February 3, 2002
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At All Times Prayer: Eternal and loving God, whose saving power has come to us in Jesus Christ, grant that we may hear the truth and do what is right so our lives may be a blessing to the world and lead others to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with you. Amen. (From Taught by Love: Worship resources for Year A. edited by Lavon Bayler, United Church Press, p. 39) Most of you have heard the songs that speak to the blessings of God. We learned their advice early, “Count your blessings, name them one by one, count your blessings, see what God has done”; and we believe the statement, “There shall be showers of blessings, this is the promise of love.” I am glad that our current church school rotation is studying the beatitudes. I trust that they are beginning to learn as they study what it means to be blessed by God. I hope we will all think again about what it means to be blessed at all times by God. I hope that is so because these verses make it hard for Christians sometimes. On the one hand, the beatitudes can lead people who do not know the power of faith and blessing to believe Christians are not really strong people. They hear these words about being poor in spirit and in pocket, and about an inheritance in heaven. They hear about future reward and it seems to them to call us to passive patience rather than to strong blessing. On the other hand, as he teaches the disciples and is overheard by the crowd, Jesus sets some high expectations for us. To know the blessings of God does not mean weakness, but rather it means to live with a certain confidence that no matter what, God’s presence and God’s blessings are ours. In fact no matter our circumstance, when we are faithful, God’s blessings are with us and will see us through. Life is not always fair or fun, but God is always faithful and the blessings of God are ours. Sometimes the promise, the blessing, the favor of God, the good will for us by God is present but we have taken it for granted for so long that we do not see it. That is what happened with Israel and their covenant with God. God said as they traveled between slavery and the promised land. “I will be your God, if you will be my people. I will bless and keep you if you keep my commandments. Let’s make this covenant together.” The people said, “We will do all that we ask. “ But before too long, the people began to grumble, they made bad alliances, they broke the covenant, their sacred agreement with God was lost in their belief that lip service, without any action would be OK. They expected to be blessed by God, but they acted as if God did not really matter. Eventually it comes to be that God brings charges against them for breach of covenant. Can’t you imagine the conversation? “I did my part, did you forget yours? “Remember me? I am the one who even before the agreement was made, I rescued you from Egypt. It was I who kept the promise to be your God and who kept you safe in the wilderness, and brought then brought you to the land that was promised to you.” I have made my best case, Israel - now you make yours”. We hear them saying, “what can we do to please God? Is there a bargain for us to make? “What can we give you to make you happy, God?” How about our best livestock, or our finest oil, will you take our first born, our stock portfolio, years off our lives?” The offer is made, but God says, I’m not interested. The earth is mine and the fullness thereof. I set the sun and moon, the stars and planets in the sky. The oceans’ tides move at the rhythm I established. Every living thing in the world is the result of my creation - including you. I don’t need anything you have, except this. “Remember you are blessed because I love you. All I want from you is that you remember and live as if you are a blessed people. You want to know what to do? Just this: do justice, love kindness (love and live the covenant we have made), and walk humbly with me.” We have been blessed by God to have this church for worship and mission; for work and witness, to tell the story of the good news of Jesus Christ by the way we treat each other and by the way we show hospitality to our guests. We did not build this building, or start this church, but we are the heritage of the men and women who did, and we are leaving a legacy for the people who will come here after us. Understand that we are stewards, caretakers of what God has blessed us to care for, and we are called to as Bob told us last week, trust, trust, trust. But like Israel, we trust God, we trust each other but sometimes we forget the promise. Like them we have said, “we will be your people, while you will be our God.” We forget that the greatest blessing we have, the eternal blessing we hold is that God loves us, and wants what is best for us. We need to remember the promise especially when we find ourselves in a crisis. What we thought would be there forever - a marriage, an intimate partnership, long-term employment, life-savings can be all gone in an instant, and all we can do is look to the to whom we promised to be faithful and who promised us a blessing. Even worse, than forgetting is remembering the promise of blessing, but feeling as if the blessings of God have been removed, and we no longer know God’s favor. What is that like? It is despair, it is devastation, it to be eternally lost and utterly alone, even in a crowd. The good news is that the blessings are not removed, they are simply blocked sometimes by circumstances beyond our control, and sometimes as we get in our own way. But even when the blessings are blocked, there is a way provided for us to clear the way back to the blessings of God. In fact we will know the deepest blessings of God. Walter Brueggemann told us at the Ohio Ministries Convocation that the world is under a promise of well-being that is a gift, a blessing, a sign of favor from God. The well being of God is not in necessarily found in what we have. We know that there are people with every material thing they want and yet the have no sense of well-being. And we know people who have little, but live whole, healthy and satisfied lives. How do they live with such apparent blessedness? Maybe they have internalized the list of blessings given by Jesus, who has just finished a time of teaching and healing in Galilee. The word of his work has spread and more people are being brought to Jesus; the crowd grows bigger. As he watches them, Jesus and his disciples climb a mountain and sit down. Within the crowds hearing, Jesus begins to speak. To live with the promise and reality of blessing means that we know that the promise effects our behavior and response to God so that fulfillment isn’t just in the future but now. The poor in spirit will have the kingdom of God. If we know that now, we can begin to lift our spirits now. When we mourn the losses in our lives, we have the promise of comfort, by family, by friends, and even more by God. People who live as if our existence depends on our righteousness, our faithfulness cannot help but live faithfully. The merciful cannot help but do acts of mercy and compassion the peacemakers live as children of God because they want nothing more than to bring about good, harmonious relationships within the community of the church. That’s all well and good. Good acts will most likely bring good results. But where is the blessing when people don’t want to hear it about God’s blessings? Where is the blessing when we suffer because of our faithfulness. It is in the presence of God through Jesus Christ who says “you have God’s favor when your reputation is trashed because you follow me. You don’t deserve it. Focus on this and be glad. You have a reward in heaven because they are just doing to you, what they are doing to me. You are Christ-like. Now saying our reward is in heaven is not the same as saying, “don’t worry about it. Your reward is in heaven so it does not matter what happens on earth.” That is the attitude people mistake for passivity. But the opposite is true. Jesus wasn’t passive. He knew what it was to be blessed by God. He was motivated by God’s blessings. He acted to call people to repentance, he advocated for the poor and dispossessed, he loved the wealthy and called all people to lead lives of faith and justice. Jesus lived actively and so can we, as we do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God. How do we do that? We do it by being the blessed people that we are. By being salt, and light, and a city on a hill. With our hospitality, our risking and our witnessing, we flavor the world. Eugene Petersen puts it this way. He has Jesus say: Let me tell you why you are here. You’re here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness? You’ve lost your usefulness and will end up in the garbage. Here’s another way to put it: You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand - shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven. (The Message. NAVPress, p. 16) We are blessed to be a salt and light-giving people, set high on a hill. Let’s give to the world the best of what and who we are. Thanks be to God, amen.
Dr.
LaTaunya M. Bynum |
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Broad
Street Christian Church
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