Henry - So we're back, you know, we've got our kind of introductory week out of the way, and now we're actually going to do specific things, ministries focused,  things that chaplains do. And the first thing we're talking about is just playing  something like blessing. And a lot of times, I don't think I went to seminary  thinking that one of my ministries was the blessing ministry. So let's get right into it.  

Tom - I had the same thought as you just mentioned, that when you think about, what does one do in ministry? What does one do in chaplaincy? You know,  prayers, scripture, readings, counseling, but giving a blessing doesn't  necessarily seem like such an important  

Henry - it doesn't and one level, I did not think about it my entire seminary, four  years of Calvin seminary, four years of Dordt College of philosophy major. I  really didn't think that my work was going to be blessing, until really I got into  ministry,  

Tom - and I, I think one of the huge things, and again, since we share a  tradition, we were not officially allowed to in a worship service. Bless people until we had been ordained.  

Henry - That was like, you get ordained, and then you end up at the end of the  meeting, God bless you and keep you know that would be there.  

Tom - And I will tell you now, after 4546 years of ministry to me every time when I'm especially leading a worship service, one of the highlights of the service is  being able to give or receive the blessing at the end of the service, and where  we where I feel I could have done better over the years, is taken opportunities to give a blessing in those sacred moments that happen all throughout the day and all throughout the week, which is why I'm glad that we have this as a topic for  this for this week,  

Henry - the power of blessing. Blessing is a ministry act, not just a kind word,  really,  

Tom - it's not. It is a kind word, but not just a kind word, and it's not a kind word,  it's a it's a word from God. And in our world, people do not generally see or feel  the presence of God and His love and His intention on a regular basis. And this  

is one of those times when a chaplain, as the guardian of the sacred, can  remind a person God is here with you wherever you are, not just when you're in  a church service, not just when you're in a hospital bed, but God is with you, and God wants to bless you and make this moment sacred. And I have many times 

when, when I have had the awareness that this person needs to be blessed,  usually tears are involved by either me or them or both of us, because we  realize the importance of that moment when the sacred meets whatever is going on in that person's life.  

Henry - So you've been a chaplain for decades, and I don't know if I totally as a  ministry person, because I think about, like, at the end of the service, you give  the blessing, but you're bringing blessing. And like, populating blessing is sort of, I would like to think so. I mean, part of me is just in amazement that I think I did  miss that too, like, yes, you bless the congregation, which very powerful. But  chaplains bring blessing at the next level.  

Tom - And that's the whole idea of a ministry of presence. That when we are  really, truly present with someone, and we are representing God to that person.  We can embody the presence and the blessing of God in their life, but we need  to be aware of that too, and we need to be open to the appropriate times to do  that, but they're like very rarely, if I'm with an individual, would I do the traditional Yeah, but I would certainly, with permission, put my hand on someone's  shoulder or my hand on their head and bless them. And in some traditions, and  even though it's not my tradition, anoint people with oil too, when, when that is  something that would be meaningful to them based on their background and  their tradition.  

Henry - So let's talk a little bit about what is a blessing.  

Tom - I like the declaration of a purpose, that it's not just words that I hope God  is going to favor you and I hope God is going to watch over you, but my belief  that God does have his eyes upon you, that God is going to preserve you. It's  not a it's not a magic incantation or a magic act that I'm doing, but it's my belief  that you are a child of God, and God is watching you, and God is here, present  with you, and God is going to care for you. And now, how that what that means  in every situation can be different. But I want people to know that they have  been in the presence of God, and that they live in the presence of God.  

Henry - You know, we have stories. They come in like rain of testimonies of CLI  students and ministers, and often there will be a story where someone is far  from God. And then I read this one story recently that a holy man, this is a young woman, a holy man, walked up to me and asked, Would you like to be prayed  over? And that holy man then gave me a blessing from the Lord. And inside my  dark heart, I felt God has shown up to me again. Back to he noticed me because a holy man 

Tom - who maybe wasn't feeling all that holy in that moment at that time, right,  and was just doing what he or she felt God calling them to do, but speaking the  Word of God. And of course, when I do pronounce a blessing on a person or a  

congregation, I make it clear that this is not Tom saying this, but this is God  saying this, which is why I almost always use quotes from scripture, like you  have from Numbers 6 there, but there are many other verses as well to say this  is, this is what God says to You, and I just get to be the person who says the  words,  

Henry - the blessing, the blessing doesn't come from me, it comes from God  Himself. Let's reflect upon that in communities like you know, so you get asked  to be a chaplain. Have you seen the power of that in a civic prayer or ceremony  where you have a mixed audience and you're called, sort of as the chaplain to  have you seen that real,  

Tom - the first one that comes to mind. So I was sent to New York after 911 and  we were there. I was a Coast Guard chaplain at the time, but our work was to  support the fire department and the search and rescue teams who were still  looking for survivors. And there was a place, and I don't remember the name of  it exactly, but when a new group of firefighters was going to go on duty, they all  gathered at a certain place where they could get some food, they could get  ready to go, and then they'd be given their assignments and sent in. And so  typically, when there was a shift change, they would be a couple 100 firefighters  there, and search and rescue folks there, and something that we started to do at the beginning of the shift change, right before they would go down to Ground  Zero, we would say, if anybody would like a prayer, step outside, and we will  pray with you. Now. I've been in ministry long enough that if I say to a group of  people, especially military types, firefighter types, if you want us to pray for you,  you know, come outside, you'll you'll always get a few people, but often it will be  a small number of people. You know, I'm not sure who this guy is. He may not  pray, according to my tradition. I don't want to, you know my friends to see me  doing this. And it was amazing that I walked out, and this was like on September 13, I think I walked outside, I gave the invitation. I'll be outside offering a prayer  if you would like to join me. Walked outside the building, got into the middle of  the parking lot, turned around, and I want to say every single firefighter had  followed me outside, because they were going to go down to Ground Zero and  start digging into that pile, and they were going to find body parts. They were  desperate to find survivors, including their brothers and sisters in the fire  service. They did not want to go into that without a blessing. Wow, and so we as  chaplains were given the opportunity to stand with them right before they went  and bless them. Now, at first, I thought of it, I'm praying for them, right? And it  became very clear quickly that I was blessing them because they did not want to

go down there. I mean, they wanted to go and do what they could, but that was  a very traumatic thing for them. It was a terrible, terrible situation for them to  step into, and the fact they didn't call me a holy man, but I liked your use of that  word, the fact that a person who represented the sacred and the holy, yeah,  blessed them before they went, strengthened them to do the work that they had  to do. And when they were down there, they would, they would work 12-16,  hours straight, and then they would come back and go home for a day and turn  around and come back and do it again. But to be able to bless them in a  situation like that was obviously very meaningful to them, and it's still very  meaningful to me.  

Henry - So it's not like blessing only for like prosperity or thriving. It's blessing  for the hard things in  

Tom - life too. Oh, absolutely. I think that's when, again, going back to the  example used about Hagar. People need to know in the middle of the hard  things, the hardest things, especially that that's when God sees them, and God  is not turning his back on them. God is walking into this with them. And a  blessing is a very tangible. You can see it. You can feel it. You can sense it. It's a very tangible reminder of the blessing of the presence of God.  

Henry - Let's talk very specifically about the power, then, of blessing. So here's  something. Blessing brings healing. Blessings heal emotional and spiritual  wounds. Jesus, blessed people before and after, healing them, words of  blessing offer peace and dignity. Have you seen this to be true?  

Tom - Well, I'll start with the with the bottom one there the peace and dignity. A  lot of times when a chaplain ends up in a conversation with somebody, it's not  because their life is going great at that moment. They have some turmoil in their  life, and they often have a very poor view of themselves for whatever reason,  something's going on in their marriage, in their workplace, and they don't feel  worthy. I'll just use that word when they hear God say to them, You are worthy.  By giving them a blessing, it can completely change their demeanor and the way that they are looking at their current situation and looking at their future. It  reminds them, if not, if nobody else, it reminds them that they are a person who  was made in the image of God, and whatever failures they have had in the past, God still recognizes them as His child. So it, it offers that very tangible like I said, you can hear it, you can feel it. You can sense it. It offers them that reminder of  their value, that God would say those things to them, and we all deal with  emotional and spiritual wounds and a blessing or a reminder that of God's  presence with them can be a very important step in just taking the next step and taking and I love your example here that Jesus, He blessed them before and 

after healing them. We look at it, we look at the story, and the healing is the big  deal. Yeah, oh, now he can see. Now she can walk. Now the leper doesn't have  leprosy anymore. But what really made the difference was the person's  encounter with God. Yeah, and that God blessed that person. Can you imagine? I mean, I can't even I get a goosebump thinking that God Himself, Jesus would  lay his hands on someone who the whole world had said was unworthy, and  God would say, You are my child, and I'm  

Henry - caught in an adultery Oh, yeah. I mean, we think so much. Oh, he did  not count that sin against her, but the blessing that he brought to that woman,  and even how that blessing she. Shielded that woman from even death  

Tom - and to for that person, no matter what anybody else said about her, later  on, she knew what Jesus had said about her, what you know, what a what a  memory  

Henry - about that is to no matter what, what does God say about us and in  Christ, Jesus, there is therefore no condemnation, and God sees us, and it  doesn't matter what anyone else sees.  

Tom - A lot of I mentioned, a lot of the counseling sessions I did were after  somebody had done something in their mind horribly wrong. And how could  anybody love me? And how could God possibly love me, right? And this is a  reminder that in spite of that, not we're not going to just push that aside, but in  spite of that, God does love you, right, and based in the strength of His love and  His blessing in your life, can help you to move forward, to deal with whatever  those things are that got you to this point  

Henry - well, and it's powerful. I had mentioned in an earlier session that a  woman who was trafficked is now going into chaplaincy to help those women  who are trafficked. And then she wrote in her profile something else and to help  the men who see have intercourse with the trafficked women, in other words,  and she said, and those men are as hurt and broken, and they need Minister  ministry too, as well, and to even bring blessing to the offenders. And I read that, and when I was reading her testimony the first part, I was like, Oh, cool. She but then said to also give ministry to the offenders,  

Tom - and to for her to be able to say that, you know, speaks volumes of the  grace of God in being demonstrated in her life. I mean, it's one thing for  somebody else who's never had that experience to be able to look with care and grace and mercy on somebody who has violated her or other people like her, for her to be able to do that. 

Henry - And I realized, though, there's the power of blessing, yes,  

Tom - and it's kind of along that same line, sometimes I have felt called upon to  bless people that I had to remind myself that they were people who should be  blessed. It's a reminder to me that whoever this person is in front of me, he or  she is a child of God, right? And deserves to hear words of grace from God. I  have to, I have to make sure that I am not passing judgment when God says He  is not.  

Henry - Yeah, so powerful blessing confirms identity. Blessing names people  with Kingdom identity. Jacob blesses His sons with personal insight. And you  can read about that in Genesis, 49 speak to how God sees the person, seen,  loved, purposed, really, that's what we're talking about.  

Tom - Yeah, that's come up pretty much every session, is that they are people  seen by God, and we get to be an agent of them, realizing that  

Henry - so incredible blessing releases empowerment. Blessings activate  people for their next step. Jesus blessed the disciples before ascending.  Empower with truth. God has equipped you. How do you see this one?  

Tom - Well, let me from a preaching perspective. Just last week, I preached  what I thought was a pretty challenging sermon. And as we were singing the last song, I kind of, I'll assume it was the Holy Spirit saying to me, you know, Tom,  you just put a pretty heavy burden on these people to be all that I've created  them to be, which is biblical, and I believe. I was so glad that the service ended  with a blessing, and I was able to say to the congregation, when we fail and we  will fail when we don't live up to our expectations, and we won't always live up to expectations, and when we don't live up to God's desire for us, but we still keep  trying remember these words and then to give the benediction that the Lord is  with you, and he's going to be with you in His presence, in his power, in his  strength, with his love. And it's that love that. Presence, that power that  strengthens us to equip us to do what God has called us to do. We certainly  can't do it on our own, yeah, but by God's grace, we can, and that's a that's a  powerful promise for anybody.  

Henry - Wow, yeah, when and where to bless Okay, talk about this a little bit. I  think the appropriateness is the question here. 

Tom - There are some places where it's pretty I would say almost it's almost  always appropriate. But again, because I as a chaplain, I'm often dealing with  people who I don't know very well. I asked them, like, may I pray for you  

Henry - so you actually will ask  

Tom - for permission? Yes. And I would say, in my 28 years in military  chaplaincy, one time the person I had, one person say, No, I don't want you to  pray for me. Yep. And I honored that. I said I won't pray with you, but when you  leave the room, I'm still going to pray for you. And he laughed, and that started a positive thing, but I will ask. And everybody's religious tradition is not the same  as mine. So if I say to somebody, may I bless you. You know, they may think I  thought they sneezed, and I want to say gesundheit, so I want to make sure  people are aware of what is happening, and especially if it's a person, like in a  hospital room, I would not like hold someone's hand, or put my hand on their  shoulder without them telling me that that's okay, right? But in a hospital room,  especially someone who is who is preparing for surgery, if I have the opportunity to visit them right before surgery, I haven't done a lot of jail visits, but I have  sometimes been with people right before a hearing or a special something that  was going on, a parole hearing or their court case, and I've asked if I could pray  for them and bless them civic events. I know we'll talk more about that as we go  on. I have had people ask me who moved into a new home to come and bless  their homes, which is not something that I grew up with, no but I think it's a  pretty I think it's a pretty powerful thing that may this home be a place of refuge,  may this home be a place where where God's love is shown any any time can  be an appropriate time. But I would say too that, like everything we do as  chaplains, think about ahead of time. What would I say if, if someone asked me  to bless them before their surgery, what should I say? I'm not very confident in  my ability to wing it right. I can do it, but I like to be prepared. So I think through  things like, if I was asked to do a prayer and or a blessing in a hospital room,  what would I say? What would I want to know about that person before I said it?  And I think that goes to the be ready to speak life, but be ready also means, you know, not only willing but to but to be prepared to do it and to know as much  about the situation as I possibly can in a  

Henry - lot of times my experience in various community interactions. I love the  chaplaincy roles. I didn't even know I was doing them over the years, but I was. I will ask, let's say a leader, let's say I'm I'll ask the head. Let's say I the country  club thing. I will actually ask the country, is it okay if and they'll tell me exactly  what's okay, or they'll say how it can be appreciated here. Do you find that too?  Like there is, like, in some ways, a chaplain of the fire department or in a police 

department, VFW, motorcycle club, that there's a little bit of an engagement with the leaders?  

Tom - Oh, absolutely, finding out what's expected, what is welcomed, what's not welcomed. There. When you're doing a prayer or blessing at a civic event, there  is a tremendous amount of opportunity to do great things in that, but also a lot of damage can be done if you say the wrong things. You say it the wrong way. So  

asking if there's our if there are guidelines of any sort, and then you as an  individual, have to be able to mesh their expectations and guidelines with your  own guidelines and your own expectations and have but it's better to have that  conversation beforehand, then then afterwards.  

Henry - practical tips for giving blessings. Be personal present. Be sensitive in  pluralistic spaces, be bold your words. Carry Christ's authority. How do you see  that?  

Tom - I was going to say, I can't say it any better than that. But be be very  personal, especially if, if you're visiting someone in the hospital, somebody in  prison, a hospice patient, it should be all about them, and that you are present  and prayerful when you're when there are other people around. I'm always  sensitive to people from different faith traditions who might be there, and what I  usually do is, if I'm doing a prayer, and I know there's people from a wide variety of faith perspectives there, I ask myself, if I was here and the person doing the  prayer was a rabbi or an imam or somebody else, What would I want them to  say and not say, so that I could feel included in the prayer. And kind of use that  as a beginning. But I also, you know, it's the time to, especially in the blessing to I'm not like, like it says here, I'm speaking with God's authority, with Christ's  authority, right? And so I can say what God has said, right? And I can say it  confidently and believing that it will be true, because God is faithful.  

Henry - That's so powerful. Well, we'll finish up with a couple of ministry  sciences and insights. Just to wrap it up, a blessing is applied grace in real  situations, and really at the very essence, it's the goodwill of the Lord he is here. It heals, affirms identity, empowers. Chaplains are vessels of blessing across  boundaries. In a sense, it's that soldiering idea we come into situations to bring  the presence of God and His authority to  

Tom - change lives, to love. And sometimes people don't want to see the  presence of God, but they need to see the presence of God on Navy ships just  quickly at night, there's always a evening prayer and blessing. Oh, I did not  know that. And so if you're on a ship and you're the chaplain at 10 o'clock at  night, you go to the you go to the bridge, and they hand you the microphone, 

and somebody the bell rings, ding, ding, ding, ding, stand by for the evening  prayer, and the chaplain prays. So when I was on an aircraft carrier, I'm praying  for 5,500 people every night, and some of them don't agree. You know that. I  don't think you knew that. And what else happens is the TV network on the ship  shuts down during the prayer. They turn the TV network off. So people who are  watching TV in their room or in the ward room, the TV goes off during the prayer, and some people get very irritated that this is interfering with their the end of  their TV show. And I was very mindful that I am representing the presence of  God to people who have a very different understanding than I do of what the  presence of God means. So I would try to balance the being bold, being clear,  being direct, with understanding that I had a wide audience, and I would start  having conversations with people the next day, like, did you hear the prayer the  last night? What did you think? And I would get their feedback on the prayer,  which made them listen to the prayer, because they never knew if I was going to ask them about right, right? And it gave them, you know, the chaplain cares  enough about doing this well that he asks us questions about it.  

Henry - You know, this makes sense over the years in ministry. And again, I  would say, I'm pretty I am a wide traveled person. And how many times have I  heard that the prayer, the prayer of a chaplain on this ship, on this place, planted a seed that eventually led to salvation. And I didn't know. I thought like, you  know, it was like the dedication of a new gun. No, I, you know, I didn't know that  it was actually on a ship a regular basis,  

Tom - and in the military, which is why the VFW, the American Legion kind of  follow suit. Very few things happen without prayer, which is interesting in a  country that values the separation of church and state. But because of that,  when I would do the evening prayer, which would be about a minute long over  the years, my prayer always fit on one page. And as I've gotten older, it has to  be bigger font. So the prayer is shorter because the Type gets bigger. I will  spend sometimes, probably a total of an hour, you know, I will write the prayer.  I'll go back and look at it. The next day, I'll go back and look at it. The next day, I  will spend at least an hour writing that one minute prayer. Because for some  people, that is the only word that they are going to hear of any spiritual  significance in that entire day or at that entire event. So you know, you don't, you don't mail it in. You work at it so that you get it as best as you can. And then, of  course, we trust God and the Spirit to do the rest powerful  

Henry - until next time 


இறுதியாக மாற்றியது: செவ்வாய், 9 டிசம்பர் 2025, 11:11 AM