Tag: Blessing

A Blessing for a Live Organ Donor

A new ritual for modern days

This is a new ritual created in support of a congregant preparing to be a live organ donor. In this instance, a liver will be donated, and the ritual wording reflects this. Adjustments may be needed if a different donation is being made.

Introduction to the Ritual
Leader: We remember that Jesus, sitting among friends, broke a loaf of bread and offered pieces to those around him, saying, “This is my body, broken for you.”

As followers of Jesus, we, too, give of ourselves and our bodies to one another. We do so, in part, because we hope for the healing of creation, where bodies, minds, and spirits may thrive in all their various forms and expressions.

Today we recognize and honor the unique gift of live organ donation, a journey that [person’s name] has been preparing for and will be embarking upon in the coming weeks. [Person’s name], we welcome hearing more about this and then we’ll anoint you and offer a blessing. 

Sharing by person donating their organ

Anointing & Commissioning
Leader: To offer a live organ to another is an act of faith, courage, and service. It is also a physical offering and will include a season of healing. In our faith tradition, the ritual of anointing is often used when commissioning acts of service, as well as when we pray for our bodies. So today we anoint you with oil, [person’s name], in the spirit of these traditions. 

In breaking open your body,
and sharing your liver with [donor recipient],
may the act of your gift
generate new growth, new life, and new hope.

We anoint you, [person’s name],
and commission your liver
in the name of Jesus,
who embodied love
in the breaking of his body.

We love you
and send you with courage, hope, and joy.

Congregational Blessing & Laying On of Hands
Leader: We invite the congregation to gather round in body or in spirit, to surround [person’s name] as we pray for them/her/him.

Spirit of Life,
who hovered over the face of the deep,
and who knit us together in our mothers’ wombs,
we give thanks for life and breath,
for our bodies and the organs they contain.

We pray today for [person’s name],

as she/he/they prepare(s) to give a portion of her liver to [recipient].
We pray for good health in the weeks leading up to the surgery,
and for rest and deep healing in the weeks following.
May [person’s name]’s liver regenerate,
and may her/his/their spirit be fortified in the process.

We pray for [recipient].
We pray that the surgery be successful,
that [recipient]s body will accept the gift of a new liver,
and that her/his/their recovery will also be full of rest and deep healing.

We pray for the rest of the family as well,
[names of other family members/caretakers supporting the donor and/or recipient].
Hold them in your deep, abiding peace.

We pray for the medical team who will be supporting this organ donation.
Give them wisdom, clarity of mind, and steadiness of hands.
We give thanks for the gifts of modern medicine,
for the mystery of organ donations,
and for all those who give of their bodies,
so that others might live.

We pray all this in the name of the Creator,
the Healer,
and the Life Giver.
Amen.

Song of Blessing (chosen by donor, if desired)

Image by congerdesign from Pixabay

A Blessing for Survivors When Perpetrators are Lauded

Even as I found myself moved by the inauguration (particularly VP Harris being sworn in), I’ve been thinking a lot about Tara Reade today.  And the way our society seems to so easily demand sacrifice of survivors because “he’s done so much good.”

Feeling like the world needs some blessings right now, this is the third in a series of blessings for the (extra)ordinary days in which we find ourselves.

A blessing on you who spoke up,
even knowing your voice would be drowned out.*

Yes! the Spirit’s empowering fire rests on you,
liberating and unleashing the Truth you hold within.
May you uproot the pernicious tendrils
that would have you mollify the crowds with your silence.

Even when your name is forgotten,
                       (and his is memorialized)
your story, your voice, your impact
           on our world, on humanity, on democracy, on the church
           will forever be remembered.

Mark 14:3-9
3 While he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at the table, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very costly ointment of nard, and she broke open the jar and poured the ointment on his head. 4 But some were there who said to one another in anger, “Why was the ointment wasted in this way? 5 For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii, and the money given to the poor.” And they scolded her. 6 But Jesus said, “Let her alone; why do you trouble her? She has performed a good service for me. 7 For you always have the poor with you, and you can show kindness to them whenever you wish; but you will not always have me. 8 She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for its burial. 9 Truly I tell you, wherever the good news is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her.”

*And abundant blessings on you who choose silence, exercising agency over your story. This path is just as worthy.

A Blessing for Indistinguishable Days

Feeling like the world needs some blessings right now–or perhaps it’s just me–this is the second in a series of blessings for the (extra)ordinary days in which we find ourselves.

[Is this your experience, too: conversations, events, and days melding into a congealed, homogenous lump, indistinguishable from one another? Within covid-time, memories blur and the meaning of “time” has unexpectedly shifted. Some days, it can feel like Groundhog Day, ten months in a row.]

First, may you be blessed with courage
to slip out of the shadow of shame:
           of forgetting that birthday/appointment/meeting/really important thing
           of realizing, days later, that you never followed up
           of discovering, weeks later (if you ever think of it again at all),
                      that you never sent that thank you note
                      (the one you really meant to send)
The indistinguishable moments, one after the other,
           distracted you, exhausted you,
           leaving you utterly perplexed.
Courage, though, and laughter will be your escape hatch
ejecting you safely into surrender.

And then, may you be blessed with grace,
for remembering even one out of ten
           birthdays, appointments, meetings, really important things,
           thank yous,
is a momentous feat to be celebrated.

Luke 17:11-19 (NRSV)
11 On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee. 12 As he entered a village, ten lepers approached him. Keeping their distance, 13 they called out, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” 14 When he saw them, he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were made clean. 15 Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. 16 He prostrated himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan. 17 Then Jesus asked, “Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? 18 Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” 19 Then he said to him, “Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.”

A Blessing for Those Struggling to Get Out of Bed

Feeling like the world needs some blessings right now–or perhaps it’s just me–this is the first in a series of blessings for the (extra)ordinary days in which we find ourselves.

Bless you, bleary-eyed, dream-caught one,
who cracks an eye open to gauge the sun’s ascent,
and then sighs wearily, turning over, back turned to the grey sky.
Holy hugs to you whose limbs feel like lead,
stubborn and inert, yet warm and sensitive.

While dread of the day cocoons you,
and traps you in immobility,
the radiance of Christ surrounds you,
and in a gentle voice, you hear,
“Beloved, come out!”

Like one revived,
you are unbound from the blankets,
the strips of cloth that held you tight.
A miracle to start the day.

John 11:38-44 (NRSV)
38 Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. 39 Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days.” 40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” 41 So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upward and said, “Father, I thank you for having heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.” 43 When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”