hurch dying? Our hearts cry, why is this faith community failing? Not just us, but all over the country. When we call this out, our numbers—not our faith—are on our hearts. We don’t talk spiritual growth and death. We talk numbers…and that is why the church is dying. Those who dare to seek a
community of faith are looking for true community; a church that cares about its spiritual life, that is engaged in questioning and exploration, a community of people that does not already know all of the answers, who are willing to take risks and make mistakes; a circle of God’s beloved who want to make known to all that they too are God’s beloved. They are looking for family; family that is not just about serving one another, but serving the world—they leave their building.
I’ve been watching a BBC television series, Call the Midwife. In post-WWII England, in the poverty-stricken tenements birth happened. It happened
unattended, without sanitary water, clothing, bed linens and the church of England stepped up. It saw a need in its community. This series documents one nurse’s experience along with the nuns and the fellow nurses she served with. Their faith led them to pour out love on those who were seen as less than
deserving. They helped their community find beauty in each other, recover from the effects of war, battle polio, and create community. Their service was not about numbers or the church building. Their service was about standing with God’s creation; healing and celebrating it.
Before the [C]hurch became a social club in the US, it did just this—it served, it empowered. Faith communities stood up for Civil Rights and the development of social structures that would help impoverished families succeed. I don’t believe it is the social club that we grieve. I believe that we grieve the loss of a faith community fully engaged in the world. If we work to return to that passionate engagement, we will bless and we will grow our faith.
So, dare to ask questions as though you are a child wanting to know more answers. Dare to feel those bonds of blessing you have offered to others over your life and act. Dare to be bold and break away from the building. Find a new way to express your faith in both word and deed and let go of the paralyzing need for numbers. [C]hurch is not meant to be the building, the hymns sung, the shining brass on the altar, the traditional services.
[C]hurch is always meant to be made new, a fresh expression of creation’s relationship with God. That expression is not for us to control, but for us to BLESS…