Bless

This post is the sixth in a series on The Way of Love.

How can we share our stories in ways that are a blessing to those around us? How can we be the blessing that others may need on a difficult day? 

When the priest offers a blessing at the end of worship, it usually concludes in a trinitarian way. The standard BCP format goes like this: 

The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of his Son Jesus Christ, our Lord; and the blessing of God Almighty, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, be among you and remain with you always.

An alternative blessing that I use often paraphrases a line from the late Rev. William Sloan Coffin, Jr. that says "the world is too dangerous for anything but truth, and too small for anything but love" and then concludes with a trinitiarian blessing. Yet another blessing goes like this: 

Life is short and we have too little time to gladden the hearts of those who travel the way with us. So, be swift to love and make haste to be kind….and may the blessing of God Almighty, Father, Son and Holy Spirit be with you now and always.

God's people are blessed as our worship ends. And then we are sent out into the world to be a blessing to those whom we meet: at our own kitchen tables, at work, in school, on social media. When we bear witness to peace in a warring world, when we tell the truth and show love in a dangerous and small world, when we know that precisely because life is short, we will insist on love and kindness, we become walking blessings to those we meet.