I'd like you to sit back and use your imagination a little bit. Try to imagine the scene: Jesus sees the crowds; they have come from all over Palestine. They are old and young, men, women and children. Some are able-bodied, others need to be carried. Many want just to touch Jesus, something about him has drawn them. Maybe they have heard about the miracles, the stories of healing. Or maybe they have heard that this Holy Man is like no other, that maybe he is the One, the Messiah they have longed for. Maybe they wonder what kind of kingdom he will bring. And they wonder, will I be a part of this? I would venture that their questions and their longings really are not much different than ours.
So they gather around a mountain. And Jesus comes to them, and he begins to speak, and he tells them something amazing:
Blessed are the poor...
Blessed are those who mourn ...v
Blessed are the meek ...
Blessed are those who hunger ...
Blessed are the merciful ...
Blessed are the pure in heart ...
Blessed are the peacemakers ...
Blessed are those who are persecuted ...
Rejoice and be glad!
Everything about Jesus, everything you will ever need to know, are contained right there in those simple, grace-filled words. The words are commonly known as the "Beatitudes" or "the Sermon on the Mount." Maybe you have heard those words a hundred or a thousand times, or maybe this is the first time you have heard them.
Whatever the case, please let me suggest that if you hear nothing else again about Jesus, this is it. In fact, I would suggest that you tear out that part out of your program and put up on the fridge this week. These words from Jesus are guiding us straight to the heart and soul of the Gospel: the Good News of God's love for all of us.
If you bring with you today any pain, any hurt, Jesus is talking to you - you are the blessed. If you have ever tried to make peace in the midst of turmoil, you are the blessed. If you feel a great loss because someone you love is gone, you are the blessed. Whatever wounds you carry, whatever hunger you feel, that is where the God of love will find you. And make no mistake, Jesus is talking about a radical kind of love that must have been as shocking in the 1st Century as it is now.
God's love is radical because it is for all people, not just the in-crowd, but all people - the poor, the sick, the hurting. And God's love - God's love - comes with no buts, no ifs, no strings attached. In the words of one of my favorite writers - one of my favorite saints - the 17th century's Jeremy Taylor, God is "not bound with cords except those of love."
That kind of radical love stood against the wind of the time of Jesus, and stands against hurricane-force winds of our world. The religions of our world tend to be tribal. Religions tend to draw lines around themselves with doctrine, geography, ethnicity and other very-human boundaries. and let's be honest, Christianity is certainly among the most tribal. There are something like 40,000 sects or denominations of Christians in the world, and I don't know how many sects of Judaism, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism there are. Religion, left to its own very human devices, divides and re-divides itself into ever smaller segments as people strive to find purity by excluding other people who are deemed, for whatever reason, as impure or not quite religious enough.
Jesus slices through all of this muck with this huge declaration that we hear today - that God blesses all of us, no matter who we are, where we are, our station in life, or what where we come from. If you are hurting or poor in body or spirit, God blesses you and holds you close. When you are in the greatest of pain, God is even closer. When turmoil rages around you, God is there with you. You are the blessed and the kingdom of God belongs to you. The community of saints aren't just the people named on these beautiful banners, but all of you.
You are the community of saints.
That is why, in a few moments, we will come together again to share in the bread and wine of Holy Communion - it is why all people, in this church, are invited to share at the table. We share not because we are the smartest or the purest or have all the answers. Rather, we share in Communion because we are part of the community of the blessed - the community of saints - and not because we are "saints," but despite our flaws. And by breaking bread together, we share in the community of saints who are living, and with the saints who have gone before and all those who will come after us. And today is All Saints Sunday, so if you have never come to table before, what better day to start than today?
Let me suggest something more. God's enormous love is not for us to hoard. We aren't allowed to keep this gift for ourselves. We are not allowed to say that now that we have it, let's close the doors, we have enough people here. If God's love is for all people, then those of us here now must always find creative ways to welcome new people to be among us so that they may know the gift of their own blessedness.
To share in this gift also means that we recognize that each of us are on a spiritual road, each in our own way, as God has given us the lantern unto our feet. We are at different places on the road, and some folks don't even know that they are on the road.
Yet all of us are walking on this journey together, and none of us can do it by ourselves. Each of us is invited to keep walking, to keep growing, to keep supporting each other so that we can live fully into the promise of our blessedness.
To do that, we need to take care of ourselves, our bodies, our minds and our souls - the whole of our beings. We are the children of God and we honor God by cherishing the gift of life God has given us by taking care of our health: body and soul. That is one reason why we have prayer groups and education for all ages. That is also why we have a parish nurse, Nadine Welty, who is an incredible font of wisdom and grace, and I highly recommend you get to know her. Taking care of our health is a part of living into our blessedness.
There is something else that I want to suggest about living into our blessedness. And, forgive me if you are a visitor today, but this is something I want to say specifically to the regulars of Trinity Cathedral, to our congregation, and to all of us who work here. In a few short weeks we will be welcoming a new Dean into this spiritual community.
We have spent many hours and days in focus groups and discussions talking about the needs of our congregation and the attributes we want to see in our new Dean. All of that is crucially important to finding our new leader. Yet we should ask something more: The new Dean also will be on a spiritual journey. How will we honor the new Dean's spiritual journey? How will we nurture the faith journey of this new spiritual leader in our community? What spiritual gifts will we give to the new Dean and his or her family so that they may grow and prosper in their life of faith?
And then, how will we share the blessedness of this community with the world around us? How will we reach out beyond these walls? What new gifts will we bring to people we have not yet met? How will we breath new life into the living words of Jesus:
Blessed are the poor...
Blessed are those who mourn ...
Blessed are the meek ...
Blessed are those who hunger ...
Blessed are the merciful ...
Blessed are the pure in heart ...
Blessed are the peacemakers ...
Blessed are those who are persecuted ...
Rejoice and be glad!