Benediction

Ephesians 3:14-21
Tuesday, 6 May 2008

When you pray for the people you love, what do you ask God to do for them? Oh, I imagine that there is the usual list including food, clothing, shelter, protection, good grades, a job with benefits, companionship etc. When I think of my younger relatives, especially, I pray for all of these things. But I also know that all of those things could be present in abundance and the person still might not be truly blessed.

The text today is one of the most incisive and poetic in the whole of scripture. I hear it almost as the voice of a parent to a child as well as that of a spiritual leader to a congregation. The leader prays that God will strengthen the saints, that Christ will dwell in their hearts by faith while they are rooted and grounded in love. Most importantly, on bended knee the leader asks that God's people will plumb the depths, embrace the width, reach the lengths, and ascend to the heights of God's love, thereby being filled with God's fullness. But even in this prayer, a leader always commends the church to God, whose power at work in us can accomplish abundantly more than we can ask or imagine. Glory to God!

Although the word is used at the end of the service, "benediction" does not mean ending so much as blessing. And while we are not at the ending of our transition into Pentecost (and Ephesians isn't over either), reflection on these words of blessing is instructive. Beloved, whatever else you may have or lack, please know that God's power is at work in you, doing far more than you can ever ask or think, for this knowledge is the greatest and most important blessing.

Sing "Sweet Hour of Prayer"

Get out your prayer list and pray that prayer for all on the list. 1. To be strong in God's power 2. To have Christ in their hearts 3. To be rooted and grounded in love 4. To know that Christ loves them. As you close your prayer, don't forget to give God the glory.