RISE Worship Element Archive
Parting Blessings
“Franciscan Benediction”
May God bless you with discomfort…
Discomfort at easy answers, half-truths and superficial relationships,
Discomfort, so that you will live deep within your heart.
May God bless you with anger…
Anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people,
Anger, so that you will work for justice, freedom, and peace.
May God bless you with tears…
Tears to shed for those who suffer pain, rejection, starvation and war,
Tears, so that you will reach out to comfort them
And turn their pain into joy.
And, may God bless you with foolishness…
Foolishness to believe that you can make a difference in this world,
Foolishness, so that you will do what others claim cannot be done.
~A Franciscan Blessing of Anger
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 to 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, to bring justice and kindness to all our children and the poor.
Amen.
~attributed to St. Francis of Assisi
Preach the Gospel at all times; when necessary, use words.
~An Irish Blessing
May the road rise to meet you
May the wind be at your back
May the sun shine warm upon your face;
The rains fall soft upon your fields
and until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.
~Traditional Irish Blessing
May good luck be with you wherever you go
and your blessings outnumber the shamrocks that grow.
May your days be many and your troubles be few,
May all God's blessings descend upon you.
May peace be within you, may your heart be strong,
May you find what you're seeking wherever you roam.
May it be!
~Frederick Buechner, adapted
Scripture proclaims that at some unforeseeable time in the future, God will bring down the final curtain on history, and there will come a Day on which all our days and all the judgments upon us and all our judgments upon each other will themselves be judged.
The judge will be Christ. In other words, the one who judges us most finally will be the one who loves us most fully.
Let’s hold onto that promise.
Amen.
“Beginning with Beloved - A Blessing”
~Jan Richardson
Beloved.
Is there any other word
needs saying,
any other blessing
could compare
with this name,
this knowing?
Beloved.
Comes like a mercy
to the ear that has never
heard it.
Comes like a river
to the body that has never
seen such grace.
Beloved.
Comes holy
to the heart
aching to be new.
Comes healing
to the soul
wanting to begin
again.
Beloved.
Keep saying it
and though it may
sound strange at first,
watch how it becomes
part of you,
how it becomes you,
as if you never
could have known yourself
anything else,
as if you could ever
have been other
than this:
Beloved.
Amen.
“Beloved is where you begin”
~Jan Richardson
If you would enter
Into the wilderness,
Do not begin
Without a blessing.
Do not leave
Without hearing
Who you are:
Beloved,
Named by the One
Who has traveled this path
Before you.
Do not go
Without letting it echo
In your ears,
And if you find
it is hard
To let into your heart,
Do not despair.
That is what
This journey is for.
“for Belonging”
~John O’Donohue
May you listen to your longing to be free.
May the frames of your belonging be generous enough for your dreams.
May you arise each day with a voice of blessing whispering in your heart.
May you find a harmony between your soul and your life.
May the sanctuary of your soul never become haunted.
May you know the eternal longing that lives at the heart of time.
May there be kindness in your gaze when you look within.
May you never place walls between the light and yourself.
May you allow the wild beauty of the invisible world to gather you, mind you and embrace you in belonging.
~John O’Donohue
May all that is unforgiven in you
be released.
May your fears yield
their deepest tranquilities.
May all that is unlived in you
blossom into a future filled with love.
~John O’Donohue
May you awaken to the mystery of being here
And enter the quiet immensity of your own presence.
May you have joy and peace in the temple of your senses.
May you receive great encouragement when new frontiers beckon.
May you respond to the call of your gift
And find the courage to follow its path.
May the flame of anger free you from falsity.
May warmth of heart keep your presence aflame and anxiety never linger about you.
May your outer dignity mirror an inner dignity of soul.
May you take time to celebrate the quiet miracles that seek no attention.
May you be consoled in the secret symmetry of your soul.
May you experience each day as a sacred gift, Woven around the heart of wonder
“A Friendship Blessing”
~John O’Donohue
May you be blessed with good friends.
May you learn to be a good friend to yourself.
May you be able to journey to that place in your soul where
there is great love, warmth, feeling, and forgiveness.
May this change you.
May it transfigure that which is negative, distant, or cold in you.
May you be brought in to the real passion, kinship, and affinity of belonging.
May you treasure your friends.
May you be good to them and may you be there for them;
may they bring you all the blessing, challenges, truth,
and light that you need for your journey.
May you never be isolated.
May you always be in the gentle nest of belonging with your anam ċara.
“For One Who Is Exhausted”
~John O’Donohue
When the rhythm of the heart becomes hectic, Time takes on the strain until it breaks;
Then all the unattended stress falls in
On the mind like an endless, increasing weight.
The light in the mind becomes dim.
Things you could take in your stride before Now become laborsome events of will.
Weariness invades your spirit.
Gravity begins falling inside you,
Dragging down every bone.
The tide you never valued has gone out.
And you are marooned on unsure ground. Something within you has closed down;
And you cannot push yourself back to life.
You have been forced to enter empty time.
The desire that drives you has relinquished. There is nothing else to do now but rest
And patiently learn to receive the self.
You have forsaken in the race of days.
At first your thinking will darken
And sadness take over like listless weather.
The flow of unwept tears will frighten you.
You have traveled too fast over false ground; Now your soul has come to take you back.
Take refuge in your senses, open up
To all the small miracles you rushed through.
Become inclined to watch the way of rain When it falls slow and free.
Imitate the habit of twilight,
Taking time to open the well of color
That fostered the brightness of day.
Draw alongside the silence of stone
Until its calmness can claim you.
Be excessively gentle with yourself.
Stay clear of those vexed in spirit.
Learn to linger around someone of ease
Who feels they have all the time in the world.
Gradually, you will return to yourself,
Having learned a new respect for your heart And the joy that dwells far within slow time.
“Beannacht / Blessing”
~John O’Donohue
On the day when
the weight deadens
on your shoulders
and you stumble,
may the clay dance
to balance you.
And when your eyes
freeze behind
the grey window
and the ghost of loss
gets into you,
may a flock of colours,
indigo, red, green
and azure blue,
come to awaken in you
a meadow of delight.
When the canvas frays
in the currach of thought
and a stain of ocean
blackens beneath you,
may there come across the waters
a path of yellow moonlight
to bring you safely home.
May the nourishment of the earth be yours,
may the clarity of light be yours,
may the fluency of the ocean be yours,
may the protection of the ancestors be yours.
And so may a slow
wind work these words
of love around you,
an invisible cloak
to mind your life.
“FOR A NEW BEGINNING”
~John O'Donohue
In out-of-the-way places of the heart,
Where your thoughts never think to wander,
This beginning has been quietly forming,
Waiting until you were ready to emerge.
For a long time it has watched your desire,
Feeling the emptiness growing inside you,
Noticing how you willed yourself on,
Still unable to leave what you had outgrown.
It watched you play with the seduction of safety
And the gray promises that sameness whispered,
Heard the waves of turmoil rise and relent,
Wondered would you always live like this.
Then the delight, when your courage kindled,
And out you stepped onto new ground,
Your eyes young again with energy and dream,
A path of plenitude opening before you.
Though your destination is not yet clear
You can trust the promise of this opening;
Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning
That is at one with your life's desire.
Awaken your spirit to adventure;
Hold nothing back, learn to find ease in risk;
Soon you will home in a new rhythm,
For your soul senses the world that awaits you.
“For One Who Holds the Power”
~John O’Donohue
May the gift of leadership awaken in you as a vocation,
Keep you mindful of the providence that calls you to serve.
As high over the mountains the eagle spreads its wings,
May your perspective be larger than the view from the foothills.
When the way is flat and dull in times of gray endurance,
May your imagination continue to evoke horizons.
When thirst burns in times of drought,
May you be blessed to find the wells.
May you have the wisdom to read time clearly
And know when the seed of change will flourish.
In your heart may there be a sanctuary
For the stillness where clarity is born.
May your work be infused with passion and creativity
And have the wisdom to balance compassion and challenge.
May your soul find the graciousness
To rise above the fester of small mediocrities.
May your power never become a shell
Wherein your heart would silently atrophy.
May you welcome your own vulnerability
As the ground where healing and truth join.
May integrity of soul be your first ideal.
The source that will guide and bless your work.
~Clare McBeath and Tim Presswood
May the God who created a world of diversity and vibrancy,
Go with us as we embrace life in all its fullness.
May Jesus, who teaches us to care for strangers and foreigners,
Go with us as we try to be good neighbors in our communities.
May the Spirit who breaks down our barriers and celebrates community,
Go with us as we find the courage to create a place of welcome for all.
~Mother Teresa
Faith in action is love,
and love in action is service.
By transforming that faith into living acts of love,
we put ourselves in contact with God Himself,
with Jesus our Lord.
May it be so - Amen!
~Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
"Power without love is reckless and abusive, and love without power is sentimental and anemic. Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice, and justice at its best is power correcting everything that stands against love."
~Nadia Bolz-Weber
“It happens to all of us. God simply keeps reaching down into the dirt of humanity and resurrecting us from the graves we dig for ourselves through our violence, our lies, our selfishness, our arrogance, and our addictions. And God keeps loving us back to life over and over.”
~Rachel Held Evans
“This is what God’s Kingdom is like:
a bunch of outcasts and oddballs gathered at a table,
not because they are rich or worthy or good,
but because they are hungry,
because they said yes.
And there's always room for more.”
~Rachel Held Evans
“We could not become like God, so God became like us.
God showed us how to heal instead of kill, how to mend instead of destroy, how to love instead of hate, how to live instead of long for more.
When we nailed God to a tree, God forgave. And when we buried God in the ground, God got up.”
~Malcolm Doney, All Hallows on the Wall
May the love which overcomes all differences
which heals all wounds
which puts to flight all fears
which reconciles all who are separated
be in us and among us, now and always, Amen.
And the blessing of God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
be upon you this day and for ever more.
Amen.
~Brian McLaren
Blessed are the curious
for their curiosity honors reality.
Blessed are the uncertain and those with second thoughts
for their minds are still open.
Blessed are the wonderers
for they shall find what is wonderful
Blessed are those who question their answers
for their horizons will expand forever.
Blessed are those who often feel foolish
for they are wiser than those who always think themselves wise.
Blessed are those who are scolded, suspected, labeled heretics by the gatekeepers
for the prophets and mystics were treated the same way by the gatekeeper of their day.
Blessed are those who know their unknowing
for they shall have the last laugh.
Blessed are the perplexed
for they have reached the frontiers of contemplation.
Blessed are they who become cynical about their cynicism and suspicious about their suspicion
for they shall enter the second innocence.
Blessed are the doubters
for they shall see through fake gods.
Blessed are the lovers
for they shall see God everywhere.
An excerpt from “The Summer Day” by Mary Oliver
“...I don’t know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?”
“The Eighth Day”
~Doris Good
After God had rested,
He looked about Him
and sighed.
His diamond creation showed a flaw.
He saw the friction of
man to man
was marring
its brilliance,
For only the hardness
of a heart
could scratch
its surface.
God pondered.
A new force was needed
in the universe.
A leveling force
A cohesive force
Which babe to aged could
Recognize
Claim
Cherish
Clutch and give.
A force that could melt two into one,
That could make self and others
indistinguishable.
So God created LOVE
And placed a measure
in each heart.
And behold…
It is good.
~William Sloan Coffin
May God give you grace never to sell yourself short, grace to risk something big for something good, grace to remember that the world is too dangerous for anything but truth, and too small for anything but love.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson
Write it on your heart
that every day is the best day in the year.
He is rich who owns the day, and no one owns the day
who allows it to be invaded with fret and anxiety.
Finish every day and be done with it.
You have done what you could.
Some blunders and absurdities, no doubt crept in.
Forget them as soon as you can, tomorrow is a new day;
begin it well and serenely, with too high a spirit
to be cumbered with your old nonsense.
This new day is too dear,
with its hopes and invitations,
to waste a moment on the yesterdays.
~Earle Fike, Jr.
Go now:
Go in safety,
for you cannot go where God is not.
Go in love,
for love alone endures.
Go with purpose,
and God will honor your dedication.
Go in peace, for it is the gift of God to those
whose hearts and minds are in Christ Jesus.
~Adapted from Thomas Turner, Everyday Liturgy
May the God of goodness and mercy,
The God of gentleness and kindness,
The God of righteousness and faithfulness:
be the light of our salvation and sustain our souls.
May we offer to the comfort of the Spirit:
The busyness and tasks that fill our days
And the hopes and the fears that consume our minds
For we accomplish nothing without your grace.
May we submit to the way of Jesus
Loving you with our everything
and loving our neighbors - and even our enemies - as ourselves.
And may we count well the cost:
Of following the way of Jesus,
Of being being part of this beautiful mess we call the church,
Knowing that we shall be renewed
and transformed
by the steadfast love of God
into the people of God.
May it be so!
~Katie Cook
When the noise and haste surround you
and threaten to take you hostage,
May God’s gentle voice soothe you
and guide you to a place of quiet strength;
When the days seem cold and dark,
and the nights unbelievably long,
May God’s smile illumine
and warm you from within;
When you feel alone and dismal,
May God send someone to you with a daisy.
May you truly go forth in joy
and be led back in peace;
May all creation sing around you;
And may the weeds of mourning
turn into flowers
wherever you walk.
Amen.
~Adapted from Kate Barclay Wilkinson, “Laughter, Silence & Shouting: An Anthology of Women's Prayers”
May the mind of Christ our Savior
live in us from day to day,
By his love and power controlling
all we do or say.
May the Word of God dwell richly
in our hearts from hour to hour,
So that all may see we triumph
only through God's power.
May the love of Jesus fill us
as the waters fill the sea;
Him exalting, self-embracing --
This is victory.
May we run the race before us,
strong and brave to face the foe,
looking only unto Jesus
as we onward go.
Amen.
“A Closing Blessing for Grumbling Employees"
~Adam King
May we come to know that love and mercy
are not the same as wages and income
And that gifts from the Spirit
are freely offered by God
to absolutely everyone.
May we embrace this truth -
the very moment we believe
that we must earn God’s favor
is the moment
we’ve missed the mark,
And that the times we rest
in the goodness of God’s grace
are the moments we can begin to truly
love our neighbor.
May we joyfully celebrate the person
who is brought back to life
by exorbitant love
and the “unfair logic” of God’s kin-dom.
For we are that person.
And May we become people who,
like our Creator,
wastefully give away love
to any and all we encounter.
This day, and every day.
Go in peace to Mend God’s Creation, Together.
Amen.
~Kate Bowler
Blessed are we who come to You in the discomfort of our doubt,
for we trust that our honest unknowing is a truer and better prayer
than bootstrapping efforts at certainty.
Blessed are we, receiving the gift of doubt,
for we trust that it is a doorway, freeing us to become
that we could not otherwise have known.
Blessed are we, remembering that You God, hold all things together.
You are the invisible scaffolding that supports us,
the canopy of love that protects us in the present,
the stable pillars, sunk deep into our past,
and the Dove that flies confidently toward the future
bearing for us the peace we could never have attained for ourselves.
Blessed are we, settling into the truth that there are things that we can’t know,
settling into the humility that knows this one thing —
that we are of the earth, and You are our God.
Notice this day what you do know and trust. Thank God for it. And leave the rest.
Amen.
May the God of grace give you eyes to see beauty everywhere,
hands to do good to everyone
and hearts to bless all you meet.
~Homiletics, adapted
Because of Jesus,
and those who believed and put their trust in him before us,
We can now go forth
To think more clearly,
Feel more deeply,
Speak more truthfully,
Love more extravagantly,
Risk more boldly,
Serve more creatively,
Give more lavishly,
And live more abundantly.
May it be so!
May light always shine in our darkness.
May love always beat in our hearts.
May our ears hear nothing but encouragement.
And as we part from one another,
may the living bread of Jesus be comfort and strength along our way.
May grace upon grace be ours - today and tomorrow, now and forever.
Amen.
Numbers 6:24-26
~a translation by Jeff Bennett from the Paleo Hebrew script
God who exists will kneel before you presenting gifts and will guard you with a hedge of protection.
God who exists will illuminate you with the wholeness of His Being, bringing order (shalom), and He will beautify you.
God who exists will lift up the wholeness of His Being and look upon you to set in place all you need to be whole and complete.
