Saturday, February 10, 2007

Blessing of Relationships


(On the Sunday closest to Valentine's Day, I like to do a Blessing of Relationships, which recognizes all the relationships that are important to us. Here's what I'm doing this year; it will be right after the sermon)

Today we celebrate the relationships in our lives—those relationships that bring us joy, that nurture and support us, that bring us comfort and love and hope. Perhaps that is your relationship with a partner—Valentine’s Day is coming up. But these supportive and loving relationships can be with a friend, as I feel supported and loved by my friends, or by family--my mother and son and my sisters and my uncles. Whoever it is, bring those people to your mind now, name them in your heart….

(Pause)

Holy One, pour out your grace and love on us and on our relationships—all our relationships. We thank and praise you for those that nurture us, that give us hope and joy. Bless us, bless our relationships—with partners and spouses, with friends and loved ones and families, with those we know well, and those we are coming to know, with our co-workers and with our fellow-members in this congregation and in your church around the world. Where our relationships have become tattered or broken, heal and repair our hearts and spirits, knit us again into your pattern of love. Give us grace always to thank you, the source of all love and blessings, for all the relationships in our lives. In all your many names, amen.

3 comments:

hip2b said...

THis is beautiful!

Sue said...

Lovely!

LutheranChik said...

That's beautiful. I may have to borrow it.;-)

Clarence Darrow--Beyond Scopes and Leopold & Loeb

Personalities fascinate me--people do. One way I try to understand history and places is through people--which is why I love good histor...