So I decided to shift focus a little bit from domestic folk knowledge to a little bit more religious context. I think an intriguing religious aspect of our life is priesthood blessings. Whether you are the one with the ability to give blessings or not, both men and women of our age have been present for enough of them to understand what they mean and how to give one physically. I know that there is a certain amount spiritual guidance that one must have while giving a blessing or ordaining someone to a position. But i believe that some part of ordination and blessings is a folk knowledge we as members gain from being in the church all our lives and seeing priesthood holders exercise this amazingly important ability.
I hope it isn't too sacrilegious to say that a part of knowing what to say in a blessing comes from the Lord, but also from the great examples we have had in our lives of worthy priesthood holders. These men could be fathers, bishops, ward members, missionaries, or complete strangers, it doesn't really matter. What matters is that have seen a model of how this knowledge is not only taught orally in church, but actually lived out by someone. I think the really only way we are able to pass down this folk knowledge of giving a religious blessing or ordination is by example and modeling it to others. There is not some manual or set of instructions that tells you what to say (or if there is I haven't been diligent in studying it...).
I also don't want to be exclusively speaking about the Mormon church either, although that is the church I have had the most experience with, I believe that other churches exercise priesthood and other blessings that can be deemed as folk knowledge. I am sure for some religions there may be some sort of code or guidelines, but it really does comes mainly from the heart, god, and examples they have had of men modeling this knowledge. I hope that I can take from the great examples and models I have had and be able to combine there knowledge passed down to me with the spirit I feel in the moment.
Food for thought!: After reading this post, think about the examples you have had in your life of men giving a blessing, and try to come up with how they may have learned that folk knowledge and combined it with the spirit to ordain someone or give a blessing.
So...there is a handbook, at least for Latter-
ReplyDeleteDay Saints: instructions for priesthood blessings and ordinances are found in chapter 20 of the church's Handbook 2 (http://lds.org/manual/handbook?lang=eng). But it's interesting to note that even though instructions for blessings are very general, we often hear particular phrases used all the time almost as if they were in the handbook.
I think that we could even generalize this from blessings to prayers in general. What a classic example of oral tradition and folk knowledge. It is SUCH a classic issue on the mission to get people to say prayers in the form that is taught in the gospel. Much of the prayers that we say included things that we hear others say. There are even certain phrases within families. Of course, we have all heard, "please bless the refreshments for our nourishment and strength". Are you kidding? That doesn't even make sense! But, that is what has been passed down.
ReplyDeleteTo Alicia, I have actually read the instructions from your link before. THey do describe the technical instructions such as blessing by the name of christ and worthiness issues and such. But what you actually say during the blessing is up to you, there are no "instructions" as you said before, only instructions for how to administer oil and how and when do it, not what to say.
ReplyDeleteYes, there does seem to be a lot of traditional phrases in both priesthood blessings and everyday prayers. I'll just stick with the prayers, though, because I don't have much experience with the other. I agree with Scott about blessing every type of food. Doughnuts and fried twinkies are not going to nourish and strengthen anyone's bodies! We recently had a desert experiment in which we mixed ice cream and cookie dough and put it inside two chocolate cookies. As we were blessing it and we got to that part, I was silently laughing. 'Please help the refreshments not to kill us' is appropriate at times. But repeating these types of phrases that we learn through other people is what gets us into trouble with vain repetitions.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Scott about the influence of folk knowledge on phrases in prayer. I think that also we might learn certain things about the procedure of blessings from a kind of folk knowledge standpoint - especially being born in the church; I know that I've seen at least several hundred blessings. This gave me a sense of how they usually are conducted that I was able to use when I was ordained to the Melchizedek Priesthood.
ReplyDeleteHaving been ordained to the office of elder in the Melchizedek priesthood just one month and one day ago (just a few hours before I boarded a plane to get to Provo), I really enjoyed reading this post, Andrew. I didn't grow up with the priesthood and I don't have a father who's a member of the Church, but if I could focus all my studies on one thing it would be the priesthood. Just think! The priesthood is the power and the authority through which Christ created ALL THINGS on earth under the direction of Heavenly Father! What an amazing and incredible and marvelous power! Although the priesthood is eternal and pure and unaltered by apostasy, I do agree with Scott and Sam that it has been influnced by linguistic phrases of men (think prayers) throughout history.
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