Jun 15 2019 2 Corinthians 13: 1-14

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.

At the end of Morning Prayer, a final sentence can be added, effectively as a closing. This is one of those sentences, and today the reading from the New Testament contains the source of that sentence. It’s not that I think these things are made up or arbitrary, and it’s nice to get re-grounded in where these gems come from. In the context of Paul’s letter, he’s offering the people of Corinth his final blessing. In the context of communal modern prayer, we change the final ‘you’ to ‘us all’, and add ‘evermore’

For the 15 years I was in choir in a church outside Seattle, we concluded our choir practice in a circle, hands held, and offered our prayers for what was going on in our world. And we’d conclude with this sentence. For the first few months, I mumbled through it, having never regularly recited it. Eventually, it became like breath – easy, deep, life-giving. And to pray with all our senses, many people would make the sign of the cross on our forehead, chest, left and right shoulder, while praying the words.

There are several options in Morning Prayer to conclude with, but this is always my choice. The others are beautiful and meaningful too, but this blessing feels so deep, in part because it’s been a part of my practice in various ways for 25 years.

This morning I’m thinking about how repetition and familiarity can make things seep deep inside my soul. There’s comfort and resonance when I recite prayers I know. They have a history in my soul. This isn’t the kind of prayer I offer up because of a petition – it’s not that I think about my sick family member and pray, “the grace of our Lord…”  But this blessing or benediction has come out of my mouth during all of my life’s twists and turns for the past quarter century. I’d go to choir when my kids were in day care, and pray these words. I’d go to choir when they struggled with school, and finish the choir with “The grace of our Lord..”  I’d pray them in morning prayer while we were relocating from Seattle to Eugene to Portland. I’d pray them the mornings of doctor visits, and promotions, and ordinations. I don’t remember the days or events, and can’t pin this prayer to any particular day. But it was there.

When I say them, I’m bringing all of that – all of me – to God for a blessing, that’s as easy and life-giving as breath.


The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all, evermore. Amen.