The Power of Blessing

Religion has tremendous power. Religion has the power to curse, to shame, to embarrass, to look down upon. Religion also has the power to look up to, to comfort, to provide meaning, to bless.

In his book, Blessing: Giving the Gift of Power, Myron Madden states that blessing, or genuine acceptance, is the best gift we can give to others and receive from others. There is great power in blessing, particularly for children.

The lesson, though, applies to adults, as well, as he, himself, notes: "No adult can Christianly hold absolute power or authority over another adult. In like manner, no adult can Christianly subject oneself absolutely to the authority or power of another human being."

Easier said than done, right? ... particularly in religious settings.

The Library of Horrors is already chock-full of books written about and by people for whom religion has served as a tool of embarrassment, of shame, of curse. That's too bad. In fact, it's more than that. This reality is sad ... because it flies completely in the face of what religion is.

Religion seeks to make broken pieces whole. So anytime a person is turned away from serving in a church leadership position because of their gender or sexuality, religion ceases to exist there. Anytime a person's past mistakes are brought up in public in an effort to look down upon them, religion ceases to exist there. Anytime someone is made to feel less than the wonderfully-created, image of God-bearer that they are, religion ceases to exist there.

Religion has the power to do so much good. There is great power in blessing. Let's use religion to be a blessing and not a curse.