Blessed are we...

Micah 6:6-8
What God Requires
“With what shall I come before the Lord,
and bow myself before God on high?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
with calves a year old?
Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
with ten thousands of rivers of oil?
Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”
He has told you, O mortal, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?

Matthew 5:1-12
The Beatitudes
When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
“Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

My friend and colleague, Alec Shuttleworth, whose musical talents many of you have enjoyed, proclaims that "There is nothing, simply nothing in life that is not significantly improved by the addition of a banjo."
Pete Seeger died this week, at the age of 94. If you're not familiar with the name, you'll be familiar with some of the songs that he wrote or made famous - Where have all the flowers gone; If I had a hammer; Turn, turn, turn, (inspired by words from Ecclesiastes); We shall overcome, which he sang at the height of the American Civil Rights Movement.
With his banjo and voice he took to the streets to challenge oppression, to question leadership, to promote peace.
Pete Seeger used his music to speak out against injustice, and his songs were taken up by protestors the world over.
He incited folk, not to violence but to justice.
One of the banjos he played was inscribed with the words: "This machine surrounds hate and forces it to surrender."
A banjo might not seem like the most obvious choice of weapon, especially against war, but Pete Seeger brandished his effectively.
And encouraged others to take up the tools that were at their disposal to effect change.
What does the Lord require of us?
To do justice
To love kindness
And to walk humbly with God.
Boiled down into sound bytes.
To do justice
To love kindness
And to walk humbly with God.
This was the prophet's response to a people who tried to make the task of following God more complicated than it needed to be.
It's not about exaggerating our righteousness.
It's not about competing in the piety stakes.
It's not about waiting for some dazzling revelation of godliness.
It's about being quietly faithful to God in all that we do.
So that it becomes, for us, a way of life.
A life in which we honour God by consistently practising, justice, kindness and humility.
Sometimes that will be accompanied by a banjo, other times not.
What does the Lord require of us?
To do justice
To love kindness
And to walk humbly with God.

Recently, someone told me off for answering the greeting: "How are you?" with "Good!"
Their contention was that "Good" was a value judgement and not an appropriate response to the enquiry, "How are you?"
Its something of a habit for me to respond in that way.
Just as others often respond "Fine".
When folk ask us how we are, often the truth is the last thing that we share.
And, when we ask others:"How are you?" Do we really want to know the truth?
We want a positive, upbeat response so that we can move on.
In fact, sometimes folk are upfront about that - after claiming that they are fine, they'll say: " You don't want to hear all my moans."
And few of us will have the stamina to say" No, really I do. How are you?"

I often sign off on emails with the salutation: Blessings.
And when I record Pause for thought for radio, I always finish with the expression: "Be blessed."
That is not a glib statement.
It's not a wish that simply exists in my own limited perception of the, sometimes harsh, reality of life.
It is a genuine wish that those who hear may, in some way, know themselves blessed.
Know themselves blessed because, whatever else is true for them, the blessing of God is present in their lives, even and especially when any sign of blessing is hard to see.
Let's picture for a moment, in all those times of struggle we encounter, God alongside us, strumming a banjo and singing protest songs on our behalf.
Blessed are we!
In our reading from Matthew's gospel, The Beatitudes, Jesus uses a way of speech that would have been familiar to his listeners, something that poets and wisdom writers used to give emphasis to their message.
We encounter this genre in the Psalms and Proverbs: Blessed is the one..

Blessing, as envisaged by Jesus builds on that writing and teaching.
It is not a matter of good fortune, or the planets aligning correctly, or things going well.
It is, rather, the assurance of being surrounded by the unconditional love of God and a community that is supportive and embracing in all the joys and trials of life.
Being blessed goes much deeper than can be gleaned from the surface.
And so, when we read:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
“Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
When we read all these words of blessing, these are not glib hopes for change, but statements of present reality.
When we are actively pursuing Gods kingdom, a pursuit that calls for risk and often brings hardship, then, perversely we can know ourselves blessed.
Yet again, we see Jesus taking a popular way of teaching and turning it on its head.
Out goes the notion of being materially rewarded for keeping Gods law or practising love and mercy.
But in its place comes something much more lasting - the knowledge of our labouring alongside the whole company of heaven to bring to light that blessedness that goes beyond individual achievement or reward and brings the assurance that in every time of trial, this community has our back and we are held in the loving embrace of God.
Being part of that community of the blessed.
Sharing joys and sorrows.
Carrying each other through all that life brings, with love and, often, with protest.
Raising our voices for justice.
Reaching out our hands for love.
Living out the beatitudes in our everyday.
Blessed are we -
When we do justice
When we love kindness
And when we walk humbly with our God.
Thanks be to God.



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