Blessings Bundle

A Year of Showering Your People With God’s Blessings

Anytime we can remind people of God’s love for them we ought to do just that. We might call the blessing things like Backpack Blessing or Bike Blessing but we are never really blessing the objects. Instead we are always blessing the people who use them. We bless the kids who carry the backpacks and ride the bikes. We bless the teachers who teach and the youth who travel on mission trips. For a long while, the church has installed people for certain roles within the congregation. If I’m being honest I don’t love the wording or approach of most installations. The term “installing” just reminds me too much of furnaces, hot water heaters and refrigerators. Installing feels like something we do for appliances that need to work 24/7 rather than for human beings called to both service and sabbath. So, I have moved away from the installations in my congregations and towards blessings. Recently, on the first day of Sunday School, I invited the teachers forward not to be installed but instead to be blessed. During the children’s message the kids surrounded their Sunday school teachers and joined me in praying a prayer of blessing over them. We thanked God for the teacher’s caring hands and hearts that have been called to share God’s love throughout the Sunday school year. It was a beautiful moment to witness the kids blessing the teachers who will spend the year blessing the kids with love and wisdom. I’m hoping the teachers walked away not feeling installed but rather empowered and blessed to share God’s love. My hope as you use this Blessing Bundle in your congregation throughout the year is that both you and your people remember God’s love as you all are blessed to continue being God’s people together.