My favorite FRANCISCAN BENEDICTION!!
Today I wanted to give a blessing to all those that read this blog. This is my favorite Franciscan Benediction! (and trust me…I have a lot!)
“May God bless you with discomfort at easy answers, half truths, and superficial relationships so that you may live deep within your heart.
May God bless you with anger at injustice, oppression and exploitation of people so that you may work for justice, freedom and peace.
May God bless you with tears to shed for those who suffer pain, rejection, hunger and war so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and to turn their pain into joy.
And may God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you can make a difference in the world so that you can do what others claim cannot be done.”
So…that wasn’t really the blessing of prosperity that is popular today, but instead a blessing of discomfort, anger, tears and foolishness!
What is God asking you to do that others claim can’t be done?
that is great, dude. thanks for sharing
thanks Chris…I am glad that it was helpful today!
Love it Blake. Have you ever picked up a copy of “Guerrillas of Grace: Prayers for the Battle” by Ted Loder? I really leaned into praying some of these poems during a dark time of my life where words simply failed me. The benediction above reminds me of how these poems are written.
Let me share a stanza from one of my favorites – a prayer I prayed when I simply couldn’t figure out another way TO pray!
“O Lord, deepen my wounds into wisdom, shape my weaknesses into compassion, gentle my envy into enjoyment, my fear into trust, my guilt into honesty……..O God gather me to be with you as you are with me.” This is from the poem “Gather Me to Be With You”.
As for what God is asking me to do….
Well, I resigned from my position as worship pastor to follow some fresh callings on my heart. There are no concrete steps in front of me, no guarantee of income, or any such thing as job security. But God has burdened my heart for leaders – both here and particularly in developing countries. So I’m stepping out to train worship leaders and pastors in the area of Biblical worship, developing teams, personal spiritual journey, remaining healthy in ministry, etc – on a completely volunteer basis. Which is scary because I did help support our family. That’s my start. I’m praying the rest of it is clarified as I take each step of faith – and that God will open doors for me to love on people in ministry in the U.S. as well in some way during this strange hiatus. I don’t know that anyone said it couldn’t be done – they just didn’t seem to see any NEED for it to be done!
The benediction is so true: God calls us many times as we become agitated and fed up with easy answers – when we become uncomfortable in our present surroundings.
Thanks for sharing…
Jan…I’ve never even heard of that…but I’d be interested!!