The Bible contains many prayers called benedictions. These are special formulas of blessing. The Hebrew word for benedictions is berakhah which means to fall on your knees. Our attitude should always be one of humility, but especially in prayer.
According to the Talmud, benedictions originated with the men of the Great Synagogue (Ber. 33a). Whether or not this is accurate, benedictions have an ancient past. Gen 24:27 is an early example. Some others are Ex. 18:10; Ruth 4:14; I Sam. 25:32; II Sam. 18:28; I Kings 1:48; 5:21; 8:15, 56; I Chron. 16:36; II Chron. 2:11; 6:4; Ps. 28:6; 31:22, II Macc. 15:34.
I love stained glass windows, dark heavy pews, the hush and ambience of reverence when traditions are respected. But later, while reflecting, I start asking myself questions. Do you ask yourself questions? Is God afraid of my questions? Should the church be?
As with so many religious traditions, does it really matter whether or not there is some specific group of people, date or place for the origin of benedictions? Since an oral tradition existed before a written tradition doesn't it seem most likely that different communities of people came up with their own formulas of praise from their own encounters with God? When someone encounters the wonder of God should they grab their cell phone to find the right formula of praise? Is our awe and wonder diminished if all we can do is babble or cry?
Don't misunderstand me. I was once told there are only three kinds of people in the world; Jews, people who wish they were Jews and those not bright enough to wish they were Jews. I have always wished I had been born a Jew. Jesus was a Jew. Before he was adopted my father's name was Fraser and for a while I had hoped I might yet discover I was Jewish. I know Jesus has grafted me in, but .... I love tradition, especially the Jewish tradition.
In Enoch 36:4, each and every time Enoch notes some wonder of nature he blesses God. God made creation wonderful and marvelous so that we would praise the wonder of life, so that we would know there is indeed a God (Rom 1:20) and so that we would approach God with humility, blessings and worship.
We are supposed to praise the Lord's work and all of God's creation, but do we praise God because of our encounters with God's creation or because of Enoch's encounters? Which is more important, the formula or the attitude?
Eventually the oral traditions of praising God were written down, compiled and tweaked. Like you and I and Enoch, how far removed was that 'tweaker' from the original expression of praise? Do you ask yourself questions like this? Don't we always try to determine some 'right' way of doing something? Why do we do this?
If we create a formula and we do it 'right' do we take on some aura of dignity? Do we vicariously participate in Enoch's moment of praise and worship? Maybe so, I don't know. Was Jesus concerned with performing formulas? He gave us the Lord's Prayer, but weren't we also warned against mechanical recitations and vain repetitions? Why are they called vain? Can an incubator become a prison?
John 4:23-24 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.
Formulas, patterns, traditions can get us going in a certain direction, but if the structure for what we are doing, if the container for who we are become more important than the spirit and the essence of who I am before God ... Houston, I have a problem.
Sometimes the only response to God is silence. Now will you tell me there is a right and wrong way to be quiet?
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