Benediction from John Claypool

I sat in the congregation, worn out with sadness, weary of my sudden entry into the world of grief and adulthood. He began to speak the words of benediction and tears came to my eyes as that Balm of Gilead bathed me in the certainty of God’s presence in my wrecked world. I was not the only one who found solace in those words, who held on to the assurance that all would be well because redemption was in process. When his trial by fire came in the death of his young daughter, those words delivered at the end of worship, broken and tentative, had power and peace still. Years later, those words of benediction, delivered by another voice in my daughter’s church, lift me up from the miry clay and set me up once again on the solid rock of God’s love. In my heart I hear John’s voice, measured and deliberate, as he blesses us upon our going out after worship. “Depart now in the fellowship of God the Father. And as you go, remember... by the goodness of God you were born into this world, by the grace of God you have been kept all the day long even until this hour. And, by the love of God fully revealed in the face of Jesus, you are being redeemed.” Depart now... We cannot stay in one place forever. A pilgrim people in our faith and in our daily lives, we are called to leave the safety of the known and launch out into a world full of people who need us and whom we need. The fellowship of God the Father... The image of God as father is not in vogue today. Other words have taken its place but none convey for me the same sense of strength and safety that a true father gives his children. A father is the one who calls his children to reach deep within and transcend self imposed limits, to keep on trying when all seems lost, who catches you when you jump off into the deep end and sink under the water, who laughs with and at you as you find your way in the human comedy of life. And as you go, remember... “Don’t forget”, God says in so many ways. Do this in remembrance of me, our reminder to celebrate Jesus’ life and death and resurrection as we share a meal. Our memories help center us when we lose our way. I remember when God loved me through Walt and Mary Lynn, Brother Kannon, Mrs. Tyre, my grandma, and many others who have been the faces and arms of God for me. On rare and wonderful occasion, the warm, all pervading and enveloping Presence of God has wrapped around me, and the memory of those times sustains me when I am lost in the dark clouds of unknowing. I remember. Goodness of God...I have known a few people who were genuinely good. They weren’t boring one dimensional plaster saints, just so good they shone. Their faces reflected this and when I was with them, I felt bathed in their goodness. I want the wonderful gift of life I received to reflect the goodness of the God who was a part of my coming into this world. Grace of God... After sixty five years, I am beginning to see the protective hand of God at work in my life. During the struggles, the sins, the hurt and the losses, there has also been joy, accomplishment, gains, and celebration. I am always upheld by the grace of God whether I am aware of it or not. Wonderful, marvelous grace that is greater than I can ever imagine...grace that supplies my need and lets me soar with the eagles. Love of God fully revealed in the face of Jesus... I am a Christian and in the face of Jesus, I see God’s love. God loved us enough to become as we are, to risk it all to be one of us, to try to help us glimpse the Love from which we are created. You are being redeemed...It never occurred to me in my youth that redemption was a process. “Once saved, always saved” was one of the tenets of my Baptist upbringing. I sang “Redeemed, how I love to proclaim it, redeemed by the blood of the Lamb” and felt safely secure among the company of the saints. Now in my old age, I value the process of redemption that has continued all my life. Right now, sitting at the beach with my family, listening to the grandsons noisy play, I am being redeemed. This morning as I watched the sunrise over the ocean, I was being redeemed. Each day that I live with conscious awareness of God’s goodness, grace and love, I am a part of my redemption, my transformation to a fully realized Child of God. I depart now in the fellowship of God my Father and as I go, I remember... By the goodness of God I was born into this world and by the grace of God I have been kept all the day long, even until this hour. And by the love of God fully revealed in the face of Jesus, I am being redeemed. Amen.