This week in the series tackles two Beatitudes or blessings together, and that is not an accident. One is intricately tied to the other. Mercy flows from a heart that is pure and undivided. This is also a turning point from blessings that are more inwardly focused to those which tie to our lived actions in the real world. You may wonder how purity of heart is external, and we will talk about that. How are these blessings made real, in the flesh so to speak? How do we misunderstand these concepts? (Ex: mercy is more than mere pity or even compassion; purity is more than the misguided, Pharisaical “purity culture” that reduces the concept to ideas about sexuality). How is God trying to work these blessings out in our lives? Let’s continue the conversation and listen to God together.
8/14/2022: How to be Blessed WEEK 4: Hunger and Thirst for Righteousness
The prolific writer Kurt Vonnegut once said that “for some reason the most vocal Christians among us never mention the Beatitudes. But often, with tears in their eyes, they demand that the Ten Commandments be posted in public buildings. And of course that’s Moses, not Jesus. I haven’t heard one of them demand that the Sermon on the Mount, the Beatitudes, be posted anywhere.” The Beatitudes, like so much of Jesus’ teachings, are powerful and countercultural and demanding and complicated. They are something we wrestle with and pray for our entire lives. The blessings described in them are not something we can achieve with our efforts or check off on a to-do list. Maybe that is why this particular Beatitude this week is so important: blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled (Matthew 5:6).
It is the hunger and the desire and the empty spaces within us that Jesus blesses; not the attainment of anything. None of us have arrived. We are all on a journey, and all that God asks of us is to seek Him and know that we need Him. This week, let’s think together about what it looks like to hunger for what can truly fill us and so be truly blessed.
8/7/2022: How to be Blessed WEEK 3: Be Meek
I once heard the quote that “there is nothing so strong as gentleness and nothing so gentle as real strength”. It sounds good, but do we live in this harsh and divided world as if we believe that to be true? How much do we give in to societal pressure to push our way to the front; to assert our rights; to strive for what we want rather than what others need? We need these Beatitudes more than ever before, and this week, we come to Jesus’ invitation to meekness. We tackle together the difference between what we think of as meek and what it really looks like in scripture and in practical, human life. We consider where such meekness comes from and how Jesus helps us to embody it, that we might inherit the land (Matthew 5:5).
This is also a Communion Sunday, where we acknowledge our need and rely on God to fill us in the empty places of our hearts and lives. We do not meditate on these Beatitudes / Blessings or partake in this holy meal all on our own, but as a community gathered in the sanctuary of COA and in the homes of those we call our members and neighbors. All are welcome!
7/31/2022: How to be Blessed WEEK 2: Embrace mourning
In this second week of our Beatitudes sermon series, we come to Jesus’ blessing on those who mourn. How is it possible that those who are sad should be happy? What does this mean in a world that does whatever possible to avoid pain and death? What areas of life have led to experiences of loss for us that perhaps we have not fully processed or embraced? Could this be a crucial part of our spiritual growth? We will continue to confront these countercultural, seemingly impossible blessings with our real questions, and think together about how they invite us to brand new way of life in the Kingdom of God; a way of life where we can be our real selves and trust that we are held, accompanied and loved by God.
7/24/2022: How to be Blessed WEEK 1: Be Poor in Spirit
This week, we have the excitement of Water Day after church (sprinklers/slip and slide/Kona Ice!!) and all are welcome.
We also are entering into a new sermon series: How to be Blessed: The Beatitudes
Who among us does not want our lives to be happy and blessed? We receive all kinds of advice from our world about how to achieve exactly that, and yet we find that much of it falls short. Jesus has different ideas of what it means to be blessed, and we find those in His Beatitudes. We are going to spend time with each one of His sayings on blessing found in Matthew 5 and consider other places in scripture that affirm the same sources of blessing for us.
This week, we enter into this list of upside down blessings with one that ties them all together: “blessed are the poor in Spirit“. What does this mean? Can any of us relate to poverty in our affluent culture? What does poverty in spirit look like when we have everything that we need? Where do we feel like perhaps we do not have enough or are not enough as people? How in the world does this make us blessed?