As we start this New Year I can think of no prayer that I would rather pray than the high priestly blessing. Not only does it serve as my prayer for each of you today, but in her book Bearing God’s Name: Why Sinai Still Matters Carmen Imes has talked about the fact that this blessing was the means of sealing God’s name onto the people of Israel:
24 The Lord bless you and keep you;
Numbers 6:24-26
25 the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you;
26 the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.
The words of this blessing are our prayer, Father. May You bless us, keep us, be gracious to us by working in our lives this year, enabling us to bear Your name with honor in all that we say and do. We pray these things in the name of Your precious Son, Jesus. Amen.
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Life Beyond #Blessed 
I love your succinct reflections. So good. This is one of my favorite passages.
It was repeated every Sunday night at the close of our youth group meeting during my teenage years. Then, I worked with youth for many years in a number of different churches, so it was a passage that has been a part of me, but that was before I understood how significant it was and is.
Over the last few years, I’ve memorized it in Hebrew. That has taken it out of the “just for youth” association and makes me feel more of a connection to Aaron, Moses, the Children of Israel, John the Baptist’s priestly father, Jesus, Paul, and the Hebraic roots of our Christian faith.
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Dottie, if you’ve memorized it in Hebrew, you might really like the musical version (Aaronic Benediction) sung by Joshua Aaron and Misha Goetz – it includes the blessing in both English and Hebrew. 🙂
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Yes, I’ve heard that. It’s lovely. In fact I hear Joshua Aaron in concert about 3 years ago. It’s always easier to memorize passages that are put to music. I’ve wanted to ask you, are you familiar with Aleph Beta Academy’s animated videos on the Torah portions? I love the way Rabbi David Fohrman & his crew link so many passages. Real eye openers.
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I think someone mentioned them to me awhile ago, but I’ve been so tied up with PhD work that I never checked them out. I’ll have to do that – thanks for the reminder!!
Happy New Year, Dottie – thanks for being such a joy and encouragement in my life!
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Same to you, Jen
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