If you've been paying attention to the St. Luke's calendar, you'll have notice numerous blessings scheduled this fall: we've blessed backpacks, we've blessed our teens as the commit to another year of growth, we'll soon bless our newly refurbished belltower on September 28th, our pets on October 5th and our annual commitment to the parish on Joyful Sunday on November 16th. Have you ever wondered what invoking God's blessing means? Whenever someone sneezes in our presence, we often offer, "God bless you!"

Simply defined, a blessing is "a thing conducive to happiness or welfare." But what's happening when we bless something? Most of us no longer imagine that something magical is transpiring. A precocious 1st grader recently said to me, "It's silly to say "God bless you" when someone sneezes, it's not like we still think that evil spirits are causing sickness." He's partially right of course, but we do still compelled to say, "bless you" when someone sneezes. Why?

We invoke God's blessings on things and each other, not because we are magically cramming new blessing into an object or even a body, but as a reminder. Everything is already blessed because it was God who created it and called it good. When we bless something, we're just reminding ourselves of the goodness and happiness that is present in our midst-even when we have allergies or a head cold.

I hope you'll continue to join us at these special blessing services that we offer at St. Luke's, but I also pray that you'll discover the many blessings in your life that surround you daily. One of my favorite morning rituals is to bless my children before they head off to school. I make the sign of the cross on their heads, saying, "Remember you have been blessed, now be a blessing for others." You too have been blessed, now be a blessing for those you encounter this week.