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

Link to readable sermon PDF

Worship today is very special, as it will be a joyful celebration in so many ways. I will no longer be preaching, but you will hear the word preached from our own Christian Educator Debbie Barbour, and we will be celebrating her ministry, as it is her final Sunday in this role with COA. We will also be unveiling and blessing our new pray-ground (more information here).

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.

Link to readable sermon PDF

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.

Link to readable sermon PDF

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).

Link to readable sermon PDF

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!