BY GEORGE! ANOTHER VOICE

Anne Jernberg, Pastoral Resident

Blessings

A blessing is the “infusion of something with holiness, divine will or one’s hopes.”

Holiness involves “a setting apart of,” and so as you set me apart this morning to give thanks to God and to bless my new ministry in Denver, you are not only offering me your own well wishes of affirmation and hope, but you are also interceding for God as the Body of Christ. As your collective words of gratitude and encouragement are released from your lips, they are simultaneously swept up by the Spirit of the living God.

And while you and I both would like to think that this blessing will ensure an easy transition, a fruitful first year of ministry and a perfect pastoral experience for me in Denver, it will not.

God has a tendency to bless people in unconventional ways, as opposed to predictable ones. Just ask Jacob, a guy who was named for his first action out of the womb (holding the heel of his twin brother, Esau), only to later be blessed by God with a new name during another physical encounter, that of wrestling the angel at Penuel. The angel, presumably God, re-names Jacob at his insistence for a blessing. Jacob was surely hoping for a promise of prosperity or for a family and future he did not have to fight for. But God blessed him with the name “Israel,” that is “one who strives or struggles with God.”

A blessing of struggle? Why would God consider a life of struggle or strife as a blessing? Where is the hope in that?

We think blessings should be promises of peace and not strife, but God never gives blessings that take away our free will or that grant us some kind of guarantee. A blessing from God is a promise of presence. And there is no greater sign of hope that God will be with us no matter what than in the fact that God named God’s chosen people, Israel, as ones who struggle. God wants to be with strugglers—with people like us.

Blessings do not magically ensure a secure and safe future, but they do promise us the peace and presence of God that surpasses our understanding.

As you bless me Wilshire, I am grateful that you have shared the struggles and the joys of the journey of faith with me over the past two years. Know that your blessing is not just in the words you say today, but is rooted in the grace of allowing me to be your pastor for this season of life.

As you bless me, you are sending me into a new ministry that will no doubt have struggles, especially in the early months and years. But the gift of that blessing is not a prayer that I will be a perfect pastor; it is that I will serve out of the perfect love of God, a blessing that is given to us all.