This is the last week of our summer sermon series on the Beatitudes, and we will be covering the last two countercultural blessings of Jesus that seem to go hand in hand: He blesses the peacemakers and also blesses those of us who face persecution for His name’s sake. When we follow in Jesus’ way in this world, the world will not approve of us. It will not want to be confronted with the ways that it falls short and promises things that it cannot deliver to us. When we embrace humility, grief, meekness, righteousness, mercy and purity of heart, we are bound to live in a way that the world cannot understand. Join us for this reflection leading into a new school year and a new season, and consider these words from NC Pastor Guy Sayles:
Because you are blessed, you are free to acknowledge, without shame, the poverty of your spirit and your need for God;
your sadness over your own brokenness and the brokenness of the world;
and your need and willingness to be led by God.
Because you are blessed, you may, without fear, pursue your hunger and thirst for things to be made right in you and in the world.
You may, without hesitation, show kindness and compassion toward the guilty, the struggling, the marginalized, and the excluded.
God will become the single aim and the dominant passion of your life,
and it will become your nature to risk those things which make for peace.
Even when your commitment to God’s kingdom is costly, joy will fill your soul. AMEN