“Blessed?”
December 21st, 2007
Matthew 5:1-6 - Jesus calls those who mourn “blessed.” Does anyone feel blessed tonight? Perhaps, if we understand that Jesus means blessedness as a state of spiritual happiness that goes much deeper than a simple emotional response, that might change things. We are blessed, because we are here. Because we are together. Because He is here with us. And therein lies our hope.
“Blessed”
Matthew 5:1-6
1. I am happy to be here tonight with you all. I know that might sound strange considering the reason that we are gathering. Let me explain.
A. I am not happy that anyone is suffering. I would love it if Longest Night services were not even necessary.
B. But, if we must suffer, especially during the Christmas season, I am happy that we have gathered together to support one another, pray for one another, hope together and worship together.
C. So, I am happy to be here with you tonight.
2. However, I must say that, even though it is my honor to be with you here, it is always a special challenge to offer a word of Christmas hope at a service such as this one.
A. So many of us here tonight are feeling overwhelmed. Overwhelmed with sadness, with grief, with a sense of loss, with fear…but, we are overwhelmed.
B. And the romantic promise of the Hallmark Christmas or the Hollywood Christmas just doesn’t seem to have found its way into our lives yet.
C. We all gather tonight with heavy hearts. What is weighing on you tonight?
D. As I reflect on my own life, my heart feels heaviest towards my family.
E. Father-in-law - Alzheimer’s. Cindy bears the brunt of his care and it can be a terrible burden.
F. My dad’s uncertain future.
G. Members of my congregation that are sick, or going through the pain of separation and divorce.
H. Financial difficulties seem to be gripping our nation right now - mortgage crisis.
I. Wars and rumors of wars.
J. As I lie awake at night, I think to myself, if there wasn’t a tree with lights on it in our living room, I might just forget what time of year this is.
K. Have you ever felt that way?
3. I think that those of us gathered here this evening understand all too well, perhaps, that life is sometimes difficult.
A. We also understand that grief or worry, whatever its cause, has a serious power over us and is not always so simply shaken off.
B. And during this season of Advent, we are like the last single person in the world and we are at a wedding reception.
C. It seems like the world is shining is huge spotlight on us, revealing our weakness, our frailty, our grief, to everyone.
D. And the only way to escape the spotlight is to hide from it.
E. So we hide - we stay home. We pretend to be happy, which only increases our pain. We drink, which only anesthetizes us for a short time. We sometimes become resentful and angry. How dare the world expect us to sing, “Joy to the World.”
F. Whatever we do, we find that most of our efforts only seem to compound the problem.
G. So, we mourn. We grieve. And we pray for January.
4. And yet, Jesus - no stranger to suffering - has a message for people just like us.
A. His is the radical message of the kingdom of God. And in God’s kingdom, things do not always resemble a Christmas card. Matthew 5:3-6.
B. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
C. Blessed…did he say blessed? Does anyone here feel blessed? Well, let me explain what he really means. Maybe that will help.
D. Blessed = happy. But not happy as an emotional state. Happy as a state of well being, spiritual joy.
E. Our blessedness comes from our connection to the divine. And here is the kooky thing - it is our woundedness, our grief, our pain, that has opened us up to the blessedness of God.
F. It is our pain that brought us here tonight. It is our pain that has motivated us to seek a meaningful experience beyond the bells and whistles of a store bought Christmas. And it is our pain that will open us up to the transforming work of God’s spirit in our lives.
G. And in that sense, we truly are blessed.
5. A friend once, during a time of my own suffering, gave me a poem called “The Well of Grief” by English writer David Whyte.
A. Those who will not slip beneath
the still surface of the well of grief/ turning downward through its black water
to the place we cannot breathe/
will never know the source from which we drink/
the secret water, cold and clear/ nor find in the darkness glimmering
the small round coins
thrown away by those who wished for something else.
B. My friends, there is no way to say that suffering is good. It is not.
C. But, in the kingdom of God, those that mourn, those that hunger and thirst - they are blessed.
D. Those that will courageously slip “beneath
the still surface of the well of grief” will find beneath the cool waters a treasure that very few people will know.
E. It is the sense of hungering for God, of thirsting for hope, and the experience of being satisfied.
F. Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted.
G. Perhaps not by the lights on the tree, or even the presents under it. Perhaps by something deeper and far more meaningful.
H. Blessed are you who gather together this evening. Blessed are you.
Sermon delivered 12/21/07 at Light of the Canyon United Methodist Church, Anaheim Hills - Longest Night Service.
