Heaven begins now, for any saints willing to sign up.
Barbara
Brown Taylor, Always a Guest
[The beatitudes] are steps into the kingdom, the stairway
to spiritual life…. These are not blessings pronounced upon different kinds of
people—the meek, the merciful, the pure in heart, and so on. Rather, they are
stages in the experience of only one class of people—those who are entering the
kingdom and who at each stage are blessed. The kingdom, of course, is the
blessing, and each step into it partakes of its blessedness. This blessedness
comes with the taking of the step, and is not postponed as a future reward. Jesus
said, “Blessed are…”.
Richard
Rohr (Daily Meditations 11.5.205
__________________________________
Who doesn’t want to be blessed?
Bless me, God, for I have sinned
There will be showers of Blessing
Blessed
It is a description of the citizens
Of the Kingdom of God
All you have to do
Is open yourself up to Sacred
And there it is
Blessing
But what does a blessed soul look like?
Is one blessed if one is rich? Powerful?
Is blessing having power over others?
Having a wonderful life?
Having amazing and wonderful things?
In reality
Jesus gives us a very different picture
Blessed are the poor, the sad,
The hungry, the persecuted
Not because they are poor, sad, hungry, or persecuted
(Luke’s version)
But because God is with them
Always
Not what we expected
To hear that the denizens of heaven
The citizens of God’s Kingdom
Those most surrounded by God’s love
Are the immigrants
The people who worry about losing SNAP
The people who are worried that a retributive leader will
persecute them
for not adoring him?
Those whose hearts hurt because of what has happened to
them
Or because of what they see happening to others
God says, “You are blessed. You have a special place in my heart
I see what the world is doing to you,
But you are the ones closest to my heart.”
I expect the poor, the hungry, the sad, the persecuted
might well respond with
Really?
Don’t talk of love, show me.
That, perhaps, is where Matthew comes in.
Blessed are those who are humble (poor in spirit)
Who see the pain of the world, and allow their hearts to
hurt
Blessed are the meek, who are gentle, patient, and kind
Blessed are those who hunger for justice and act with
mercy
Blessed are the pure in heart, those who are honest
And those who make peace and are non-violent
Blessed are those who are willing to pay the price
For doing what is right
It seems as if it is a progression,
Kind of like the 12 steps
Steps into the kingdom
It starts with humility
If we are humble (and it is not all about us)
We can see others, and see their pain
And to those in pain, we can offer kindness and comfort
And for those who are the victims of injustice
The victims of pogroms,
Those stalked, beaten, detained, and deported
We can seek justice
We can strive to make sure justice happens.
And we can be people who strive to bring all people
together
All people
We can be people who don’t abandon the immigrant,
The young person who is trans,
The person with a mental illness or addiction,
And yes, the person who has been swallowed up by MAGA
Caught up in an ideology based on domination
And we can be people who are willing to stand up for
The poor, the anguished, the hungry
The ones targeted by ICE
We can be one way God shows love to them
Sometimes this feels vague
(at least it does to me)
But still, I think it is true
As we accept Sacred Love
We can offer love
As we trust that God stands with us
Even when everything is going wrong
We can stand with others
I wish, in my moments of pain
I could feel blessed more often
I wish, as I walk through each day
I could be a blessing more often
Because this, I believe, is how the Kingdom of God
becomes real
As we see that we are blessed
And then become a blessing
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