Blessing and Benediction
W. Gregory Pope, preaching

Click arrow to listen

Numbers 6:22-26; Ephesians 3:14-21

(My Final Sermon at CHBC)

For twenty years now I have offered the same words of blessing and benediction at the close of worship services I have led.

Twenty one years ago I sat in this room as a seminary student and heard a purposeful benediction for the first time. It changed the way I departed the sanctuary. I left with a blessing and a calling. It was offered by Steve Shoemaker, the pastor at that time.

Two years later I sat in this room for Steve’s final Sunday as pastor of this congregation. His concluding sermon was shaped by his benediction. Since then, when I have left my previous three churches, I have done the same. What better way could there be to leave a people with whom you have served than to offer words of blessing and benediction.

The central portion of Steve’s benediction was in large part shaped by the words of William Sloane Coffin, the famous pastor of Riverside Church in New York City. My benediction has other sources as well.

The Three Sections

I think of my benediction in three sections.

The first section is based on a benediction found in the book of Numbers we just heard read and sung. It is referred to as The Priestly Benediction, spoken by Aaron the priest, Moses’ brother, to the people of Israel:

                                                    The Lord bless you and keep you
                          The Lord make his face to shine upon you and gracious unto you.
                            The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

The second section is based on a portion of a benediction from former Crescent Hill pastor John Claypool. Many of you know it by heart:

                                   In the goodness of God you were born into this world
                 By the grace of God you have been kept all the day long, even until this hour
               By the love of God, fully revealed in the face of Jesus, you are being redeemed.

The third section I first heard as part of Steve Shoemaker’s benediction. I later discovered it was a fourth century prayer.

                                      May God take your minds and think through them
                                       May God take your lips and speak through them
                                         May God take your hearts and set them on fire

I took all of that twenty years ago and shaped my own benediction.

Benedictions are an important and essential part of worship. Having offered to God our praise and prayers, songs and words, self and possessions, we are sent forth from this place to serve Christ, to be the church in the world, to worship God beyond these walls.

Worship does not end with the benediction. The benediction - a word that literally means “good speaking” - blesses and commissions the church to continue its worship by doing God’s work in the world as we go out from this place.

Other Benedictions

There are other benedictions that take various forms:

There are sung benedictions like: “God be with you til we meet again” and “Blest be the tie that binds our hearts in Christian love.”

There is Garrison Keillor’s benediction with which he concludes his stories: “And that’s the news from Lake Wobegon, where all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average.” (Two of those three could be said about Crescent Hill!)

Each week I send a written copy of the sermon to John Arnett, then he puts them on the church’s web site. Whenever I make allusions to popular music like: Tim McGraw’s “Live Like You Were Dying,” The Who’s “Who Are You?,” Janis Joplin’s “Mercedes Benz,” Garth Brooks’ “The River” and others, John would often provide a link in the middle of the sermon in case you wanted to hear the song.

So John, I tried to think of a song that would fit today, and this is the closest I could come to a country music benediction: (Play over sound system): God is great. Beer is good. And people are crazy! God is great. Beer is good. And people are crazy! [Billy Currington*] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKpQRjj_WbU

The sermon today serves as a blessing and benediction on our time together. And on your future as you continue to worship and work for God’s kingdom in this place.

I am grateful for our time together, for being a part of the history of this magnificent place, as we ushered in a new century of ministry and a new identity, one that neither of us ever expected. This will always be one of my favorite rooms.

This past Wednesday evening I shared with you moments that have been memorable to me, moments that blessed me. Today my prayer for you is the prayer I have offered each week.

The Blessing

May the Lord bless you and keep you

May the Lord bless you and keep you. Bless you with peace and faith and courage. Bless you with renewed vision and passion. Bless you with unity and a desire for the things that make for genuine community. And may God always hold you in the palm of his hand. May the Lord bless you and keep you.

May God’s face shine upon you and be gracious unto you

May God’s face shine upon you and be gracious unto you. God’s face. The closest we ever come to the face of God is looking, with the eyes of the heart, upon the face of Jesus Christ. John A. T. Robertson called Jesus “the human face of God.” John Claypool said “to the mystery of God-ness the man Jesus gives a face and upon that face is the smile of grace.” When God’s face shines upon you it shines with the grace of Jesus Christ.

God’s face is also seen in the faces of those we love, and in every face, if we have eyes to see. Remember Jacob’s healing words when he encountered the forgiving grace-filled face of his brother Esau whom he had deceived? He said, “I saw your face and it looked like God.” The face of God is sometimes found in the welcoming smile of a human face.

Many times over the past six and a half years you have been God’s face to my family and me. When Ryan spent his first two months of life at Kosair Hospital you brought us food and gifted us with your presence and your prayers. And during my own personal seasons of struggle, it was a great help to me on Sundays and Wednesdays to see your faces. And I thank you for that. And I pray that God’s face in Jesus Christ and in the faces of one another will continually shine upon you and be gracious unto you.

May God give you the grace to know that

And may God give you the grace to know. A prayer for the grace of knowledge. Many things we learn about God through study and prayer, but we know the most intimate things about God because God in grace has revealed them to us.

And the three things this benediction prays that you would know are three of the most important things I can think of that we need to know.

It was by the love of God that you were brought into this world

The first is that God would give you the grace to know that it was by the love of God that you were brought into this world.

Life itself is a gift of pure grace from the heart of a loving God. The love of God is a love that creates because it wants to share the gift of being alive. Out of love God created you. You and I breathe the love of God. It’s what keeps us alive.

In baptism we hear of God’s love for us. That we are God’s beloved daughter or son, in whom God takes delight.

I hope that you will hear this three-fold blessing for yourselves as individuals, but also as a church.

It was by the love of God that this community of faith was brought into being over one hundred years ago. God brought this church into being because God wanted a new instrument of love, a new harbor where all people could come and hear about the love God has for them, a mission outpost where the love of God could be taken from this place and shared with the rest of the community and world.

It was by the love of God that you and this congregation were brought into this world.

                                     And it has been by the power and presence of God
                         that you have been sustained throughout all the days of your life
                                                       even until this very moment

And it has been by the power and presence of God that you have been sustained throughout all the days of your life even until this very moment. For every individual, every family, and every church, there are storms to weather and treacherous terrain through which we must travel. We are led and carried through those storms by nothing less than the power and presence of God.

Those of you who sit here today as a part of Crescent Hill Baptist Church are together because the power and presence of God has held and sustained her throughout all these many years. And God will continue to do so as you give yourselves to the guidance of God’s Spirit.

The same is true for your life and mine. Many of us would not be where we are today apart from the power and presence of God. When we look back upon our lives - all the things that have happened to us, all the things that we have endured - the death of loved ones, the loss of a treasured job, the break-up of a marriage, the death of a dream - through all of that - how many of us have to testify that apart from the power and presence of God we would not have survived. It has been by the power and presence of God that we have been sustained throughout all the days of our lives even until this very moment.

And it is with the hope and presence of God that you enter into tomorrow

And with that acknowledgment of God’s faithfulness to sustain in the past we can affirm that it is with the hope and presence of God that we enter into tomorrow.

I share this word in the benediction each week because if on a particular Sunday the sermon or songs or scripture lessons have not addressed the weakness and frailty of our lives, I know that we need to hear that the hope and the presence of God will sustain us as we enter into tomorrow. Some of us present each week need to hear that word because life is hard and can be despairing.

One of the best gifts of the Christian faith is hope. Hope not as a wish for better times. Hope is faith rooted and grounded in the love and power of God. It is a hope that empowers us today and extends beyond this life.

Christ always enters our deepest darkness bringing hope that we have a future. We’ve not been abandoned. The love that called us into being and the power that has sustained us will go with us as we enter tomorrow. Every tomorrow. No matter how bleak the past, no matter how terrible the grief or the suffering, we enter tomorrow with the hope of God in our hearts.

And the same is true for the church. Throughout her history the church has endured centuries of persecution, humiliation, and despair. Some of it within, some of it without. But with the hope of God always calling us into a new day, the church has continued to bring love and light, healing and hope to a broken world.

Crescent Hill is no different. These are some difficult days. But they are not dark days. God has a bright future for this place, a future full of hope. With all the many good people in this place, the ministries of this congregation will expand and flourish if you are willing to accept and embrace who you are and who God is making you to be. Put away your own wish-dreams for the church. Embrace who you are as you go into the future where God is calling.

With God’s power at work within you God is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all you could ever ask or imagine. You do not enter tomorrow alone.

If we were to enter tomorrow alone, we might as well close the door of every church in the world. For just as the power and presence of God has sustained you in the past, without which we all would have died, so with the hope and presence of God you can walk confidently into the future.

Don’t ever forget that in your life and in this church it is with the hope and presence of God that you enter into tomorrow.

The Benediction

As you go

As you go into the tomorrow of your future, may you allow God to do three things in your life and in the life of this church.

May God take your minds and think through them

May God take your minds and think through them. As you make plans for the rest of your life, as you ponder your next step, as you seek to embody God’s kingdom in this place, may God take control of your minds so that you may think God’s thoughts after God.

May you not seek to follow the whims and opinions of everybody, but together seek the mind of Christ. And there find unity. May God take your minds and think through them.

May God take your lips and speak through them

May God take your lips and speak through them. Every time you open your lips may words of wisdom and truth, seasoned with love and grace be spoken through them.

My prayer is that God would take the lips of this church and speak as God has done in the past. Speak through them words of hope to a dark world, words of grace to a judging world, words of love and inclusion to a world filled with hatred, prejudice, and bigotry. May God take your lips and speak through them.

May God take your hearts and set them on fire

And may God take your hearts and set them on fire. Fire is an igniting biblical image. It’s the language of the Holy Spirit. When Luke described the birth of the church and the coming of the Spirit at Pentecost, he used the image “tongues of fire.”

Fire is a good image, I think, for the church. But it’s often misunderstood.

We hear of people who claim to be “on fire” for God. You run into them and no matter what you say they respond, “Well, praise the Lord!” You say, “I’m just here at Target getting some toilet paper.” “Well, praise the Lord, brother. Isn’t God good! I’m just on fire for the Lord.”

Each week when I pray that God would take your hearts and set them on fire, that’s not exactly what I mean. (Though a few of us could use a bit more enthusiasm about our faith.)

What I mean is that as you leave this place and go out into the world it is my prayer that like those who were traveling with Christ on the road to Emmaus your hearts would burn within you. Burn with the desire to embody the gospel. To share the love of Christ in all you do and say.

It is my prayer that your hearts would burn with a deep sense of God’s presence in your life. A presence that will ignite you and empower you to be the people of God you’ve been called to be.

May God take your hearts and set them on fire.

Through Jesus the Savior

Through Jesus the Savior. Everything through Jesus the Savior.

May God take your minds and lips and hearts and use them for the sake of Christ and the gospel. May you think together the thoughts of Christ with the mind of Christ. May you proclaim together the good news of Christ. May your hearts burn together with the fire of Christ.

All thoughts, all words, all hearts on fire for the saving of the world through Jesus the Savior.

Amen

Amen. Amen. I don’t say the word when I offer the benediction. The “Amen” is what we all say and do when we leave this place

It’s a word that means “so let it be.” It is God’s “Yes” to us. God’s affirmation and blessing upon us. It is our “Yes” to God and God’s work within us.

Conclusion

This blessing and benediction is my deepest prayer for you. That God would bless you and keep you and make his face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you.

That God would remind you that you are a gift of love born from the heart of God, sustained and carried by God’s power and presence, led into tomorrow with the great hope that God can work within you and do far more than all you could ever ask or imagine.

And that you would allow God to use your thoughts, your words, and your hearts, burning with the flame of Christ for the saving and reconciling of the world.

This is my prayer and benediction for you all through Jesus the Savior.

Amen.

____________

*People are Crazy -- written by Bobby Braddock and Troy Jones, sung by Billy Currington, released 2008.

Blessing and Benediction W. Gregory Pope, preaching

Blessing and Benediction
W. Gregory Pope, preaching