And God told Moses to tell Aaron and his sons to bless the children of
Israel saying:

24  The LORD bless thee, and keep thee:
25  The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee:
26  The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.
(Numbers 6)

Of course, some denominations keep the blessing of this blessing for the
high and mighty clergy to place upon their congregants, and it's a no-no
for a mere lay person to use it to bless anyone.  I used it once as I was
leaving a private meeting in the home of another member, sincerely desiring
that God bless the others, and I was sharply taken to task by an elder,
telling me I couldn't do that, but only the minister of the church was
allowed to use it.

Helen



At 08:38 AM 1/6/04 -0500, you wrote:
>Hey, John
>
>I can't think of a specific case (or of much of anything else this morning.
>Smile.)  but I'm sure Lutherans and Episcopalians (Anglicans in England)
>also do blessings as well as the other liturgical folks at baptisms and
>dedications.
>
>Paul