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The Rev'd Jane Bearden
Last Monday Dorayne told me she was putting the insert for today together. I responded “Please tell me that it is not the Beatitudes”. As comforting and reassuring as this passage seems to be on the outside I find it troubling. I find myself asking “What does it mean to be blessed? Does it mean that if God blesses the poor or the persecuted then there is no blessing for the rich or the powerful? Does being rich mean that an individual is not worthy of a blessing. Since America is the richest nation on earth that might not work out so well for most of us.
When I hear the Beatitudes, it's hard for me not to hear Jesus as stating the terms under which I might be blessed. When I hear "Blessed are the pure in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven," I think, "Am I pure enough in spirit?" When I hear "blessed are the peacemakers...," I think, "I can do more…. I should be more committed to making peace." That is one of those “should on myself things”….. And then there is the nagging question for me of what does it mean to be blessed. If I am a peace maker does that mean that I will have a super shield around me to keep violence away from me? Is a blessing about being without want or loss or suffering? I don't think so.
These past three or so weeks we have seen Jesus baptized, tempted, calling his disciples, and healing the people. Now Jesus goes up on a mountain, the multitudes of people follow him, he sits down and gathers his disciples around him and begins to teach. And he begins not with stern words of warning or condemnation – he begins with a lesson in blessedness. He invites his disciples and all of those gathered to consider the love that God has for them by telling them that even those who they least expect to be blessed by God, are indeed the very ones who are blessed. There are no conditions for us to meet in order to be blessed, Jesus begins his sermon by blessing all those who are listening.
My own sense of blessedness has more to do with God’s presence with me through thick and thin, more about having the strength and resources to meet the challenges of life. Being blessed is about being filled with joy and love and hope. Most of us have a hard time believing God wants to bless us in the first place. It may be that our picture of God is distorted, that we can only imagine God as a stern, demanding law-giver, and so it seems out of character for God to bless without having as really good reason. Or maybe it’s not our idea of what God’s grace might look like - maybe it's that we know ourselves too well to feel worthy of that grace. After all, we are intimately familiar with our faults and limitations. And knowing ourselves this well – and knowing that God knows us even better! – we may find it hard to believe God loves us unconditionally. We're used to paying for our mistakes, paving our own way, toeing the line and reaping the consequences when we don't, and so it may not only be unexpected, but downright unsettling and nearly inconceivable to imagine that God behaves differently, showering us with blessing apart from anything we have done, earned, or deserve.
I love the way that this gospel is paired with the lesson in Micah. The Israelites had rather sarcastically wanted to know what it was that God wanted from them in order to be blessed by God. And Micah’s answer is simple – be fair in your dealings with others, be kind and generous, and live each day knowing that you are a blessed child of God - that’s all. To enact justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with God, are not single acts that can be checked off the list and left behind. This is a way of life. Paying lip service to equity does not constitute a faithful life. We cannot observe minority membership quotas on committees in place of seeking justice. We cannot send checks for disaster relief and avoid examining the lifestyles that contribute, at least in part, to some natural disasters. We cannot do hunger walks and refuse to change our consume, consume consume lifestyles. We cannot confess with our lips on Sunday morning and use less than ethical business practices at work on Monday.
Rather than offer God thousands of rams or perhaps a perfect liturgy, Micah calls us to offer a daily acts of love and forgiveness for each other and the world God loves. "Walking humbly with God" means knowing our bent to self-righteousness. We cannot "play church" or frame our religious life as a game where we keep God in check by performing prescribed duties. The life of faith is a walk that reorients heart and life.
In the same vain, Jesus doesn’t set up requirements or conditions – rather by naming the least of these as the blessed ones he is opening the way for each one of us - no matter how inadequate we might feel to be - bathed in the warmth of God’s blessing. And he does that in order to proclaim that God regularly shows up in mercy and blessing just where we least expect God to be – with the poor not the rich, those who are mourning rather than celebrating, the meek and the peacemakers rather than the strong and victorious. If God shows up here, Jesus is saying, blessing the weak and the vulnerable, then God will be everywhere, showering all creation and its inhabitants with blessing. It works this way because of the misseo deo – God desire that we all be called back into unity with God – all of creation. By pronouncing our blessing Jesus is teaching us a profound truth about God and about ourselves.
I have a friend in Lynn who teaches the confirmation class at St Stephen’s. Her students are about twelve years old. She addresses her students as Miss and Mister and they addressed her as Ms. McClain. When I chuckled about it she explained that she addressed them quietly and in a dignified manner in order to tell them that she respected them as individuals and they were loved and cherished. She said “we become what we are called” and these children are God’s precious creation – I need to remind them of that.
What would it be like if we were to offer a blessing just like Jesus does each time we begin to address each other. To tell another person that God loves and adores them, that God wants the very best for them, that God esteems them worthy of not just God's attention but God's blessing.
You know that is really what we are doing when we exchange the peace. When I proclaim to you that the Peace of Christ is with you – I am offering you a blessing. You are one of those people that Jesus names today.. You are blessed by God and I am going to tell you so. But often when we exchange the peace it becomes more of a hi there Whaasss up greeting than it is a genuine declaration of blessing.
So this is what we are going to do. After I sit down, find a neighbor, someone sitting close to you who you do not know well. Some of you may have to get up and move around a little. Maybe you might want to share with your partner in blessing where you have recently experienced God's blessing. Or maybe the two of you might want to just hear and receive God's blessing from each other. You might say to the person “God’s peace and love are with you because you are a blessed child of God.” However you do it be sure to let your companion in faith know that they are loved and blessed by God and by you. Because, as Ms McClain knew, we become what we are called, and calling our people blessed will over time transform us to be God's blessing in and to the world.
Allow time for the blessings to take place before beginning the creed.
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