Then the Lord said to Moses, “Take the following fine spices: 500 shekels of liquid myrrh, half as much (that is, 250 shekels) of fragrant cinnamon, 250 shekels of fragrant calamus, 500 shekels of cassia—all according to the sanctuary shekel—and a hin of olive oil. Make these into a sacred anointing oil, a fragrant blend, the work of a perfumer. It will be the sacred anointing oil. (Exodus 30:22-25 NIV)
The weekend was busy. The trip back ended with a low-grade fever and a grateful collapse into bed. The night I won’t write about, but the next day I was in bed resting, grateful for an occasional cup of tea and lots of naps. Today, I’m guarding my energy but am at least vertical. Thanks be to God!
During my unexpected “downtime” yesterday, I binge-watched several episodes of The Chosen, a crowd-funded series that tells the stories of the Gospels in very effective ways. The authors develop the characters far beyond what Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John tell us, reminding us that every person receiving a brief mention in the Bible had a full lifetime. While much of the character development does create storylines that aren’t expressly given in the Bible, they are still true to a Jewish life lived in ancient Israel during the Roman Empire. And much of the show’s dialogue comes directly from Scripture, a fact I appreciate.
Yesterday, I was watching an episode in which Zebedee and his sons, James and John, were preparing to take a load of freshly pressed olive oil, mixed with anointing oil spices, to the synagogue, hoping to become the new suppliers of anointing oil for the priests. (For those of you who wonder why Zebedee the fisherman would be selling olive oil, in the show, Zebedee also believed in Jesus as the Messiah and wanted to help fund the ministry.) In the scene I watched, I was struck by how the sons asked the elder to say a prayer of blessing over the oil before they left for the synagogue. Not being Jewish, I started to think about how different life would be if and when you prayed a blessing over, well, everything.
I asked AI, “Does the traditional Jewish faith have prayers for everything?” The basic answer was YES!
“One beautiful idea in Judaism is that ordinary moments can become opportunities to recognize God’s presence, express gratitude, and remember that life is a gift…. One particularly striking traditional teaching is that Jews are encouraged to say 100 blessings each day. The idea is to cultivate continual awareness of God’s presence and goodness throughout ordinary life.”
Say a blessing over the dishwasher or washing machine? Yes!
Say a blessing over the car before you get in it? Why not?
Say a blessing over the cat or dog as you water them? Of course.
I will admit that I wasn’t lying in bed yesterday composing or reciting 100 berakhot (blessings). Mostly, I was grateful that I hadn’t been sick while driving by myself and that I didn’t have any commitments I had to attend to. But, in theory, we could each be speaking 100 blessings a day—about six or seven blessings every hour. Imagine how our lives would be different if we were applying the “sacred anointing oil” of prayer to literally everything.
Here are some traditional Jewish blessings we could try.
Washing hands before a meal?
“Blessed are You, LORD our God, King of the universe, who has sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us concerning the washing of the hands.”
Eating toast?
“Blessed are You, LORD our God, King of the universe, who brings forth bread from the earth.”
Drinking wine?
“Blessed are You, LORD our God, King of the universe, creator of the fruit of the vine.”
Seeing a rainbow?
“Blessed are You, LORD our God, King of the universe, who remembers the covenant, is faithful to His covenant, and keeps His word.”
Reading your Bible?
“Blessed are You, LORD our God, King of the universe, who has sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us to engage in the words of Torah.”
When Paul told us to “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:16–18 NIV), he affirmed these Jewish practices in the new lives of both Gentile and Jewish followers of Jesus. So, may we 21st-century Christians approach each day with the intention of speaking forth many blessings as we go about our daily lives.
Blessed are You, LORD our God, King of the universe! You have provided for us everything we need. May our prayers of gratitude, blessing, and praise be a sweet perfume in Your ears. AMEN.