Blessings Workshop
Blog Post by Kieran Bohan
WHAT DOES ‘BLESSING’ mean to you? We found out what it meant to us last Saturday, and wrote some blessings to share what we learned.
She suggests looking at some definitions of BLESS and BLESSING, such as:
to confer or invoke divine favour upon,
ask God to look favourably on,
ask God's protection for,
invoke happiness on,
to call holy,
to praise,
to make sacred,
to set apart, devote to God.
We felt strongly that a blessing was not a magic word that made something good, but a naming or affirming of what is good in us, in nature, calling our awareness to the divine presence within us and the world around us.
It can also be an expression of gratitude, an appreciation for what is good, in the sense that we ‘count our blessings’ when times are tough to keep ourselves hopeful and thankful. Or when a challenge turns into an unseen opportunity, we see a ‘blessing in disguise’.
We looked at many examples, both ancient and new, from the Bible to contemporary writers from different traditions, Christian and non-Christian, and found many common themes and patterns to inspire us.
I was moved by this modern blessing based on a favourite Psalm :
Benediction based on Psalm 139:7-12)
Wherever you go this week, know this:
God knows you better than you know yourself.
No matter where you go or what you do,
God is already there,
surrounding you with mercy
and guiding you with love.
So go with joy and confidence,
knowing that God goes with you
Some of us brought books and prayers that have touched us. I was also inspired by the beautiful resource An Abundance Of Blessings by John O’Donohue, who wrote:
A blessing is a powerful and positive intention that can transform situations and people. Many of us seek rituals to help us recognize, celebrate, or negotiate the vital thresholds of our lives. … It is the modest wish that this collection shares the gift that a blessing can be, the doors it can open, the healing and transfiguration it can bring.
So we took some time of quiet, accompanied by gentle music from Taizé, to reflect on what we had shared, and wrote our own.
We finished with a rendition of ‘Vespers’ by A.A. Milne, in which Christopher Robin is saying his prayers:
Oh! Thank you, God, for a lovely day. And what was the other I had to say? I said "Bless Daddy," so what can it be? Oh! Now I remember it. God bless Me.
The results of the workshop will be shared in a book of worship material the community of St Bride’s has begun to put together. This was the first of several workshops looking at different forms of liturgical prayer and how they speak to us today. Watch this space for more details.