I am so pleased that my church has recently committed to making benedictions a weekly, regular part of our liturgy. We have had benedictions sporadically in the past, but now they are weekly. And I am thrilled. In my Christian experience, I have rarely appreciated any aspect of Christian worship services more than the benediction. I have been recently inspired by the power of benedictions through experiencing them, discussing them in our staff and pastors' meetings, and in conversation with my friend, J.R. Briggs, who shares a similar passion for benedictions. The current issue of Leadership Journal has a decent article on benedictions if you'd like to read more.
I have offered a few benedictions over the years. I typically find an appropriate Scripture to read as the benediction. It is truly hard to beat God's own word when it comes to offering a meaningful blessing to His people. However, when asked to prepare a benediction for this past Sunday's service I chose instead write one during the service. I had an idea of where I would go with it so that I would not be at a complete loss. But I really wanted the message of that day to inform the benediction. Thankfully at our church we have a set of songs after the message, and I used that time to finalize the benediction. The message was on singleness, and viewing Christ as our highest good and truest lover, and in that light to use our singleness to serve and please God (1 Corinthians 7:8-9, 25-38). The movement asked of us is from selfish-singleness to servant-singleness.
Below is the benediction I wrote. I would love to hear your thoughts on benedictions, what you understand them to be, the role they have played in your spiritual formation (or lack thereof), and if your church integrates benedictions into worship services regularly.
Benediction for Imago Dei Community, March 1st 2009
We just sang a song blessing the name of the LORD. I invite you now to receive God's blessing upon you. We call this a benediction.
Imago Dei Community:
Because Jesus Christ is infinitely better than any human relationship
Better than any spouse or human lover
And because He does not depend on us
But has rather called us and adopted us as children
And we can therefore depend on Him...
May you go this week in the power of the resurrected Christ
May you serve this week in the name of the resurrected Christ
May you please God this week to the glory of the resurrected Christ
Amen
