Living a Blessed Life                                    

   Jesus began his ministry with this proclamation: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” (Matthew 4. 17). When Jesus talks about “the kingdom of heaven,” he is not so much talking about an after-this-life destination. He is talking about a way of living in the world here and now. Lately I’ve been reading Meeting God in Mark- Reflections for the Season of Lent, by Rowan Williams. In it, the former Archbishop of Canterbury writes asks a question and then answers it: “How does God work?” Subtly, slowly, from the very depth of being. Or steadily, irresistibly, like the light searching the corners of a room.  He works outwards from the heart of being into the life of every day – not inwards from some distant heaven. This is how God works and you ought to be able to see it around you in the world God has created and rules.”[i]

   Look around and see the little girl in line with her smaller siblings to receive food from hands that are running out of food. all they have for her is one banana. Watch as she splits the banana in  pieces for the others…and then scrapes the inside of the skin with her teeth for her own nourishment. “Blessed are the poor in Spirit…”*

   Open your eyes and observe the parents who turn the pain of loss over the death of a child into motivation to prevent others from experiencing that same pain. “Blessed are those who mourn…”*

   Open your ears and listen for the stories that reveal someone with a crowded calendar who makes time to sit with a child in a church basement after school and help work through that page of math problems. “Blessed are the meek…”*

   Open your heart to consider the motivation of those who ask you to sign petitions, urge you to join them in front of a courthouse or a construction site, write a letter or an e-mail to speak up to right a wrong or prevent an injustice or preserve a portion of God’s creation. “What does the Lord require of you, but to do justice?”**  “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.”*

   Look beyond those who call for punishment for every infraction large or small and focus on those who work to reclaim and restore and redirect lives that have lost their way.  Listen to the story of a young father who did the crime and the time as a teenager, now providing leadership to the youth program his son attends because those in charge didn’t chain him to his past. “What does the Lord require of you but to love kindness,”** which an old translation labeled as “mercy.”  “Blessed are the merciful…”*

   Gaze behind the scenes of any group you can name, and you’ll discover the people who make it work...the ones in the background who come early and stay late and take on the tasks no one much cares for, but need to be done.  They’re not looking for recognition or expecting a reward.  They’re the ones who, to their surprise, discover the upside down blessings that only unselfish servants receive.  “What does the Lord require but to walk humbly with your God.”** “Blessed are the pure heart…”*

   Peer over the wreckage caused by those who use words to divide and tear down, and take in the sight of someone who works to bring people together to build up.  See the young mother who caught her two eldest children in a brouhaha, and put the sibling combatants knee to knee in two chairs with these instructions:  “You must look each other in the eye, but don’t let me catch either of you smiling!” Within minutes they had moved beyond smiles to laughter and whatever the cause of their battle was forgotten. “Blessed are the peacemakers…”*

   Finally take a look in the mirror. Look at one who might have been, is now, or one day will be, misunderstood, mocked, maligned--maybe even mistreated-- for being the peacemaker, pure in heart, merciful, ravenous for what is right in God’s eyes, meek, distressed by loss, or poor in spirit. Lord knows, it is not easy to be the one who says “wait a minute” when everyone is impatient to have it their way.  When popular opinion runs in one direction it will not be comfortable to be the one who says, “but Jesus teaches this other way.”   

   To reach out in blessing as those who know themselves to be blessed by God takes courage.  Doing justice, loving kindness and walking humbly with God brings us to places we would rather not be. Those who claim to know better may label us fools or losers for trying to follow where Christ leads us.  Nevertheless, those Jesus identifies as “blessed” experience the kingdom of heaven, the gift of God’s presence which seeps into the present. Those whom Jesus declares blessed are called children of God, which even in the toughest of times is cause for rejoicing. 

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[i] Rowan Williams, Meeting God in Mark – Reflections for the Season of Lent, (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2014), p. 41

*Quotations from  Matthew 5, NRSV                                                      **Quotations from Micah 6. 8