My favorite part of Morning Prayers these days is often the benediction, which comes at the end of the service: after the choral anthem, after the Lord’s Prayer, after the brief address by the day’s speaker and the hymn of the morning. Benediction means blessing, and we stand quietly in the uneven rows of chairs, ready to receive it.
Sometimes the benediction is a familiar one, from the book of Numbers: the one that begins, “May the Lord bless you and keep you.” Sometimes it is a prayer or a blessing from an entirely different source, often unknown to me.
About once a week, this fall, it has been this prayer, delivered by a young seminarian who is particularly fond of it. (He might have written it. I don’t know.) It bolsters me up every time I hear it, and yesterday, I stood in front of my small church community and spoke it over them.
We are heading into a contentious election week here in the U.S., and I am as anxious as the next person about what’s coming our way. But in the spirit of sharing what is saving our lives these days, I wanted to pass this blessing on to you:
May God go before you to lead you.
May he stand behind you to push you,
on the side of you to guide you,
above you to protect you,
beneath you to sustain you,
and in you to keep you.
Amen.
cakes, tea and dreams 
Such a good blessing and such a good way to start this busy week at work and this election eve day. Thank you and God Bless.
Everything around us is a blessing, it’s just the way on how we look at them and how we view things and focus on negativity. Have a blessed day ahead.
Beautiful and much needed. Thanks.
This is just the uplift I needed today. Thank you.
Thank you for sharing this quiet and loving blessing.
I love this.
Our new pastor was using a similar blessing over the summer, and I really liked it. I tried to find the source online, but couldn’t locate it. Thank you for sharing this!
Amen.