For Someone Else
A Blessing for Someone Leaving
For when you feel: friend moving away, send-off, goodbye blessing, mission trip
The Lord bless thee, and keep thee. The Lord shew his face to thee, and have mercy on thee. The Lord turn his countenance to thee, and give thee peace.
The MinuteHomily
The trunk is packed and the driveway feels shorter than it used to. Someone you love is leaving, a graduate, a friend, a child bound for college, and you cannot go along. But a blessing can. For three thousand years God's people have sent one another off with the words God Himself gave Aaron: "The LORD bless thee, and keep thee." Every phrase reaches where you cannot. Keeping is protection you can no longer provide. A shining face is favor in rooms you will never enter. Peace is wholeness wherever they land. So do not just feel the goodbye, speak the sending. Read it over them out loud, even if your voice cracks. Then release them to the God who goes with them everywhere.
By the MinuteHomily editors
A prayer for this moment
Lord, bless and keep the one I'm sending. Shine on them where I can't see, be gracious where I can't help, and give them peace where I can't follow. Amen.
“May the road rise to meet you; may God hold you in the palm of His hand.”
trad. Irish blessing
Hymns for this moment
“May the Road Rise to Meet You” · trad. Irish blessing settings
“Lead, Kindly Light” · St. John Henry Newman
One small step
Read Numbers 6:24–26 aloud over them before they go, hand on shoulder if they'll let you.
Share this moment
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