Blessings "R" Us
Last Sunday at the 10 a.m. service, I was able to give a
blessing to one parishioner who was to start Student Teaching. She had asked for a special blessing,
including the sprinkling of holy water on her teaching plans, because she was
nervous about this new major departure in her life. I believe she had seen the blessing last
year of a walking stick for another parishioner before she went on pilgrimage
to walk the Camino del Santiago del Compostela. Or she may have heard of the blessing of a
house site of other parishioners when ground was broken last year in the Aleph
Spring development near the Havurah.
We have blessings and prayers for just about anything. But sometimes we assume that what concerns us
or worries us is not worthy of a prayer or a blessing. And sometimes we forget to ask.
I gave last rites yesterday to two family members of
parishioners. In one case, the
parishioner had suffered a great deal in addition to her grief because she had
been forced by circumstances to make the hard decision to instruct physicians
to stop curative and begin palliative care, a decision that often feels like
you have made the call to starve your loved one to death. She was very happy that I had visited the
loved one, but surprised to find that in fact we have a rite, and a series of
prayers and blessings, for families who, for a variety of reasons involving
advance directives, quality of life and medical cost issues, and ethical
obligations, must stop medical care for their loved ones. I am sure she would have found great solace
in having the rite and prayers help her as she and the family came to their
decision and implemented it.
So here’s a reminder for all parishioners: in addition to regular anointing for the
sick, we Episcopalians have a whole raft of prayers, blessings, and rites for a
wide variety of life circumstances, all aimed at helping us get through them
O.K. and with God’s blessing. We have: house blessings; blessings for new jobs,
enterprises, or school terms; blessings for engagements, adoptions,
pregnancies, or becoming a caregiver; prayers for when medical care is stopped;
pet burials; rites to end relationships amicably; blessings for tools,
devotional objects, or musical instruments; a grieving rite after a stillbirth
or miscarriage; blessing and prayers for degenerative illness or dementia; a
rite of blessing for and commitment to a rule of life. The list goes on and on. There is even an exorcism rite, but that is
under the purview of the Bishop! (Some
who feel a need in this direction have found more everyday rites helpful, using
Holy Water from the Trinity baptismal font, which is blessed according to the
traditional rite).
The point here is not superstitious or magical thinking, but
rather a sacramental view of life that sees in the use of symbols and ritual a
way to process our deep feelings and get in closer contact with the
Divine.
If you are facing something where you feel might need a
little help, think about asking for a special blessing or rite. Sometimes we do it in Church, but often it
can be done in my office or your home. I
can provide texts of rites you might want to use on your own if you or others
involved don’t want the assistance of a priest. Trinity’s assisting clergy has a long record
of also assisting in this way.
Grace and Peace,
Fr. Tony+
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