Login / Signup

Free Access

Being A Blessing

Sermon
Sermons On The First Readings
Series II, Cycle A
Have you ever been blessed by someone? By this I mean has someone ever stopped, placed a hand on you, and declared a blessing on you in some enterprise or undertaking? I know that in the life of our church, we often pause to lay hands on sisters and brothers who are about to take leave of the community. Sometimes they are leaving on mission trips. Sometimes they may be moving away to a new job or opportunity. Other times they may just need a blessing as they encounter struggles on their journey.

Sometimes, of course, blessing happens in different ways. My father-in-law, who was quite ill when my wife and I were engaged, gave his blessing to our marriage. Some years back, when I left on a lengthy trip to Central America, my father gave me the gift of an expensive pocketknife, something I carry with me to this day. This was his way of giving me his blessing.

In this context, "blessing" means approval, but it means more than that. In Hebrew, the word is berakah, and it has to do with the declaration or the public announcement of blessings. When someone leaves and says, "God bless you," this is berakah.

Blessings such as this have a long history in our tradition. Throughout scripture, God offers such blessings in manifold ways and in numerous circumstances. Similarly, God receives such blessings from those who follow God.

It is this declared blessing that God bestows upon Abram as he calls him away from everything he knows into a new land. It is a blessing that is both approval and promise, and something further. The blessing of God on Abram doesn't just stop with Abram. This blessing has consequence. It has reach. It extends beyond the original declaration. This blessing has purpose. God says, "... I will bless you and make your name great so that you will be a blessing" (Genesis 12:2).

God's purpose, then, in making a great nation out of Abram's lineage, and in making Abram's name great, is so that he himself will become a blessing. This is heady stuff. And it leads me to ask if the blessings that each of us receive from God have that self same purpose. Do you think that the blessings you have received have been given you so that you might use those blessings in order to become a blessing to others? What a thought. If this is so, we might be able to engender an epidemic of blessing. Each blessing we receive, from material wealth, to children, to the gifts and talents we have, each one is given so that we might, in turn, bless others.

In our congregation, we have a doctor who has been blessed with the gift of healing. This one man, in turn, has taken his blessing and turned it into an annual medical mission to the Philippines, where he and a team of doctors treat thousands of people over a period of a few weeks. He got the blessing of a medical training and a good job as a doctor and, in turn, he has used that blessing to bless others with the gift of healing. How might you use the gifts, the blessings, you have been given to be a blessing for others?

I can't help but wonder how many of us are even aware of the many blessings we have been given. Life gets crazy, challenging, difficult, and sometimes it is beyond painful. But even on the worst of days we still stand in a downpour of blessings. How often do we accept the blessings of God without taking that next step of becoming a blessing ourselves? Have we even considered that step?

We dare not forget about the nations that have been blessed by God. What of the nations whose names have been made great? Their greatness, their blessings have a purpose! There is a purpose for those nations themselves to be a blessing.

Almost every day I see a bumper sticker somewhere that says, "God bless America!" When you stop to think about it, it's an odd statement. It almost feels like a demand, rather than a request or a prayerful hope. Indeed, the phrase overlooks the inescapable truth that God has blessed America in a million different ways: prosperity greater than any nation in history, natural beauty, abundant resources, and a wonderful, caring citizenry. Think about it. We don't need to ask or implore at all. Just look around and see the manifold ways in which our nation has been blessed. As we count up these blessings, we need to ask the same question of the nation that we ask of ourselves. In what way is our nation a blessing to others?

Certainly we can look to things like the Peace Corps or AmeriCorps, where Americans volunteer to offer their skills and training to others. After World War II, the US became a blessing as it used its wealth to rebuild much of the devastation from the war. But let us be honest here, there are also ways that our greatness is used to exploit. There are ways that we strive to horde and keep our wealth to ourselves. As a nation with only a fraction of the world's population, we use a huge percentage of the world's resources. Is that a blessing to the world? As global warming threatens, we need to be aware that it is our nation that sends the most greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Are we being a blessing?

Yes, in many ways we are being a blessing. But we can do better. As individuals and as a nation we can do much better at responding to God's call to be a blessing to the world. Perhaps you're wondering exactly how we might do this? Perhaps the first step is to enumerate, to count our blessings. As individuals, how are we blessed? Can we make a list? After each blessing, perhaps we might note how we are using that blessing to be a blessing to others. What of our church? Shall we discuss blessings showered upon the church? Property? Combined talents of our members? Wealth? Spiritual gifts and graces? Let us make a list here, as well.

As we look to God's call and promise to Abram, we have to imagine that this same call comes to us. We have been blessed so that we can be a blessing. The possibilities are virtually endless and the future spreads before us, beckoning, calling, daring us to step up to the plate with our sisters and brothers as we work to become the blessings that we have received. Let us renew our hope. Let us claim this day as a new beginning, and let us be a blessing to one another, to our community, and to our world.

In Jesus' name. Amen.
UPCOMING WEEKS
In addition to the lectionary resources there are thousands of non-lectionary, scripture based resources...
Proper 10 | OT 15 | Pentecost 5
30 – Sermons
160+ – Illustrations / Stories
30 – Children's Sermons / Resources
29 – Worship Resources
34 – Commentary / Exegesis
4 – Pastor's Devotions
and more...
Proper 11 | OT 16 | Pentecost 6
29 – Sermons
160+ – Illustrations / Stories
27 – Children's Sermons / Resources
20 – Worship Resources
29 – Commentary / Exegesis
4 – Pastor's Devotions
and more...
Proper 12 | OT 17 | Pentecost 7
34 – Sermons
160+ – Illustrations / Stories
32 – Children's Sermons / Resources
26 – Worship Resources
31 – Commentary / Exegesis
4 – Pastor's Devotions
and more...
Plus thousands of non-lectionary, scripture based resources...

New & Featured This Week

CSSPlus

John Jamison
Object: You may present this message as a simple story, or have the children act it out as a role-play. I will show the role-play version, but you can ignore the acting pieces and just tell the story if you prefer.

Note: For the role-play version, you will need to select two girls and one boy to play the roles. You might also have a broom and a dust rag if you want to.

* * *

Hello, everyone! (Let them respond.) Are you ready for our story today? (Let them respond.) Great! Let’s get started.

The Immediate Word

Mary Austin
Dean Feldmeyer
Christopher Keating
Thomas Willadsen
George Reed
Katy Stenta
For July 20, 2025:

Emphasis Preaching Journal

Mark Ellingsen
Bill Thomas
Frank Ramirez
Bonnie Bates
Amos 8:1-12, Psalm 52
Amos proclaims the word from God that punishes the people. The people are to be punished for their lack of faith, for their focus on practicing deceit, betraying honesty to their neighbors, and being impatient for the time after the Sabbath when they can focus on profit and selling their crops and wares. Oh, my! What a terrible message for people. You have been unfaithful so I will punish you. And then in the psalm, God is proclaimed to be the olive tree, that which brings blessing.
David Kalas
I have tried to find different ways of saying it so that my children don’t tire of hearing it. But the basic principle remains the same, and my kids have heard it a ton. “First things first.” They ask if they can do this or they start to do that, and I will endeavor to redirect them, saying, “Why don’t we make sure we’re doing first things first!”

StoryShare

John E. Sumwalt
I am now rejoicing in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am completing what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church. (v. 24)

The Village Shepherd

Janice B. Scott
One of Martha's earliest memories was of her little sister Mary singing and dancing in the middle of an admiring crowd of friends. Mary had always been a dancer, from the time she could walk. Privately, Martha thought she'd always been something of a show-off and ought to go on the stage, for Mary loved an audience.

SermonStudio

John E. Sumwalt
Jeanne Jones
Several years ago, before we moved to Wisconsin, I was an honorary nanny for our pastor's son, Jonathan. I took care of him from the time he was able to walk until our pastor moved, when Jonathan was about five. We had wonderful times together. One time, when I was at their house, and we had been doing some spiritual direction together, Pastor Michael asked me if I knew the name of my guardian angel.
James Evans
We are not surprised when we learn about crooks and robbers boasting about "mischief done against the godly" or "plotting destruction" all day long. The image we have in our minds about who "bad" people are, and how they conduct themselves, make such accusations completely plausible. We are less inclined to believe such things about leaders, especially respected leaders among us. We have difficulty believing someone with wealth and power would deliberately plot to do someone else harm.
Arley K. Fadness
Today's gospel from Luke 10 follows the parable of the good Samaritan. Luke positions the good Samaritan and the Mary-Martha story back to back for good reason. The parable and the story are examples of the Great Commandment "to love the Lord your God with all your heart and your neighbor as yourself." The good Samaritan parable illustrates "love to neighbor," whereas the Mary-Martha story illustrates "love to God."
Kirk R. Webster
In the early 1990s, Wesley Nunley of Dallas completed a project he had dreamed of for decades. "I tell you, this could be a big thing," he explained. Wes then walked out to a concrete octagon in the middle of his backyard. With a beaming smile, arms raised up in excitement, the energetic retiree said, "This welcomes the UFO to land, which has never been done before."
John W. Wurster
It was the best of times. A time of prosperity and confidence, a time of relative peace, a time when most everything looked pretty good, a time when most everyone felt pretty good. It was a time maybe not unlike our own time.
H. Burnham Kirkland
Words Of Assurance
Our God is both wise and caring: afflicting the comfortable and comforting the afflicted.

Pastoral Prayer
God, we bow before you this morning, knowing that you hear every prayer. We know that in all of Creation, you are the source of life. You are the one who set the light swirling between the galaxies. The breath of your Spirit pulses through all life. You have even become flesh among us. We praise you, Lord, that in all your wonder, you have not forgotten us.

Special Occasion

Wildcard SSL