To Be the Blessing

 

Blessed be God who animates our lives and calls us to be authoritative and authentic blessings in the world. AMEN

On the day of my ordination to the priesthood, I thought I knew what was supposed to happen; I thought I knew what this day was about; I thought I knew just how things should go. I thought I knew what I would feel. 

But once again I was to learn lessons about shoulds and supposed to’s. I was to notice something about true authority, the grace filled creative kind, as opposed to dictated authority, the kind we humans impose.

I was to know a new feeling, a new power, a new holy wholeness…

My ordination to the priesthood was spirit filled. I was overwhelmed with tears and deep joy as my cup was running over.

And if you have ever experienced an ordination you may recall that one of the supreme privileges and authority bestowed upon the newly ordained priest is to offer sacred blessing to all who come forward.

First my family and then a collection of that great cloud of witnesses as my hand which I laid on their heads was drenched with heart water.

After the line of blessees subsided I descended from the chancel of the cathedral and made my way to the baptismal font where my family was waiting for me. there were more tears and hugs. I didn’t think anything could be any better; I didn’t think I could feel any more alive. 

I was wrong.

Out of the corner of my eye I noticed a disheveled man with a radio held between his shoulder and ear. He came toward me and stopped just short of bumping into me and spoke one word without eye contact: bless.

What happened next is the unexpected grace of it all…

I put my hand on his head and offered words of blessing which included my own gratitude for this opportunity. And then he looked up into my eyes and smiled. As they say in theological reflection exercises I was in that moment caught up short….He had blessed me…

I am not here today to discuss the doctrinal institutional apportionment of who can and who cannot offer an official blessing, in fact this very order instituted by, well, not-Jesus, is  exactly the in vs. out misinterpretation which is at the heart of the Gospel correction quite frankly those lines of in and out are reminiscent of institutional hierarchies from which the church as an institution is not immune.

I am here to talk about authority…true authority and untrue or false authority

I am here to suggest that we get authority with a small a confused with Authority with a capital A. For the root of the word authority is author and we have one true divine Author from whom all loving power flows

Moreover, the word authority has the same root as authentic and I believe that God is always calling us to be our authentic selves, to offer authentic gestures, to be the authentic blessings which God has created in this world.

The Author and Creator from whom all blessings flow…

Jesus poses a question today in Matthew’s gospel about authority: does it come from heaven or human authority? We get stuck on that question assuming in our dualistic thinking that there is a clarifying answer, that this is a real choice, with a right and wrong answer!?!?

Instead I wonder whether we might pause when Jesus offers us conundrums and ask ourselves: what is happening at the hyphen…what happens between the two dualistic parts.

Right hyphen wrong

Black hyphen white

male hyphen female

slave hyphen free

heaven hyphen human

It has been my experience that it is quite tense in that space and quite mysterious. It is a liminal space, a threshold to some new way of being, new way of thinking…liberating really.

It may be that hyphens are connectors not dividers, life-giving not tragic.

And so I have learned to pause at the choice questions which Jesus offers and to live into the tension with a growing faith which assures some revelation, some redemptive way of life.

One of those revelations today may be the thread of blessing woven thru this service. It is in the prelude, the postlude, the motet, the Sukkoth as we entered, the hymns, the prayers, Scripture, Eucharist and cantata.

It is obvious in words such as those in the last section of the cantata: bless …and give your holy word always.

and in the pronouncement by the presider at the end of the service: God’s blessing be with you…

Blessing by gesture and expression making that which is invisible…visible.

And…beneath the words, or floating above them, is blessing upon blessing, revelations of beauty, imagination, generosity, kindness, justice, mercy, 

Returning to my initial blessing story there was human and heavenly authority at work that day. In my encounter with the radio man I may have stepped toward an edge, a hyphen, of privilege and poverty, and in that step I came closer toward the beatitude coming toward me. isn’t touching the blessed also to let that holiness wash over you? 

I also realized something of my new authority. if i were to assume its privilege and pomp I might have missed a humble authentic, authentic gesture, like the woman who touched Jesus’ hem, which went through me like a lightning bolt! 

In the end Jesus I believe is calling us to BE the blessings, not to simply do acts  but to Be  authentic blessing bestowers…

To put on the mind of Christ, to empty ourselves of false authority and to bless, bless, bless those we encounter, those for whom we pray and those simply living in the space we call messy life..

So here we are in this blessed setting participating in a liturgy which is emblematic of authentic devotion. Blessing is the very context in all we do and say and sing. 

Liturgy in its beauty, words and music, can amplify that which is sacred. It can take us to the margins and bless those for whom we ache. It can challenge and expose the status quo. It can facilitate our witness to the grace which is always flowing.

Liturgy is our communal authority, authentic and beautiful.

In a few moments after the blessing of the Eucharist which calls us to become the blessing which we receive

after the cantata which concludes with an articulation of blessing which flows from the Author of all that is into the world.

we will conclude our time together with a blessing which claims this authority from God and then, and then, we will be sent, no blessed into the world to love and to serve…to be the blessing in the world

I invite us to receive all of this consecration and to claim our authority as disciples of the Living God with gratitude and reverence.

May the Author of our lives bless us forever and always. AMEN