Bless Your Heart (and I really mean that)
Pastor Joanie - “Count your blessings”
- “A blessing in disguise”
- “Bless you” (after you have sneezed)
- “Bless your heart”
These are just a few of the ways we use the word bless or blessing in our everyday conversations.
I have a minister friend that served as a mentor to me in high school. Jokingly, he shared a piece of advice with me one day that I will never forget. He reminded me that in the south we have overused the phrase “Bless your heart” . We have sometimes gotten in a habit of saying it or sometimes we use the phrase just to have something kind to say in an awkward situation. So, he suggested that in serious situations, when you really do want to share a word of blessing, then you have to add “and I really mean that.” So then the phrase is extended to something like this “Bless your heart and I really mean that.”
Tomorrow we will take time to gather with loved ones, to give thanks, and to remember our blessings. So it is fitting to revisit the sacred meaning of blessing found in Scripture.
Presbyterian minister and author Frederick Buechner writes:
In the biblical sense, if you give me your blessing, you irreversibly convey into my life not just something of the beneficent power and vitality of who you are, but something also of the life-giving power of God, in whose name the blessing is given.
As you pause over the next few days to give thanks and to remember your blessings, know that those life-giving gifts reflect God’s power and are intended for you.
We offer this blessing to you and your families this year:
The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace. (So they shall put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them).
-Numbers 6:24-27
Listen to a beautiful arrangement of this blessing arranged by John Rutter:
Happy Thanksgiving!
You are invited to participate in the decoration of Hood MCC for Christmas by purchasing poinsettias to be placed in the sanctuary on Sunday, December 3rd. Deadline for orders is Wednesday, November 29th. 6 inch poinsettias are $7.00. Poinsettias can be placed in honor or memory of loved ones. To purchase a poinsettia, please contact the church office.