Date: Sept. 30, 2007

Sermon: Blessed to be a blessing

Scripture: Numbers 22-24

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When was the last time you said, “God bless you” to someone? Was it part of an important occasion? Did you say it to the wedding couple as you greeted them in the receiving line? To the bereaved family after the funeral? When you bid farewell to someone embarking on an adventure? After someone in the room sneezed?

When was the last time someone said, “God bless you” to you?

There was a time when blessing one another was fairly common. Probably the most famous line in Charles Dickens’ story A Christmas Carol, is the very last line – when Tiny Tim pronounces: “God bless us, everyone!” Such a blessing would have been a normal, customary occurrence.

Today, invoking the blessing of God upon someone seems far from common place in our culture. Even if it crosses our mind to say, “God bless you” to someone, there is a hesitancy on our part to go through with it as we wonder if the person is a Christian, or a church-goer, or a believer in God. We are concerned about how the other person may react if we spoke those words: “What will they think about what I’ve just said?” “What will they think about me?”

Perhaps because public words of blessing are so rare, that is what makes them so valuable. One Mennonite pastor in Pennsylvania observes that “public discourse seems bereft of anything but sarcasm, profanity, and slander. Private conversation, even my own [he admits], seems entirely taken up with practicalities and cost-benefit analysis. Rarely do we offer simple words of blessing. Even more rarely do we ask for them” [“Words of blessing” by Ron. W. Adams in The Mennonite, Vol. 10, No. 9, May 1, 2007].

Words are one thing, but what about what we do?

Don’t actions speak louder than words?

I have no doubt that our actions can be and often are used by God to bless other people. I had an experience last week where someone’s thoughtful actions blessed me so much I wept. Who knew that apples and apple butter were just what I needed on that day?! God did – and prompted someone to act.

Actions do speak loudly, but they are not a substitute for the spoken word. The spoken word is powerful. God spoke the world into creation:

“God said...and there was...”(Genesis ch. 1).

“In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God,

and the Word was God.

The Word [God the Son] became flesh and lived among us (John 1:1,14).

Throughout history, God has continued to speak. In this morning’s scriptures we are reminded that God’s word is spoken through whomever and by whatever vehicle God chooses, be it angel or donkey or human.

The prophets of the Bible, the church reformers of Europe, and the Billy Grahams of the world were all people of God used by God for saying what needed to be said. But God also has a history of using people who would not classify themselves as one of God’s people – to bless others:

-Cyrus, king of Persia who allowed some exiled Jews to return to Judah with some of their temple treasures;

-the magi who bring gifts to the Christ child;

-Canadian Stephen Lewis who advocates for families in Africa affected by HIV/AIDS.

Balaam was one such person who did not put himself into God’s camp. He was a pagan prophet with an international reputation for divination. His great professional success was known far and wide: “Whomever Balam blessed was blessed, and whomever Balaam cursed was cursed” (Numbers 22:6).

Balak, king of Moab, teamed up with the Midianites to make an alliance that militarily still could not withstand the Israelites because they were so numerous. So, Balak planned to hire Balaam to curse the Israelites so that they would be defeatable and driven from the land.

Living in the age of militarism that we do, cursing one’s enemy doesn’t seem at all in the same league as the sophisticated offensive weapons used today. Curses (as well as blessings) however, were in ancient times generally seen as irrevocable. Once fired out of the mouth, what was said was as good as done. Perhaps this may be where the expression “as good as his word” comes from. Once spoken, it would only be a matter of time until the words would become reality.

Balak, accustomed to being obeyed, expects his royal job offer would be sufficient to convince Balaam to come and pronounce a curse on the enemy. When Balam refuses, Balak sends more officers (and more distinguished ones at that), to pressure him further, but Balaam does not come right away, insisting that he needs to listen again to God. Finally, Balaam returns with Balak’s ambassadors, and explains to the king – face to face – This isn’t like the other times. You can’t tell me what to say. “The word God puts in my mouth, that is what I must say” (Numbers 22:38).

Balak either doesn’t know the power of the LORD God of the Israelites – or he decides to take his chances that Balak is bluffing, because three times he asks Balaam to curse the people of Israel.

The first time Balaam utters God’s blessing upon the Israelites, Balak is surprised: “What have you done to me? I brought you to curse my enemies, but you have done nothing but bless them.”

The second time that Balaam speaks a blessing, Balak says to Balaam, “Do not curse them at all, and do not bless them at all.” In other words: “If you can’t say anything bad, don’t say anything at all.”

But Balak must have been a gambler because he takes his chances and removes Balaam to another place where he asks him a third time to pronounce a curse upon his enemies. Once more, a blessing is spoken.

Each time, God tells Balaam what to say, and all of his sayings are blessings!

God will not be silenced. The word that God puts into people’s mouths must be said:

They walked in tandem, each of the ninety-three students filing into the already crowded auditorium. With rich maroon gowns flowing and the traditional caps, they looked almost as grown up as they felt.

Dads swallowed hard behind broad smiles, and moms freely brushed away tears.

They gave inspirational and challenging speeches, but no one mentioned divine guidance and no one asked for blessings on the graduates or their families. This was, after all, a public school and religion was not part of the curriculum.

Then a solitary student walked proudly to the microphone. He stood still and silent for just a moment, and then, it happened. All 92 students, every single one of them, suddenly sneezed!!!

The student on stage simply looked at the audience and said, “God bless you, each and every one of you!” And he walked off stage....

And the audience exploded into applause. [from Rumors e-zine]

If God uses people – who (like Balaam) are at best, indifferent – to bless what God blesses, how much more ought we as lovers of God and as God’s beloved, give and receive God’s blessing!

Henri Nouwen reminds us that:

“To bless means to say good things. We have to bless one another constantly. Parents need to bless their children, children their parents, husbands their wives, wives their husbands, friends their friends. In our society, so full of curses, we must fill each place we enter with blessings. We forget so quickly that we are God’s beloved children and allow the many curses of our world to darken our hearts. Therefore, we have to be reminded of our belovedness and remind others of theirs. Whether the blessing is given in words or with gestures, in a solemn or informal way, our lives need to be blessed lives.”

In worship, we both offer and are offered a blessing more frequently than we may realize. “Benedictions are blessings which extend to all worshippers the hope of God’s shalom, God’s desire for our well-being, peace, and salvation. The key words “May God...” mark the pattern of blessing:” [June Alliman Yoder, Marlene Kropf, Rebecca Slough, Preparing Sunday Dinner, (Waterloo: Herald Press, 2005), p. 108]

May God bless you and keep you.

May the very face of God shine on you

and be gracious to you.

May God’s presence embrace you

and grant you peace. [based on Numbers 6:24-26]

Sometimes we sing God’s blessing to each other:

Go, my children, with my blessing, never alone.

Waking, sleeping, I am with you, you are my own.

In my love’s baptismal river, I have made you mine forever.

Go, my children, with my blessing, you are my own.

“Our congregations and communities desperately need the lavish potential that the [word and] act of blessing –the extension of God’s best wishes for reconciliation, peace, grace, and shalom–can unleash” [Preparing Sunday Dinner, p.109]. Like God’s blessing upon Abraham and Sarah, by whose family God promised that all the families of the earth shall be blessed,(Gen. 12:2,3) we too are blessed to be a blessing to the world.

This morning we are offered an opportunity to be anointed with oil for blessing. It is not a magic ritual that causes us to be blessed. Rather, it is a sign of being open to receiving the lavish blessing of the power and presence of God’s Holy Spirit. The sign of the cross made with the oil on either the forehead or the back of the hand reminds us that we are indeed blessed by God the Son who loved us so much that he went to death and back for us.

As you are anointed,

May the Lord lift you up;

the Lord take your hand;

the Lord lead you forth,

and cause you to stand.

Secure in God’s Word,

seeking God’s face,

abounding in love,