03/20/2023
I enjoyed Pastor Jessica’s sermon Sunday in which she looks at the Sermon on the Mount, and specifically the Beatitudes of Matthew 5 as “a map of where we can find Jesus.” Listening to her exploration of where and how we might best discover Jesus, Jessica did point out his unique identification with the poor and hurting of our world. It reminded me of the following from a Catholic theologian and churchwoman.
Author Monika Hellwig suggests that there may be a reason that the Hebrew and Christian God consistently goes out of His way to lift up the poor and their plight. She offers a variety of “advantages” that she’s put into the beatitude format famously used by Jesus. After all, those beatitudes—both in Luke and Matthew begin with “Blessed are the poor….”
Blessed are the poor for they rest their security not on things but on people.
Blessed are the poor because they do not have an exaggerated sense of their own importance, nor an exaggerated need for privacy.
Blessed are the poor because they expect little from competition and much from cooperation.
Blessed are the poor because they can distinguish between necessities and luxuries.
Blessed are the poor because they already know that with God’s help it is possible to survive great suffering and want.
Blessed are the poor because when the gospel is preached to them, it sounds like good news and not like a scolding.
Blessed are the poor because they are free to respond to the call of Jesus with abandon. The poor are especially blessed because they have so little to lose and almost everything to gain.
I think if Jesus were speaking to us today, in person, he’d close this list of blessings with: “Blessed are the well-off who come to the aid of the poor and blessed are the poor who aid the well-off in seeing the good news in a new light.”
*I excerpted and ‘beatitudized’ this from Yancey’s The Jesus I Never Knew
Archived Posts
Power Without Conscience?
I ran out of room for this vignette in Sunday’s sermon. Remember the quote that could be the headline for Ahab and Naboth: “All that’s needed for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing.” The following reinforces that truth.
The Cars Are Looking for A King
I don’t have a thing to add to Pastor Jessica’s excellent sermon this last Sunday. The fable/parable she shared has been one of my favorites for all the lessons she pulled from it in her message. I was playing around with my friend Chat GPT and after several abortive attempts, we came up with the following modernized version of Judges 9:7-15.
The Lost Benediction
Depending on the length of the sermon, I try to add a little something extra in my benedictions. This week I wrote up a benediction but then realized we’d be singing and waving our umbrellas to some New Orleans jazz.
Change of Focus This Week
Instead of sharing with you about yesterday’s sermon I’d like to invite you to do some background reading for next Sunday’s “Only Murders in the Bible.” Seeing that it is All Saints Day this Sunday, we are going to look at the very first Christian martyr, Stephen.
You Might Be Thinking It’s All About You If…
In working on Sunday’s sermon I asked my computer’s AI if she/he could come up with a few suggestions in answer to the above: "You Might be thinking it’s all about you, if…."
Prayer Changes Things
Here is a transcript of the prayer I prayed at the end of yesterday’s sermon.
Optimism, Faith, and Hope:
Practical Steps For Increasing All Three
Here are some practical, spiritual, and relational ways to grow faith, hope and optimism: