This message from the Pastor also appears in The Covenanter – Volume XXXIX, Issue 13 – August 18, 2020.
I’m always moved when reminded, either in the quote on my desk or when it comes to mind at the end of worship, of the carefully crafted benediction of then-Senate Chaplain Dr. Richard Halverson. He was a Presbyterian pastor during most of the last half of the 20th century and served with distinction as the Chaplain of the United States Senate from February 2, 1981, until March 11, 1995.
Dr. Halverson believed his most important pastoral function was pronouncing this benediction, week in and week out:
“You go nowhere by accident.
Wherever you go, God is sending you.
Wherever you are, God has put you there; He has a purpose in you being there.
Christ, who indwells you, has something He wants to do through you where you are.
Believe this and go in His grace and love and power.”
At the conclusion of Dr. Halverson’s funeral in 1995, he reminded his congregation for one last time, giving the benediction himself that he had prerecorded.
Although we may not be where we want to be during this challenging Covid-19 era of our lives, always be reminded that God can use us right there, even if we’re on an uneventful trip to the grocery store. Wherever we are headed, God is setting up divine appointments along the way. These appointments are harder to recognize closer to home because we are operating on autopilot. In words that sound like they should be gospel for us:
“Don’t be in such a hurry to get where you’re going that you miss the miracles along the way or the miracles that may be out of your way!”
Blessings,
