During a fabulous retreat on March 8th, 2014 for the women of Montclair Presbyterian, the Rev. Lois Mueller invited us all to imagine ourselves as not only blessed, but called to be “blessers”.
What are some of the ways that we can bless one another? I certainly feel blessed most of the time, but I’m not sure that I’m always a blessing all the time. I do know that when I do manage to bless others, I receive twice as many blessings in return.
During the retreat, Lois showed a video made by Old South Church in Boston about blessing that was quite thought-provoking. Here’s a clip that describes how we can even be blessings from afar to places in great conflict such as the Holy Land.
On a more personal level, however, and particularly for women who are often plagued by cruel cultural definitions of what is beautiful, learning to look at one another through lens of blessing could be deeply healing.
What if churches could be the one place where no matter how old, fat, young, thin, or whatever you are, you could count on being seen as beautiful and precious – just the way you are? What difference would that make in your life to be surrounded by blessing? What difference would that make for your children – especially teenagers?
The patriarch Abraham pronounced that we are “blessed to be a blessing”. May it be so in all our churches that we move beyond welcoming all to blessing all who come into our communities of faith.
Finally, this is my last blog post on the MPCfamily website and I just want to express to all the members and friends of the congregation how much I have enjoyed my temporary sojourn with you as your pastor. Thanks for all the gifts, goodies, and this bucket of blessings. I will cherish our time together and I pray blessings upon you as you begin your new ministry with the Rev. Ben Daniel.