The Blessing of the Backpacks at St. Mary's ~ 19 August 2018

The Blessing of the Backpacks at St. Mary's ~ 19 August 2018

Be of good courage

"Go forth to the world in peace; be of good courage, hold fast to that which is good. 
Render to no one evil for evil. 
Strengthen the fainthearted, support the weak, help the afflicted, honor everyone! 
Love and serve the Lord, rejoicing in the power of the Spirit."

~Bishop Duncan Gray

A blessing for today - Four Fold Franciscan Blessing

Four - Fold Franciscan Blessing

May God bless us with discomfort at easy answers,

half truths, and superficial relationships,

so that we may live deep within our hearts. Amen.

May God bless us with anger at injustice,
oppression, and exploitation of people
so that we may work for justice, freedom and peace. Amen.

May God bless us with tears to shed for those who suffer from pain,
rejection, starvation and war,
so that we may reach out your hand to comfort them
and to turn their pain into joy. Amen.

May God bless us with enough foolishness
to believe that we can make a difference in this world,
so that we can do what others claim cannot be done. Amen.

A glorious day yesterday at St. Paul's Memorial

We are blessed, indeed!

Thank you, St. Paul's, for the warm welcome! (and thank you Lori for the pics of our family)

Blessings,

Peter+

Every blessing in abundance

And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that by always having enough of everything, you may share abundantly in every good work 
~2 Corinthians 9:8

Epiphany 4 Sermon Image

Here's an image of the sermon draft at this point...

...a few more edits to come!

"Blessed are you."

~The Rev. Peter M. Carey

courtesy of www.wordle.net

The LORD shall give strength to his people

The LORD shall give strength to his people; *
the LORD shall give his people the blessing of peace.
~Psalm 29:11

Blessing of the Backpacks...

This morning, I had the great fortune to do a 'blessing of the backpacks' liturgy along with our middle school chaplain for our entire middle school. It was great fun, and a great way to get the year started...we asked for blessing over the water and then asperged (splashed) water on our students and their backpacks. A hat tip goes to my friend Mike who shared a blessing of the backpacks liturgy with me that I adapted for use by a deacon and for middle schoolers.

"...bless these lowly gifts, loving God, that their loyal presence and silent service keep us every mindful of your grace in our lives. May we hold them in care and, following their example, be for one another the reliable friends these tokens are for us. Amen."