Kelly Adams
CBF Director of Clergy Support Ecosystem
You are invited to read the following blessing in the style of Lectio Divina. Lectio Divina is a practice of meditative reading in which a passage is read two to three times to listen for how God is speaking through it. As you read this blessing a few times, listen “with the ear of your heart” and see if you can identify a word or phrase that the Holy Spirit points out to you today. You may take this word or phrase to God in prayer, then close your time with a final reading of the blessing.
A Blessing for When You Know You Need to Change (but Don’t Want to)
The world is changing every day, every hour, every minute
Some changes we embrace—
We learn the new software at work
We make new friends
We trade in the old car for a new one
Some changes we resist
Because they ask too much of us
We don’t want to change that
Because it means something in us might have to change, too,
We acknowledge that we are holding on too tightly
But change is hard
And changing our mind, our views, our values, our practices
Comes with too many questions
And too much judgment
Blessed are you when you know you need to change
You have done the hard work of noticing the people and world around you
You are responding to an inner stirring
Perhaps of the Holy Spirit?
Toward newness
May this stirring give you clarity and tenacity
To take the next step
And make the change(s) you acknowledge you need
God who knows our hearts,
Let the work of making all things new begin in us
And make us faithful to embrace renewal in ourselves
So that we can keep noticing the newness in the world
Which points to where we can join you at work
Serving and loving our neighbors
Gift us with companions who listen with empathy
And affirm these changes without judgment
And do not leave us content
But keep us ever attuned to the world and to the Holy Spirit
So that maybe next time, we will be less resistant
And more ready to embrace the ways you are calling us
To be a more faithful reflection of your love to our world.
Amen.
Pray. . .Give. . .Go.