A few weeks ago, I attended a conference in the Twin Cities: Evolving Faith. It was a gathering of people who were seeking refreshment and renewal while also recognizing that their faith, and even their perception of the church, had shifted. There were other church leaders and ministry professionals there as well as people of other professions. There were people who identified on a spectrum of sexual identities, people of color and indigenous descent, and people like me: white, middle-class.
I paint this picture for you because it truly a beautiful gathering. And for about 36 hours or so, rather than being identified as one thing or another, together we became fellow pilgrims with one another, accompanying each other on our journeys.
At the close of the conference, we worshipped. And before being sent forth, the leader of the whole endeavor stood on the stage and offered a 5-minute long blessing. I’m not kidding you! Perhaps that seems abnormally long, but in that time, I felt a renewed sense that I was one who was seen by God. And even amidst my foibles, doubts, wanderings, and wonderings, I was still one who was uplifted as chosen…and blessed.
I left that space with a renewed outlook on myself, my life, and the calling which God has entrusted to me. But the thing was, it wasn’t just about me. It was also about all those others in the room with me. Each and every one of them were also blessed. So as I – as we! – left that conference ballroom, we couldn’t help but see one another as fellow blessed-ones in God’s sight.
The moment (obviously) hasn’t left me. And it makes me wonder: what would it be like to leave for our spaces of worship – and even our work offices, our schools, and our community gathering spaces – trusting and remembering that it’s not just ourselves who’ve been blessed by God. Indeed, it’s been each and every person around us?
I wonder, if remembering our own blessing, and remembering that those around us are also blessed in God’s sight would make a difference.
So try it out this week: receive God’s blessing on you: you who are a beloved, blessed, chosen, honored child of God. And as you look up from receiving that blessing, look around at all those whom God has also deemed worthy and loved in the sight of God’s Kingdom.