Benediction

By Tyler Tankersley

I do not think we know how to end things very well. Many parents will be driving their teenagers to college for the first time this week. There will be an awkward moment in which the parents feel that it's time to leave; their child will look at them and they will know the time has arrived to say "goodbye." Eyes will be filled with tears and hearts will ache. For most people, it will be a moment that will be equal parts painful, joyous and awkward. We don't do well with goodbyes.

As a pastor, it's sometimes difficult to know how to end a worship service. How do you say goodbye? You've all just spent this intentional time together singing, praying, listening and learning (and some may have been napping). How do you button this time up? There are obviously lots of different kinds of ways to provide a "parting moment," but the one that has come to mean the most to me is the benediction. Translated from Latin, the word "benediction" means "to speak well" and it refers to the words of divine blessing or invocation. For centuries both Jews and Christians have been ending their worship services with a benediction of sorts.

In the oft-neglected biblical book of Numbers, there exists a beautiful benediction that is often called the Priestly Blessing: "The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you; the Lord lift his countenance upon you, and give you peace" (Numbers 6:24-26). God instructed Aaron to speak this word of blessing over the Israelites and it eventually served as the way to end their services at the Temple. The people were reminded that, as they go from this place, God's blessing, graciousness, and peace follows them. It was a reminder that the end of the service was not a goodbye.

As a pastor, I speak a benediction to my beloved community at the end of every service. I do so because I want them to realize that worship is not "over" just because we are all now scattered to our various lunch locales. A local congregation exists in the midst of our gathered time together but (more importantly) also as we have now been spread throughout the community. I want to leave them with a reminder that as they go from our church, they are being encouraged and commissioned to spread the Good News of God's abundant love.

Each Sunday, I raise my hands and I speak the words of the benediction below. As I do so, I walk amongst the congregation. I want them to realize that God's grace and love follows them as they move into the neighborhood. This benediction is one I heard every Sunday from a beloved mentor and he heard it from a mentor in his life. I say these words to the congregation that I love every single week:

May the One who seeks you, find you when you fall. May the One who loves you take delight in your living. And may the One who sends you, send you now in joy; for in your gladness and in your grieving, in your brokenness and in your healing, in your faithfulness and in your leaving, the One who made you and redeemed you is the One who keeps you still. Amen.