Epiphany
4
Year
A
January
29, 2017
For
about the past 8 years
I
have been going to the same grocery store
Its
nice and convenient
right
across the street from where Joseph goes to school
You
probably can relate to this
…A
little bit like what happens in church
Like
how we end up in the same pew week after week
Darn
near a seating chart
…I
end up in the same checkout lane
…or
perhaps it is more accurate to say that I end up with the same checkout lady
I
don’t remember actually seeking her out
Because,
to be honest
Her
cheerfulness got on my nerves
Without
fail
With
each customer
One
after another
She
ends every transaction with the words
“You
have a blessed day now you hear?”
“You
have a blessed day now you hear?”
“You
have a blessed day now you hear?”
And
I was annoyed!
I
was annoyed by her constant blessing!
I ‘d
grumble
…in
a discreet way
…I
am nice enough not to want to offend her;)
I’m
thinking
She
has no idea what’s ahead for all these folks.
…a
huge stack of bills or laundry
Maybe
a colonscopy
Or
sometimes I get all judgey
About
how she’s cheapening the word BLESSING…
throwing
it around like that …TO EVERYONE!
But
persistence has a way of softening a person
I slowly
began to see that worn-out line as ritual language
Kind
of like when we say
How are you?
We
aren’t anticipating that someone will actually
tell us how they are
Its
a greeting
A
ritual convention
I
began to smile and chuckle under my breath
Okay…I’ll allow you to
throw some blessing my way
Sounds
like what Jesus is doing
And
isn’t that just like him
To
throw blessing around
To
everyone!
Isn’t
it just like Jesus to be that wasteful…that extravagant!?!?!
We
are in Chapter 5
About
ready to start the Sermon on the Mount
Jesus
is back in Galilee
He’s
called a couple disciples
He
has healed a few folks and exorcised a few demons
The
time is right
He
treks up the mountain
He’s
going to do something Moses-Like
He’s
going to make the mountain a place of teaching
Its
time to teach
There’s
a crowd
Or
two crowds
The
inner circle…the disciples
And
the outer circle…a circle of the curious
Both
within earshot
It
is kick-off time
For
the Sermon on the Mount
And
what comes first?
The
vision
The
Beatitudes
Which
amount to a vision of how the world REALLY is
How
it really is
If
only we could see
Through
God’s eyes
We
have a huge problem
Because
we’ve heard this passage so many times
It
is hard to hear it in a fresh way anymore
All
I have to hear is “Blessed are the…”
And
I click ‘done’
I
know this one
It’s
going to tell me that I SHOULD be
Poorer,
I
SHOULD be Mournier,
I
SHOULD be better at showing mercy
I
SHOULD let myself get hungry from time to time!
I
SHOULD…I really should
But
if
The
lady at the grocery has her finger on something
And
Jesus is THAT extravagant with throwing the blessings around
I’ve
got to look with fresh eyes
Because
---I don’t think
---The intention Jesus has
---As I follow him up the
mountain
---To hear his words
---I don’t think he intends
to SHOULD me to death
Our
pew set-up
Is
a nice image for what Jesus might be up to
Our
set up here makes a nice prop
Over
here?
Beatitudes
1-4
And
over here?
Beatitudes
5-8
I
bet Jesus knew the people following close enough to hear
I
bet he was familiar with their lives and circumstances
He
knew some of their stories
You
1-4 folks
What
do I see?
There
you are! You. Poor in Spirit
So
tired of meeting the difficult challenges of everyday life
Of
course
Of
course
The
poor in Spirit
You
have little choice…
It
is: rely on God…or succumb to despair
I
see you…poor in Spirit
And
ah! Back there
I
see you… mourning
The
older we get the more we mourn
First
parents, sisters, brothers, friends, and even children
My
dad says some days he is afraid to open his email
Afraid
to learn about another classmate who has died
He
keeps a constant count of who is left
We
mourn all kinds of losses
the
loss of dreams…the loss of livelihood
…I
see you
you
who mourn
Oh…I
see you too
You
the meek one
YOU
who can’t fight the uphill battle anymore
A
lifetime of oppression
Beaten
down
By
Bad decisions
Or
bad luck
You
know when a fight can’t be won
Best
to conserve your energy
I
see you…the meek one
And
I see you…you who hunger
Hunger
and thirst
For
so much that is beyond your current strength
Out
of reach
It
is a hunger, that…all on your own
…you
haven’t the power to satisfy
I
see you…you who are hungry
All
of you…the 1-4 crowd
Those
the world calls unlucky,
misfortunate,
afflicted, burdensome, inconvenient, downtrodden…
But
God calls you BLESSED
And
back over here
the
5-8 crowd
I
see you…the merciful
You
who offer healing
You
who are able to do so
Why
are you able?
because
you have been blessed
you
have been on the receiving end of mercy…and you received!
…
from God…from another
YOU…you have it to offer
and you offer it
BLESSING
I
see you…the pure in heart
you
are over here too
Somehow
your
heart is more powerful than your ego
You
are motivated to relate to the other
Because
in front of you…you see Christ
You
don’t see
the
inconvenient or the burdensome or the unlucky
You
see Christ
You
are pure in heart because
Yours
in not a heart of stone
but
of flesh
Not
an individual heart
but
a heart united with the heart of Christ
in
the body of Christ
You…you
with that pure heart…BLESSING
And
there you are
you
peacemakers
There
is no coercion here
You
peacemakers have an option
You
don’t HAVE TO stand for peace
You
could do otherwise
You
are free to choose
And
to choose freely to be a person of peace
BLESSING
And
I can’t forget the persecuted
Should
they be on the other side?
No…you
are not just persecuted
You
are persecuted for righteousness sake
Your
persecution is on behalf of those who hunger and thirst
In
your freedom
You
choose to occupy the place where persecution is likely
For
the common good
You
who choose that place
BLESSING
I
see all of you
1-4
and 5-8
Life
has a way of giving us opportunities to be on both sides
Times
when weakness and pain
Get
the best of us
And
other times when we have something of ourselves to spare
And
the Blessing?
Where
exactly is the Blessing?
Is
it not in the aisle
In
the middle where need and offering meet?
The
aisle
That’s
where 1-4 meet 5-8
The
giver reaches over, bends down, steps in
and IS the face of God for us to see
Isn’t
that how we come to know God?
In
that giving and receiving exchange?
Isn’t
that God becoming Human
God
With Us?
Remember
Christmas…Emmanuel…God with us.
Blessed
are those who cross the aisle
To
be the face of Mercy
The
face of Heart
The
face of Peace
So
Blessed are all!
Extravagent
blessing!
Blessed
is the giving and receiving
Giving
out of our treasures
And
receiving in our need
The
Blessing is in between
The
blessing is in the aisle
It
is where giving and receiving meet
Where
need and offering meet
That
is where God is
That
is where love is
That
is where God who is love IS
The
check out lady at Schnucks
She’s
performing blessedness
She’s
performing the beatitudes
…or
at least her part as she sees it
…and
it is authentic…
But
it isn’t until I receive it
that
the Check-out lady and me meet in the aisle
This
is a big challenge!
There
is a world outside of Blessedness
It
is a world of our own making
When,
in our freedom, we fail to participate
In
the life of giving and receiving
A
life of relatedness
Relatedness
to God
And
relatedness to the ‘Other’
When
we can’t muster a YES to Jesus’ vision
We
choose instead to live outside of that
blessing world.
Blessed
are we when we cross the aisle
When
we cross to give
Or
when we are open to receive
Blessed
are we when our lives are grounded in relationship
Blessed
are we when we choose NOT to
go
it alone,
bear
it alone,
hoard
it alone
Blessed
are we when our lives mirror the life of God
God…a
community of persons…
Blessed
are we when we
Participate
in the giving and receiving life of Christ
For
the Kingdom
The
place of undeserved and unexpected PEACE
Is
there
The
kingdom is there
Indeed
