He is Still For You

One of my favorite projects each month is Your Other Brothers Podcast — specifically, writing and producing the benediction portion of each episode. I was never raised in a church that employed benedictions upon the closing of each service. When I first experienced this years ago at my church in California, it sent chills up and down my spine and all around.

What a simple, profound thing: praying a blessing over a group of people before we all depart this place.

When we launched this podcast a few years ago, I knew from the start that I wanted to offer such a blessing for our digital congregation. That no matter how amazing or empty anyone felt at the start or end of the discussion, he could leave with something of an assurance. A blessing.

Namely that nobody is alone amongst his fellow man, and certainly that nobody is beyond the reach of our Lord.

It was Palm Sunday this week. I joked on Instagram that it didn’t feel like Palm Sunday — or even any Sunday. All the days feel the same now. Watching my church’s live stream from my bed doesn’t feel much different from curling up with my laptop the other six days.

In any case, as we indeed enter Holy Week, I want to make room for continuing perspective through this pandemic. For those less fortunate. Less physically or emotionally healthy. Less financially solid. Less relationally connected.

Perhaps you feel utterly alone in this time of COVID-19. Perhaps you feel forgotten. Abandoned. Completely lost.

I get it. I feel it. Maybe not as much. Maybe more.

On some base, human level, gosh do I feel the isolation.

But far more than me, Jesus gets it, feels it. Lived it. From a solitary manger to a wretched cross.

Loneliness followed Him at every turn. From a vast desert to a midnight garden.

May we rest in this comfort: that we are cosmically not alone in our loneliness. The One who forged heaven and earth walked a harrowing road with nowhere to lay His head.

He is with us. He is for us. All these centuries later.

In times of peace. In times of famine.

Even still.

I’ve been listening and relistening to this particular song below: essentially, one long benediction. As you enter Holy Week, may you be reminded of this blessing. That He is for you. He is still for you.

Even as our world falls apart.

The Lord bless you and keep you, make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace.

May His presence go before you and behind you, and beside you, all around you, and within you. He is with you; He is with you.

May His favor be upon you and a thousand generations, and your family, and your children, and their children, and their children.

In the morning, in the evening; in your coming and your going; in your weeping and rejoicing, He is for you. He is for you.

Amen.