Benediction

The Benediction and Sending Forth this morning in church went like this:

“God loves and cares for each one of you.
God knows me by name; I am fearfully and wonderfully made by him.
Stand on the promises of God as you leave this place today. Amen.”

This Benediction really spoke to me for a few reasons. Firstly, because we ARE all fearfully and wonderfully made! In the terrific book by that title, written by Dr. Paul Brand and Philip Yancey, they describe in detail how we are made in God’s image, from our blood to our skin to our brain-it’s a Christian and somewhat scholarly look at how we were made, chosen for our one body.

To share a bit of their book, they say that “I picture the human body as a community made up of individual cells.” The rest of the book explains this in detail. But I diverge a bit.

What really struck me was when the Pastor said those word was that we are loved and cared for in an INDIVIDUAL manner. God doesn’t care for us all in the same fashion. He cares and loves us individually, dependent on our separate needs.

Lord, thank you for this very precious gift, your love for us, a love that is beyond explanation, a love that is for each of us individually. And, a love that carries us into community with one another. Thank you, dear Lord. Amen.