Latest / Belin Memorial UMC / “Blessed ARE...”
Transcript
- harbor 10 01 26: Would you please stand for the reading of the Gospel? The scripture lesson comes to us from the Gospel of Matthew, Matthew five, verses one through twelve. You will recognize it immediately as the Beatitudes. When Jesus saw the crowds he went up the mountain, and after he sat down his disciples came to him, and he began to speak and taught them saying Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. This is the word of God for the people of God. You may be seated. Jesus ascended a mountain. It is known as the mountain of the Beatitudes. He ascended the mountain, he sat down, and he began teaching his disciples. And this is where he delivered as a part of a larger sermon. Actually, it was his most famous sermon, known as the Sermon on the Mount. The Beatitudes are at the beginning. an introduction to the rest of the Sermon on the Mount. And that text is actually, or a portion of that sermon, this text today, is assigned to this day, All Saints Day. Now, we have already heard that John Wesley loved All Saints Day. I happen to love All Saints Day, but John Wesley referred to it Each year he had a different reference. And one of the references he called it a comfortable day. Now, for some of us, that might sound odd, and I understand that. And I was where many of you are this very day. Last year I did something that I will only have to do once in my lifetime. And it was something I did not anticipate having to do at that particular time. I knew that probably that day would come, but I thought it would have been many years from when I did it. I had the task of reading The Roll of Remembrance and the man that I referred to as Padre for many years, those of you who didn't know that, my husband, the Reverend Jim Hyatt. I read his name as a part of the role of remembrance. So I understand the tension that stands between the comfortable day. There is the grief that continues, but then it is tied to the great joy of knowing eternal life that we are living that now, the promises that God made, feasting at the heavenly banquet, and what a celebration that is. So, to those of you who are in that place of holding both of those intention, many of us in this room understand it for many reasons. All saints celebrates the named and claimed people of God, the living and the dead, who make up what we know as the body of Christ and the great cloud of witnesses. I want you to turn one more time and look at each other, and you can just wave to each other so I'll know that you're doing it. Look and wave at each other, okay? Now, what you have done is just introduced yourself and you have recognized someone in this room as a saint. You are saints. Don't let anybody tell you you're not because you are. One of our friends loved. To introduce worship every Sunday, he stood in the pulpit and said, Good morning, saints. Good morning, sinners. Because the reality is we are both. We are saint and sinner at the same time, but we are saints because we are named and claimed by God. And today we have the joy. Of remembering the vast, countless company of people united with God in heaven, while we continue to remember that we too are a part of those who are named and claimed by God. That's why the Beatitudes speak to us. so deeply on this particular day, the very first words that Jesus speaks. Now remember he has gone up, this is a modern version of that picture, but he went up this mountain, sat down, his disciples and a crowd are gathered around, and the very first words he speaks and does not speak are important. Jesus does not say, blessed shall be. Jesus says, blessed are right now. Not because of something that would happen later. Not because God is going to hear them and us whenever God gets around to it. Blessed are now. That's why the second part of the sentence in the Beatitudes is also important. It holds the two together. Blessed are, for example, those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Jesus is recognizing the reality of the day. Jesus recognizes that human grief and loss is a part of our journey. But Jesus also recognizes that the triune God continues to be with us, and as we travel through it, they will be comforted. The Beatitudes are not moral instructions. Now Jesus will get to that later in the Sermon on the Mount, but this is at the very beginning. And Jesus give is giving his disciples a blueprint. This blueprint reflects what a real everyday life shaped by grace looks like in practice. Now we have all been shaped by those saints who have gone before us, and we are being shaped by those saints who are with us. Every person in this room has a list of saints that you can name right now silently and give thanks for. That have helped, shaped, and guided you in the faith. And many of them are the reason that we are here celebrating and worshiping together. We give thanks for those who have lived. We give those who give thanks for those who have lived and died in the faith. They don't live perfectly, but they live faithfully. And today we're going to call some of them by name. Some will also, as we read the roll of remembrance very soon. While that role of remembrance is being read, I invite you to name silently in your heart those for whom you give thanks, because God will hear every one of those names, whether they're being read aloud or whether you are naming them silently. So here's the good news for all the saints, because that's us too. Even though we don't always get it all right, can you imagine having a friend or a spouse who always gets everything right? So there is some grace in that we don't always get it right. And Jesus was speaking to that and understands that. Saints are people who experience grief. We feel pain, we struggle, we celebrate, and we rejoice. And God ordered it that we get to do it together. So you were saints because you belong to God. We are named, claimed, we are loved by God, and we are indelibly imprinted. We carry God's fingerprints on us. The Beatitudes are very short affirmations that open with those very important words. Blessed are Now the word blessed comes from the Greek word makarios, which you will in some translations it's translated as blessed, some translations it's translated as happy. It also is the same word that is the base of the word honor. Honored right now are. You see, when people are in the pit of grief, Jesus recognizes that. Jesus called them. Blessed are right then and there. And in the midst of the broken heart, Jesus is there already walking with and being with us towards some healing. When people are suffering, even for something that they absolutely know is beyond their control, Jesus is there and says, Blessed are. The pain is real, the grief is real. But so is the comfort, and it gives new meaning for hope and promise. In the Sistine Chapel, there is an iconic painting, and you recognize this by Michelangelo. It is called the Creation of Adam. And it depicts one hand that is human and lifeless, the smaller hand reaching out. The other hand is life-giving and slightly reaching out and Downward toward the more frail hand. This is the moment that Michelangelo depicts God giving life. It's a reminder that God is still doing work in this world. Some of it is small as two fingers touching. The ministry of Jesus was just beginning when he spoke these words on that mountain. crowd of disciples gathered around him and he began teaching them the many ways that God is at work in the world. You see when the disciples looked out they saw what we would expect them to see. They saw a crowd of people. They saw a crowd of faces lumped together. When Jesus looked out at the very same crowd, his perspective was very different. He saw not a group, a composite of people. He saw individual people. He saw faces. He saw individual circumstances. And in the midst of that great variety of people, God extends God's hand of blessing to bring about moments of grace. So today, we remember those who have gone on before us, who have finished their course. Here on earth. You will hear their names read, and they will be read exactly the way Jesus sees us. They will be read individually. And while they are read, we celebrate God's gracious gift of their lives among us, God's gift of their life to each of us, and also God's gift of eternal life to them and to us. So we hear Jesus' words through the Beatitudes and through His invitation, which we will hear to come to His table and receive the bread and the cup, which we will hear in the liturgy as a foretaste of the heavenly banquet. Our remembrance of the saints may bring some tears of grief. They may bring tears of gratitude, and for some the tears are a mixture of both. And God understands why that makes this a comfortable day. Because we trust the one who gives life and we trust the one who gives eternal life. But in this timeless moment, we are nourished, we are embraced, we are a part of a community, even as we are strengthened in this moment of remembrance. For the journey still to come. Blessed are