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Marked to be a blessing
by Melissa L. Stoller

The e-mail concluded with these words: “Send this to 10 people in the next 15 minutes and blessings will follow you all the days of your life.”

How many of us have received or sent one of these chain letters? Whether they come by snail mail or e-mail, no matter what else they say, they always urge us at the close of the letter to forward the message quickly.

In many ways, these messages are “thinking of you” notes: You look at the address line, see nine other names besides yours, and you think, “Well, my thoughtful friend sent it to me, so I should probably send on this cute e-mail to other friends so they know I am thinking of them.”

But the messages can be frustrating too: Why do I need a singing and dancing penguin to tell people that they are important to me? And what about the blessings? What happens if I don’t send the message along?

In the New Testament, the word blessing or bless-ed is often associated with the Beatitudes. Blessed are the poor and the poor in spirit; blessed are those who are hungry and those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.

In the Old Testament, we also find blessings in Genesis. When Abraham first encounters God, he has a different name, Abram. In the 12th chapter of Genesis, God calls Abram to a new land and promises him blessing, and that in him “all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

It is God’s promise, this covenant of blessing that gave Abram a new name, Abraham, which means “ancestor of a multitude.”

God promised Abraham to “make his name great.” And through Abraham, as we read in the 22nd chapter of Genesis, “all the nations of the earth gain blessing.” Abraham is considered the father of three major world religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Biblical blessings, we learn, are life-changing affirmations.

But in our culture, it seems that “blessings” or being “blessed” are watered down. We bless people when they sneeze or cough. We say that we are blessed when we are wealthy enough to afford luxuries. And when good luck comes our way, we say that we are blessed.

But blessings are much more than that.

The modern English word blessing comes from an Anglo-Saxon word that means "marked with blood." What? Blood? This may seem gory and barbaric, but that's not really so. Rather, it is part of our Christian heritage and our daily lives.

Abraham is blessed by God, and then that blessing, that blood mark, is passed on to his descendants. In an upper room, Jesus broke bread with his friends and disciples and offered a new blessing to all who believe in him.

When we gather in worship, we remember in our liturgy the last supper Jesus shared with his disciples. When we share in the bread and wine of the Eucharist, we are marked with Christ’s blood. As children of the new covenant in Christ Jesus, we are the inheritors of the blessing. We have been blessed with the blessing that has been handed down to us from Abraham to Moses through Jesus Christ.

But it doesn’t stop there. We cannot hold this blessing in; it spills forth from us because we can’t contain it! We are blessed, in order to pass on that blessing. When we leave our sanctuaries, we are renewed, strengthened, and re-energized to proudly wear this blessing mark.

With God’s blessing we are not lucky; we are chosen. To bless others is to pass on the goodness of God, the love of God, the sacrifice of God, the hope of God, the joy of God, the promise of God.

Through Christ’s blood we have been marked for the sake of the world. And with the Holy Spirit, we are inspired to pass on the blessing.

Marked with this blessing, how will you pass on your blessings to others?

Rev. Michael Foss offers us a guide as we live out Christ's blessing.
He offers six marks of discipleship for a blessed church:

1. Pray daily.
Prayer is a conversation. Though no one knows exactly how it works, we do know that prayer changes us. Prayer helps us understand God and the good things that God has planned for us. Prayer also opens us up to understanding each other and God’s creation. Through prayer we pass on blessing.

2. Worship weekly.
Worship in the Christian tradition gathers us around the sacraments of bread, wine, and water, which mark us as blessings for the world. We gather in community, remembering that faith is not a solitary journey but one with joys, frustrations, bumps, and celebrations. When we worship, we gather as a community to praise God, receive nourishment for the journey, and remind one another of our calls to pass on God’s blessing.

3. Study the Bible.
As Lutherans, we believe the Holy Bible is the inspired word of God. As Martin Luther said, it “is the manger where Christ is laid.” We learn of God’s loving power, equipping each other to tell of God’s saving grace to the world. By learning and teaching the Gospel, we are blessing others.

4. Serve others.
We are God’s hands on this earth. Through us, God works to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, welcome the stranger, and visit the sick and imprisoned. Marked with the witness of Jesus Christ, we bless others from our own blessings.

5. Cultivate friendships.
Through deep relationship, we care for each other spiritually and communally. With loving encouragement, we invite others to join the God-conversation. We are all created in the image of God; by naming that God-spark in each other we pass along blessing.

6. Give of your time, talents and resources.
Not only is stewardship of our resources a spiritual discipline, it is a reminder that all that we have is meant to be shared. We bless others by giving of our own blessings so all can be blessed.

Each of us has a call to pass on God’s blessing to others. Our very lives are witnesses to the promise God has given to us in Christ Jesus.

Pass on the blessings, whether through e-mail, conversation, or service to others. We are blessed to be blessings. As the ELCA mission statement reminds us: Marked with the cross of Christ forever, we are claimed, gathered, and sent for the sake of the world.

The Rev. Melissa L. Stoller serves at Trinity Lutheran Church, Cook, Minnesota.

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Faith reflections
by Amy Waelchli

The longer I live, the more I understand that blessings are the daily miracles we take for granted. They are the blissful things that get us into our groove, that give us our mojo. But if we ignore them, they are the realities that can send us into a tailspin. These nourishing foundations of our lives are often neglected and sometimes belittled, lost in our busy schedules.

We forget blessings. Not to be confused with showy, one time miracles, blessings occur each and every day, whether we recognize them or not.

Blessings require exactly nothing on our part. We can exist without recognizing blessings, although I wouldn’t recommend it. Blessings depend on God’s word and works, not ours. And because we put no work into receiving or maintaining blessings, we take them for granted. We expect them to show up. We get comfortable. But then when it feels like our blessings have been taken away, we worry and turn back to God.

Take, for example, good health. We rarely thank God for our good health when we’re well. But the minute we’re zapped by illness or worse, we’re all about asking for God’s help in making us well again.

Last winter, my children, ages 4 and 2, both contracted pneumonia. They were the ones who were sick, but the whole family was completely drained and devastated by their illness. Exhaustion is a vicious cycle, depleting you just when you most need your strength. And pneumonia is deceptive. During the day, the children seemed to be on the road to recovery, but then every night came hours of coughing, fever, and unending pleas and prayers.

Eventually they recovered.
That episode reminded me to be thankful for my children’s health and to appreciate the blessing of access to good medical care for them. I think about that when I catch myself complaining about a cold, and now I thank God when we're all feeling fine!

Another blessing we're likely to take for granted is presence.

We miss someone's presence when they're gone. Has someone close to you moved away? Has someone died? Has someone left you in some way or another? Presence is the ultimate blessing, given to us by the triune God; and we pass it on to one another.

God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” He said further, “Thus you should say to the Israelites, ‘I AM sent me to you.’” Exodus 3:14

This declaration reveals the core of God’s self: God was, is, and will be. God abides with us. This is the blessing of presence, and one we take for granted on a daily basis. If things are going well and you feel that life is mundane, you are ignoring God’s stabilizing presence.

When things go sour and you feel feel that life is tense, it’s a sign that you’ve ignored God’s presence for too long.

God’s presence in our lives is the ultimate blessing. We can lose sight of that when things seem bleak. Yet even in the darkest times God remains with us.

For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the LORD. Plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope. Jeremiah 29:11

God does have plans for us, plans that are bigger than the present. God’s plans are bigger than a wedding day; they extend even beyond a marriage. God’s plans guide our lives and bless our mundane circumstances. This gift of presence, this all-encompassing love, is thanks to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. We share in Christ’s resurrection through the blessing of baptism. There we become children of God, sharing in the same benefits as Christ.

And yet, somehow, I forget to actually live daily with the joy of my baptism. I become far too wrapped up in my own little wants (which I easily mislabel as needs) to feel wrapped in grace. I say “yes” to so many other people that I rarely remember to say “yes” to Jesus. I’m so busy parenting my two young children that I don’t take time to be parented by God. Some days I feel these imperfections acutely. My sinful mind focuses on them, clinging to my mistakes and sins. And I’m tempted to remain turned inward on myself, concentrating on what I am . . . and am not.

Martin Luther says we need to remember our baptism each day. Embrace this blessing daily. Stand in awe of it. Let yourself love and be loved. And he is right. When we’re focused on this amazing blessing of forgiveness and adoption by God in our baptism, we cannot help but live out joyful, thankful lives. And it is exactly these lives that bless others.

God blesses us — and God’s blessings transcend our selfishness, our busyness. In fact, God’s blessings to us reach out and touch others. Blessings move from God to us to others and back to us. I believe that is exactly what God intended to happen; God’s blessings are fluid and encompassing. We share blessings purposely and inadvertently. We share them in our energy and sincerity. We share our blessings in our giving and receiving. We share these blessings when we love.

Above all, maintain constant love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins. 1 Peter 4:8

Love goes both ways. When we love others we overlook not only our own sin, but the sins of others. We’re not called to condemn others, or ourselves. We are called — no, we are commanded — to love one another. Give that true, pure, godly gift of love to others and see the changes it makes. Focus on the good in you and others. Give yourself another chance, and another, and another . . . to do God’s work.

Love. Be loved. You can do that. After all, you are extremely blessed.

Amy Waelchli lives in Iowa with her husband and two children.

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