When I was a kid, one of my favorite parts of the service was the very end. Don’t get me wrong … it wasn’t because the service was over. I loved it when my Pastor would raise his hands and pronounce a blessing over the church. One of the most commonly invoked was from Numbers 6,
The Lord bless thee, and keep thee: The Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.
Why was that moment so special to me? Maybe because I had good pastors. I never doubted that the men who served our little congregation really loved me and desired God’s blessings to rest on my life. It was obvious in how they preached and shook my hand and taught me in Bible class and prayed for me. So when they pronounced God’s blessing … I felt blessed.
Now, almost 40 years later, I have the privilege of closing each service with a blessing. My calling as a pastor gives me no special power to bless … only God can do that. What I do is announce that God desires to bless you. I earnestly believe that and long for it to be true in your life. Fallen man that I am … I hope that’s obvious in how I preach and teach and greet you and pray for you. Let me share two of my favorite Scriptural blessings … and I pray that by God’s grace they will be true for you in the coming year.
May the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Phil. 4:7
I pray that Christ will dwell in your hearts through faith and that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Eph. 3:17-19
