Micah 6:1-8 Hear what God says: Rise, plead your case before the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice. Hear, you mountains, the controversy of God, and you enduring foundations of the earth; for God has a controversy with God's people, and God will contend with Israel. “O my people, what have I done to you? In what have I wearied you? Answer me! For I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and redeemed you from the house of slavery; and I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. O my people, remember now what King Balak of Moab devised, what Balaam son of Beor answered him, and what happened from Shittim to Gilgal, that you may know the saving acts of God.” “With what shall I come before God, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before God with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will God be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” God has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does God require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?
Mathew 5: 1-12
When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the realm of heaven. “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will 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 righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the realm 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.
Blessed
Like many Christians (I started to say, Progressives, but this isn't limited to just us) I have been deeply affected by the transition of power in our country; by the recent actions, statements, and this week's executive orders of the our new President against immigrants, refugees, and Muslims, along with new efforts to undermine voting rights and punish sanctuary cities. With each day, it seems the news only gets worse. I struggled this week to find words that will express our sadness, our anger, our fear, and to stress the urgency to take action- to fight- to stand up, stand with, stand against.
While some of us have already started to act- some are of us are still wondering how to express ourselves, how to get involved, and how to mobilize. For some, standing on the front lines is old hat- 'been doin' it since the 60's!' Thank you!
There are others who want to do something but don't know how to begin.
To others it is a scary premise. I was reading an article in the Atlantic this week that said many Christians are looking at this situation through the lens of fear, and are therefore reluctant to get involved. I thought about that- and it's so true- we are part of a society that intentionally keeps us in fear- its how we operate, its how we sell things, it's how we have learned to make decisions about our jobs, out children, our homes.
Still other's are just too hopeless to act... 'It's over! This is what we have now and we can't do nothing about it... ' The sense of powerlessness has overwhelming effects. It's like being a tree in the middle of a forest and as the fires moves closer, they have lost hope- so we stand and brace for the worst. "The flames will come, so why try to uproot yourself- it won't do any good, we've lost the fight."
Right before the election I preached a series on Protest. Part one of that series talked about the first step of protest being 'faith'- In other words, before we can protest, we need to find a place within ourselves that says, this is not only worth fighting for, but faith in God and Faith that God is capable of healing the situation.
So let me say out of the gate to all of the above mentioned factions, and to the ones i have not mentioned yet- the victims- to all of us who need a reminder this morning- that no matter what it looks like, God is still God. God hasn't lost power. God hasn't lost control. God is still working and moving and speaking and healing...
We need to remember that. We can't wake up every day and the first thing we do is turn to what's going on in the news- what's wrong with the world- what new threat is imposed- Our first thing in the morning ritual need to be turning to the Creator of Life and Breath. That's our first priority. It is the place where we remember, learn, and are encouraged, and prepared for whatever may happen today.
This is what Kathleen read for us in the passage from Micah- remember- remember when God brought us through situations worse than this! Remember the promise between God and God's people! Keep focused on the mission- 'do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God!' It's human nature to put human first... but God calls us to put God first.
The people Jesus was speaking to on the mountain needed the same reminder. They lived in a world of oppression. The temple had been destroyed- their freedoms were being taken one by one. Resistors were being arrested, tortured, and crucified. By the time the Gospel of Matthew was written, there was a sense of futility, hopelessness. So Jesus reminded them of the mission, and how to stay focused.
As moderns, we have tendency to read the Sermon on the Mount, and especially the Beatitudes, poetically. And while there is nothing inherently wrong with that, when we wax poetic, we often fuzzy the lens with which we view this sermon. We read the words in rhythm, with appropriate pauses and breaths, and sigh... "someday. Someday those who mourn will be comforted; someday the the oppressed will own the Kingdom (or in inclusive language), Realm of Heaven. Someday the pure in heart will see God."
That's a very soothing way to read the Beatitudes, and also a very convenient way to keep us exactly where we are right now... waiting for things to turn around, waiting for Heaven, when all of the troubles of this world pass away, or we pass away and receive our reward- in heaven.
And we will all be rewarded, won't we? Because as I read through this list of the "Blessed be's" in the beatitudes, I've seen myself in one or more of the groups that Jesus was talking about and I want what's coming to me. What group do you identify with? Certainly some of us are peacemakers, like that first group of activists I was mentioning. Surely some of us are merciful, some of us are poor, and poor in spirit- beaten down. Some of us have even been persecuted for righteousness sake- simply because we stood up for what was right. Someday in heaven, we will see peace.
Except the Sermon on the Mount isn't a description of someday. This sermon is the definition of Jesus' ministry on earth. It is the map, or the keys to the kingdom/realm of God. When Jesus talked about the realm of heaven, he spoke about it it the present tense- that all of the things we wait for 'in heaven' can be ours on earth. "On earth, as it is in heaven..." That's the mission- that's our focus. To do justice, love mercy, walk humbly with our God.
And this is the place from which we derive hope.
So now lets go back to our factions of people from the beginning- the ones already acting, the ones who don't know what or how to act, the ones afraid to act and the ones too hopeless to act... we are living now in the tension between the right now and the not yet. We hear the promise of God through Christ, and as we look around, we realize it is not complete, but yet claim it is finished. And it's a difficult place to be- finding the Realm of Heaven which is supposed to be ours right now when things seem so far from shalom.
So to help us see God, and be filled, and the other reward we look forward to in heaven, let me turn the tables a bit. I'd like us to try something this week- a sort of experiment- instead of self identifying with the Blessed, blessed are the meek, or oppressed or poor in spirit and then living out the waiting for someday, this week, lets to try to figure out a way to bring about the Realm of Heaven right now- to the people groups Jesus named- in other words, how can we Bless, the Blessed? And surely there are as many ways to do this as there are people on earth- and let me challenge you in this experiment to come up with your own ideas.
But for those of us who need some suggestions;
To the ones already acting- marching, calling, protesting, writing, speaking out- the ones who have been doin it since the 60's: Please don't take for granted that everyone knows how to do what you do. The knowledge you posses, the stories you can share, the instruction you can pass on are all invaluable to us. SO as you act, don't act alone- call someone from our congregation and tell them what you've done, and ask that person to join you in the fight. Give them a phone number. Give them the words to say and the encouragement to say them. Take them to a protest. Invite them to a sign making party. It's not second nature to know what to do and how to do it.
To the ones who want to act but don't know what to do. Find someone in the first group and glue yourself to them until you get it! And if you can't find someone, act on your own- act with who and what is right in front of you. Bring a pot of soup to a sick neighbor, clean out your closet of those old winter coats to give to a refugee, break away from reading and writing FB posts and tweets for an hour to volunteer with the youth of Camden, or Moorestown for that matter. Small stuff matters- what's the slogan from the womens march, snowflakes avalanche.
To the ones who seeing our situation through the lens of fear. Pray. Not in a "Oh my God please help us because we are so scared" way we usually pray, but pray, claiming the promises of God- pray thanking God for the things to come- praise God for the peace God is bringing about- pray boldly- confidently- with assurance of the things to come- pray in faith- and when you get up from prayer take one small step of faith yourself. Answer the phone, because someone from the already acting group is on the other end, about to ask you to get involved.
And for the last group- the "I'm too hopeless to do anything tree in the forest waiting for the flames to overtake you" let me tell you the story of the Ponderosa pine tree. The Ponderosa pine is one of a handful of trees that is almost fire resistant- it has a double layer of hard bark which protects it somewhat from the flames, but here is the interesting part- the seeds of the ponderosa pine can only be activated when the temperature of the fire hits 1000 degrees- its then that the ponderosa pine