Benediction

“Ask what I should give you” (3:5). Notice that God doesn’t ask Solomon a question. God commands Solomon to ask. We often end up focusing on the wisdom Solomon requests, but what if we began with God’s command? What might God’s command and Solomon’s response tell us about benediction?

There are times that the benediction can feel a bit like a moment to re-summarize the sermon, to leave the congregation with the main point we want them to remember just in case they didn’t catch it the first time. We certainly want the sermon and the benediction to be connected. Yet, I wonder if rehashing the main point of the sermon actually accomplishes the purpose of a benediction, which is to bless. In some way, the benediction is our weekly answer to God’s command, “Ask what I should give you.” In the benediction, we dare to join as a community to ask for God’s blessing. Not just understanding or help. Blessing. And more specifically, a blessing that extends the work we rehearse in worship into our daily lives.

If benediction is our answer to God’s command to ask, then Solomon’s response demonstrates the importance of answering God’s command according to what God values. God did not guarantee that Solomon would receive whatever he asked for. What we ask for matters, not because God will condemn us for asking the wrong thing, but because when we ask God for blessing, we are participating in an ongoing conversation and work of grace with God and one another. Will our benediction extend or resist the work of grace in our communal life together?

In a children’s worship arts group I assist with, sometimes we ask the kids to bless one another at the end by doing a communal benediction that goes something like this:

Leader: What good things do you want God to do for one another and the world? After each answer, we will all say “Yes!” together.

Kid 1: Good sleep!

Everyone: YES!

Kid 2: No fighting anywhere!

Everyone: YES!

Kid 3: A good day at school!

Everyone: YES!

Leader: In all things, God bless us!

Everyone: YES! Amen!

However you decide to approach the focus on benediction this week, consider this: how might our approach to communal blessing change if we understood it as saying “yes!” to all the good that God wants for us?