Sunday, January 29, 2017

Giving & Receiving*

Epiphany 4
Year A
January 29, 2017
Matthew 5:1-12
click here for video link


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




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