October 5, 2012

Blessed to be a Blessing

Before going to seminary, I had the privilege of working for CARE, the international relief and development organization. This is the organization that created the original CARE Package that Americans sent to Europe and Asia after World War II. My work as a major gifts fundraiser was to connect the hopes and dreams of the donor to the mission and work of the organization. Breaking the cycle of poverty for families in the developing world was common cause.

When visiting CARE projects in rural villages, specifically in certain places in Asia children would gather around us and take our hand and place it on the top of their heads. When we asked a member of the CARE staff what that meant, she told us: “They are asking for a blessing-- they want you to bless them.”

The image of one of our donors, president of a Fortune 100 company, placing his hand gently on the child’s head will be forever etched in my mind as a transformative moment. The boundaries of rich and poor, east and west, child and adult dissolved. They were simply two children of God blessing one another. This child revealed to this very learned and accomplished man who he really was: he was blessed to be a blessing.

The Blessed to be a Blessing Stewardship Narrative Series is a six-week reflection series designed to explore stewardship principles and practices. Six contributing writers explore the theme of blessing as a response of who we are and all we have received based on Mark’s Gospel from October 7th through November 11th, a season in which many congregations are conducting their annual giving campaign.

God’s initiative is always to bless, and that blessing is never earned; it is freely given. Christians primarily know the blessing of God’s grace in the gift of our baptism. The Book of Common Prayer tells us that in our baptism, the bond that is established cannot be dissolved. We share the same blessing given to Jesus in his baptism: “This is my beloved; in you I’m well pleased.” By virtue of our baptism, we are blessed to be a blessing.

God blesses what God creates. As the Book of Genesis reminds us, the recital of God’s blessing is infused into the created order. Each day of the creation story ends with the refrain: it is good, it is good, and it is good. We too are part and parcel of the created order, each of us designed for goodness and blessedness. The Hebrew word for bless¬ing is barak, which means the life force of creation itself. Through God’s blessing, all of creation is destined for abundant wellbeing. Through God’s blessing, there is always enough.

We in turn, bless God by offering praise and thanksgiving for the goodness of gifts given. To worship God is to offer some¬thing of value. We offer praise and thanksgiving not only with our lips but also with our lives. The annual pledge campaign can be an opportunity to bless God and bless the community from the offerings of the labor of our lives. Through our commitment to proportional giving, we offer a pledge of thanksgiving for all we have received and for all we will become as we live out our baptismal vows.

My hope is that these reflections will spark conversations and exploration of how clearly or not clearly we see ourselves as made for blessing by the Source of blessing and all the ways we praise God through whom all blessings flow—including our intentional proportional giving.

The series is ideal for those leading stewardship formation. Each week participants can download Blessed to Be a Blessing bulletin inserts to include in the weekly worship bulletin as well as a pledge card with a proportional giving chart. The series is available in Spanish, Chinese and Korean and can be found at http://www.episcopalchurch.org/page/blessed-be-blessing.