A Word of Blessing | Part 1 of 3

When you’re a pastor, you get asked to offer blessings. I suppose it comes with the territory.  Sure, there’s the blessing over a meal—but over the years, I’ve had the honor of blessing many things:

Homes and hospital beds.
Animals and anniversaries.
Travel and transitions.
Motorcycles, cars, and even a chicken house or two.

But most often—and most meaningfully—it’s been people I’ve had the joy to bless. People standing at thresholds of birth and death, love and loss, endings and beginnings.

John O’Donohue writes that “a blessing is a circle of light drawn around a person to protect, heal, and strengthen.” It’s a way of honoring the sacred that is already present—and calling forth what is not yet fully seen. A way of forebrightening the road ahead.

So in these final weeks, I want to offer a series of three blessings here in this Weekly Word space—
to bless what is becoming in you,
to name the grace already at work,
and to speak love into the unfolding of your life.

Here is the first of three blessings I want to leave with you:

Blessing One: For the Journey That’s Still Becoming

When the ground beneath you shifts,
when what once felt certain begins to dissolve,
when your old ways of believing no longer carry the weight of your questions,
and you find yourself somewhere between who you were and who you're not yet—
may you resist the urge to rush past the disorientation.
May you let it open something in you.

This is holy work.
It rarely moves in a straight line.
It breaks things open. 
Makes you wait.
Asks more questions than it answers.

And still—
may you trust the Spirit in the middle of it all.
May you have the courage to let go of what no longer fits,
and the patience to let new life take root.
May you be gentle with yourself in the not-yet.
May you give thanks for the grace that holds even your unformed places.

And when the road feels uncertain,
may you hold this hope:

This may feel like lostness—
but something new is being born.
And the Spirit is gently shaping you with the work of grace.

Much love,

Pastor Gregg