“You are blessed to be a blessing.”
How many times have I heard that before?
So many, if I’m honest, that I can tune those words out. It seems like a way to explain to especially privileged people why we are so blessed, over and above others. And it often thus feels to me like a rationale for the inequities that persist in our world, whereas I would offer another explanation: human sin and brokenness.
But this week, at our Central Conference Annual Meeting, I heard those words again – as if for the first time.
During our Thursday evening worship service, Ramelia Williams, director of Ministry Initiatives in our denomination’s Love Mercy Do Justice office, preached on God’s covenant with Abraham in Genesis. She focused on how Abraham was blessed to be a blessing.
This time, the words didn’t feel so hollow.
She told us how the very act of acknowledging yourself as blessed is to recognize the connection between you, the receiver and God, the giver. It is to see WHO before the WHAT of your blessing. And it is to know that God, who gives us gifts, gets a say in how we use them.
Then she posed several questions that have stayed with me:
What if we viewed our blessings as a blueprint for the work God has called us to?
What if we viewed our blessings as ways to connect us to each other?
What is the meaning of a blessing from God if I keep the fruit of it for myself?
As a person who was born into privilege and continues to live in that privilege, I have often grappled with the purpose of my privilege. I can see now that I conflated privilege (the result of an unequal and unjust society) with blessing (the act of God).
There’s something to be said for using your privilege on behalf of the underprivileged – that’s work we need to keep doing, too.
But today, I’m thinking about my blessings. Things that are gifts from God. Like a loving family, and a wonderful church. Deep friendships. Meaningful work.
God gave me those things – and God gets a say in how I use them.
I invite you today to reflect on what you would list as your blessings, and how you might use them to bless others.
I will leave you with these thoughts, right from Ramelia:
You are privileged to free others from oppression
You are wounded to be a healer
You are employed to support your family and community
You are free to break the chains of others.
What might you add?
yours,
Pastor Jen
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