July 27, 2003
Blessings that Count
Linda A. Knieriemen

What is a blessing?  That’s what one of my husband’s Bible study students asked last year.  What is a blessing?  Or what does it mean to be blessed?  It’s a common word, one that Biblical writers used a lot, but at the same time it seemed to this student to be, well, vague or maybe too broad.  Blessing is one of those words which gets thrown around casually in both spiritual and secular settings so I could understand the confusion.  Think about it.  What IS a blessing?

We say “God bless you” when someone sneezes (a tradition originating with Gregory the Great in the 6^th Century who offered that prayer to sufferers of the plague).  We pray a “blessing” before we eat.  We remark “that the rain we had last night was a blessing”, or we tickle the chin of a newborn and coo “bless your little cotton socks”, or as I used to hear from my grandmother “bless your puddin’ heart”.  We use it as an exclamation “bless my soul and body”, or as an intensive “we didn’t get a blessed drop of rain”.  Sometimes we respectfully end a conversation with a “God bless you”, or react to a conversation stopping comment the same way, not having any other suitable response.  Or on a Sunday afternoon we might say, “I had an extra ‘blessed’ hour of sleep” (and missed church).

I recall that on Sunday afternoon (after David’s student asked that question) I reached for and squinted at the pages of the Oxford English Dictionary (I’m too stubborn to use the magnifying glass) and we found everything from “to make holy”, “to approve”, “to invoke divine care for”, “to praise”, “to protect”, and “to give bliss”.  Later in my office we did a word study in Hebrew and Greek.  That question and our conversation continues to roll around in my mind.  When I preached about Abraham’s call and God’s promise back in January, we breezed right by this notion of “blessings” and it deserves a deeper look.  So what is a blessing?

Let’s look at the Bible.  In Genesis alone the root word for blessing, literally BRK, occurs 88 times.  In the Psalms the root word for blessing occurs more than 90 times, and in the New Testament it occurs more than 150 times.  The importance of “blessing” as a theological concept, and as a reality in our Christian lives can’t be underestimated.

A quick survey of those occurrences shows the first incidence in Genesis 1.  God completes creation by forming male and female, and then “blesses” them.  In other translations, God calls them good.  In Genesis 12 God promises to bless Abraham with land, descendents, and nation; God also says he, Abraham, will be a blessing for others.  A few chapters later Jacob steals the coveted “blessing” from his brother Esau, the first born, to whom tradition dictates it should pass.  Our church school children, along with those of you who studied Kergyma this year, learn that the blessing of Abraham passes through the line of Abraham’s heirs, through David’s heirs, through the tree of Jesse, and to the child Jesus.  It has something to do with the covenant.  The psalm writers, like the shepherd King David, bless God or worship God in their poetry -- probably the most well known of which is the 103^rd Psalm which some of you (like me) memorized as children, or if not, you may have learned as the song from Godspell:  “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me bless God’s holy name.  Bless the Lord, O my soul and forget not all God’s benefits.”  Back in the book of Numbers God tells Moses to instruct Aaron to bless the Israelites with the words of a benediction we still use today -- “The Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord’s face shine upon you and be gracious to you, the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.”

In the opening pages of Luke’s gospel, the angel of God calls Mary “blessed” or favored, and with that angel (even until today) our Roman Catholic friends pray those words as part of the Rosary saying, “Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus.”  As an adult Jesus then pronounces blessings (what we call the Beatitudes) upon unexpected categories of people, people in whom others did not see what had been considered proof of God’s blessing -- that is prosperity, land, and health.  Those with material wealth, in other words, do not own God’s exclusive blessing.  The poor -- those who mourn, those who are hungry, those who are persecuted, and the children -- are also blessed or are in God’s graces.  In the Upper Room Jesus blesses and breaks bread and because of that we refer to the Cup of Blessing when we celebrate the Blessed Sacrament or Holy Communion.  The Apostle Paul assures the Gentiles (like you and me) that the blessing God gave to Abraham, through Christ, becomes ours.  We receive not only prosperity but also receive Abraham’s connection to God.  At the end of a life by a graveside service we use the words from Revelation 4:  “Blessed are those who die in the Lord.”  This means those are at peace who know God.

That was a quick summary but did you notice the variety of ways “blessing” is used?  If we untangle the parts of speech, we see that blessings can be a verb, a noun, or an adjective.  It other words:

1. God is an actor and blesses us with gifts of blessings.

and

2. We are actors.  We bless God or worship God in return for God’s blessings to us.

and

3. We bless one another invoking God’s grace, love, and peace.

A quick look at a dictionary tells us how the word is used in English.  A survey of scripture shows how blessings were perceived in Bible times.  But what is a blessing to you?  How do you identify God’s blessing?

A word of caution though because there is a patch of quicksand in which we can find ourselves when we speak of blessing or being blessed.  We have seen a movement arise in the past decade or so which equates God’s blessings or favor with material things and money.  The problem is this.  If I believe that God has looked favorably upon my life and therefore has given me financial security, then what does that mean about the person who is poor?  That their life has not found favor with God?  Such a philosophy or theology is unfortunately narrow at best and dangerously pietistic at worst.  It was, after all, Jesus himself who said that the poor, the hungry, the suffering, and the lonely are blessed and graced by God.  It is to them that Jesus dare suggest not to worry, but that God would provide “all these things” -- food, clothing, and shelter.  Blessing in God’s dictionary is not found under the heading of money.

What is a blessing?  Peter Gomes, Chaplain at Harvard University, writes that a blessing is an antidote for anxiety.  In this modern world he says we suffer from “worries” and we forget God’s benefits, just what the Psalmist admonishes us not to when writing, “Bless the Lord, oh my soul, and forget not all God’s benefits!”  Rather, our prayers become more a laundry list of worries which reflect our anxieties rather than our convictions about God and our gratitude for God’s blessings to us.  Now his congregation is admittedly a high intensity, ivy-league, academic one for whom good grades and success in school and in the world is everything, but I don’t think we are so different.  My guess is that for many of us our “default setting” is worry rather than gratitude.  My guess is that we are more apt to cry out to God out of our need than out of our fullness.  What we need, Gomes suggests, is to recover our memory for God’s benefits and to live as those who first pray in thanksgiving for God’s blessings rather than to exhaust ourselves with a litany of worries and add a tag line of thanks as an afterthought right before the Amen.

What is a blessing?  Maybe you agree with the person who said that a “blessing” is a way in which God allows us to see God more clearly; or that to speak of a person as blessed is to acknowledge the presence of God in that person.  We might also say that blessings are those things which God gives us to enable us to be whole and find peace.

We are going to sing that old time hymn “Count Your Blessings” at the end of the service.  To some (like me) this 19^th Century hymn is a favorite not found in our hymnal and it will be a treat.  Some of you won’t know it.  Some of you will find it corny and won’t want to sing it again.  Some of you will think of Bing Crosby singing Irving Berlin’s song, “When I’m worried and cannot sleep, I’ll count my blessings instead of sheep.”  Counting blessings that count -- that is -- trusting God with your anxieties, seeing God more clearly, resting in the presence of God, and being aware of times God is near you.  That is a spiritual practice I commend to you regardless of how you feel about the hymn. 

So I suggest this morning that you may best know what a blessing is by recalling those times when you caught a glimpse of God.  Count these.  Pray these.

I offer a few of mine to get you started.

One:  Beauty.  In mid-July Sherrill Vore and I spent six days on a retreat in the mountains of Eastern Tennessee.  The borrowed cottage was surrounded by a national forest and was situated in such a way that when sitting on the deck, it felt like a tree house.  The mountain laurel was in full bloom boasting it’s creators’ praise in pinks and whites.  The midsummer wild flowers decorated the forest floor, the imperfect perfection of each oak and pine tree formed a glorious sanctuary boasting -- no blessing -- the Creator.  And if that wasn’t enough, a cool mountain stream ran through it.  It was a constant rush of water tumbling over ancient rocks; it was an ever-flowing stream giving life not only to vegetation and to the four-legged creature, but to us.  We cooked, bathed, and drank from it.  Beauty is a blessing which counts.  I praise God for beauty. 

One:  Beauty.  Two:  Life.  On Wednesday this week -- after the churchmen’s luncheon -- I paused to talk with our member, Ed Minick.  Ed, like others in this congregation who have endured long life-threatening illnesses, is a living, smiling reminder of the blessing of life itself.  He reminisced about his long recuperation over these last 12 months in a spirit of gratitude.  Ed shared that in those long days in the hospital, when the doctors admitted they did not know if their plan would be successful, that his prayer in the morning was, “Thank you God; I’m here; I woke up!”  Soldiers, Ed told me, know that too.  Yes, life itself is a blessing.  God took away my amnesia and replaced it with an alleluia.

One:  Beauty.  Two:  Life.  Three:  Love.  Through a summer of officiating at weddings, of visiting family, of cherishing my husband before his departure to Vanuatu for a few weeks I feel how God’s love shapes the love humans share with one another.  Time-and-time again I am reminded that we love because God first loved us and that God’s gift of unconditional love is extraordinary.  In a new way this summer I saw a glimpse of God’s love in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series.  In the very first chapter of the very first book (and repeatedly as Rowling spins her tales -- particularly in the latest release) we learn of the life-changing power of a parent’s love for a child.  Any Potter fan will tell you that when Harry was a baby, the evil wizard, Valdemort, attacked and killed Harry’s father, but when Harry’s mother, Lily, realized that Valdemort was preparing to send the death curse toward Harry as well, she (acting with the sacrificial love of a parent) threw herself between Harry and the curse, taking upon herself the certain death.  Harry’s friend Hagrid calls this kind of love “the great myst’ry”.  Lily Potter loved her son so much that she was willing to die so that he would not have to.  Perfect love is this -- that one is willing to lay down their life for their friends.  John 15: 13  As the good Professor Dumbledore (another character) says, “Love as powerful as your mother’s for you leaves its own mark.  Not a scar, no visible sign…..to have been loved so deeply, even though the person who loved us is gone, will give us some protection forever.”  Indeed it will.  Harry has a scar on his forehead to remember the ordeal.  We have the sign of baptism in our souls.  “While we were yet unaware as babes, while we were still sinners, God in Christ died for us.”  That is God’s antidote to our anxiety about the future, even about our death. 

Our blessings -- all these things -- are God’s good gift to us.

What’s a blessing?

We’ve talked about it enough.  Let’s all go home and count them.

III. The Contrast Between What the Man Said and What They Heard

Peter and John were on their way to the temple to pray, but when they observed the contrast between the “Beautiful Gate” and the lame man, they could not continue without at least approaching him.  In the ensuing conversation we encounter the final contrast of this passage -- the contrast between what the man said and what they heard.  The man asked for alms.  He asked for a donation, a little something which would help him survive a bit longer, but Peter and John heard something beyond the mere words the man was using.

He was asking for money.  What he wanted was a new lease on life.  What he wanted was the dignity of being able to so something for himself.  What he wanted was to not have to sit daily at the temple gates begging, hoping against hope that the overflow from other people’s excess might be sufficient for his needs.  He wanted to stand, and walk, and run, and be whole; but he was asking for money because those other hopes had been beaten down time-and-time again.

In this instance Peter and John are introducing us to a level of communication which this world desperately needs.  They are introducing us to the technique of listening with the heart.

A colleague of mine tells the story of how early in his ministry one of his friends was a farmer who ran a dairy.  One day he interrupted his milk delivery to stop by Ken’s study.  Ken relates, “I saw him reluctantly because he was often slow in coming to the point and I was busy.  But he raised a point I had made the previous Sunday and said that while doing the milking he had begun to think about it.  He asked hesitantly, “Do you think God might have had this in mind too?”  And he came up with an idea that was central and true and I had missed it.

After that he would come in from time-to-time to see me.  But always he hesitated to intrude or to presume to have ideas of importance.  Always it was to the point.  And always it stimulated my own thoughts.  Without knowing it the congregation was indebted to that man who had only an 8^th grade education because he made me a better preacher.  As I went into the pulpit, I would find myself praying, ‘Lord help me not to say anything that will sound stupid to Chris when he’s doing the milking this week’.

Because of busy schedules, because of a natural impatience, how many of us fail to listen with the heart?  How many of us fail to listen with the heart when we have words with our teenagers around the dinner table about some chore they failed to perform or to an irritated spouse who doesn’t show proper appreciation for a good deed we have done. 

It is interesting that the Chinese character for “think” is compounded of two others meaning “hear” and “heart”.  We in the West have set the two against each other -- to our loss.  We must learn again that it takes both feeling and intellect to think, that is, to become human.

Peter and John were listening with the heart.  In the Greek, the lame man’s request was “hrata labein”, that is, he asked “to receive”.  Most people heard that as a request to put a little something in the hat.  Peter and John heard him expressing an openness to receive anything they had to give and so they responded -- not with a coin, but with a blessing.  They gave something of themselves and it turned out to be the greatest gift of all.

I believe all of this can be summed up so very well in a little poem drawn from one of my favorite little books, Mr. God, This Is Anna:

“In faith, I do not love thee with mine eyes.

For they indeed a thousand errors note;

But tis my heart that loves what they despise.”

As we go from worship this morning let us pray that God will teach us this new kind of communication so that we can move beyond the many words of irritation, anger, and hurt which are spoken in impatience to listening with the heart for the desire of every human person who yearns for that touch of love which will make us whole and the kind of people God has created us to be.