"We are not blessed because we are wealthy, we are wealthy because we take time to bless." Wayne Mueller, Sabbath: Finding Rest, Renewal and Delight in Our Busy Lives

Consecrate….it is one of those words most often used in the church, not one we throw around in our daily language. Consecrate means to ‘make holy’, to en-holy. Most often, I believe, it has more to do with taking the time and intention to recognize the holiness that resides within all Creation. Singer, songwriter Peter Mayer has a beautiful song called "Everything Is Holy Now" in which he describes how he once divided the world into the "holy" and the "not"……but as he has lived he has learned to recognize the holy in everything…the red-winged blackbird, the communion host, the scriptures, stories told around the campfire, water in the lake, water in the baptismal font….all holy.

Consecrating takes time and intention…to notice, to name, to experience gratitude, to offer blessing and thanks. It need not happen…should not happen…only in church. It can happen every morning when you turn on your computer….do you really understand how it works?….are you thankful for its gifts to you?….offer your blessing, make holy this techno-moment. As you drink that first sip of coffee, do you think of the many hands that planted and harvested the beans, loaded and delivered the coffee, those that transported it and ground it, perhaps even brewed it, for your morning wake up……holy hands, connecting each moment with the next until it reaches your grateful lips. A moment worthy of a blessing, a consecration.

I am about to celebrate yet another wedding this weekend. It has been a summer of weddings…couples young and old, making a commitment to one another to share their lives through all that life will bring them. It is first and foremost a legal act. Couples receive a license to wed, register with a county office and could be married there if they chose. But most, through tradition, faith or family expectation……. choose,if they are able, to have their marriage performed in a church. Consecration…that is what we are doing when we celebrate a wedding in the church. We are claiming the moment as holy, recognizing the Sacred that moves among us, and in offering our blessing to a couple, we consecrate their marriage. It is a simple…yet bold act. To recognize and claim the Holy within our midst, to offer ourselves, to offer the couple and their life together, and to bless and offer our gratitude……to make holy the moment.

As you move about your weekend activities, may you recognize the holy moments…… and the Holy in your midst. Blessings to you………………