Woh!: February 16 2025

Year C, Epiphany 6                                           Luke 6:17-26                                                         

            Two weeks ago I preached about what it is to be blessed.  I was preaching on the Song of Simeon when Simeon blessed the baby Jesus and then proclaimed him to be a sign that would be opposed. It seems that with Jesus, blessing and opposition often go together. What it is to be blessed has become something that I am fairly passionate about because I feel the word and idea has been abused.  Part of the abuse and misrepresentation comes from social media, but some comes from a branch of Christianity that preaches the prosperity gospel. The prosperity gospel teaches that if you believe in God and are blessed, good things will come—God wants us to be prosperous.  Some of these preachers are very popular and very rich.  At their best, I find them to be more like self help gurus than Christian pastors.  At their worst, they are misleading people and sometimes taking their money. 

However, as I was working on this sermon, I realized that I had never actually listened to an entire prosperity gospel sermon.  I found one called, “You are blessed.”  Since I am so very open minded, I assumed I would be highly offended. But I have to admit, I didn’t dislike it as much as I thought I would.  His overall point was that no matter how bad things are, you are still blessed by God. You carry the blessing and that is not determined by outside events.  I was with him for the first 25 minutes and then he moved to his conclusion and promised that things would get better if you were blessed by God, you would get the promotion, your body would heal, your circumstances would change.

That is not what Jesus says in our Gospel for today.  Jesus never said that things would get better because you carry God’s blessing.  Jesus never said we would prosper because we had God’s blessings. I am sure we can all think of people who are devout Christians (some would call them blessed) whose life didn’t improve. Their illness got worse.  They never found a better job. They remained addicted to drugs or alcohol and never entered recovery.  How can that be if they were blessed? Does that mean that they weren’t actually blessed? Did it mean that God didn’t love them as much as the person who was doing great?

Today’s reading from the Gospel of Luke is referred to as the Sermon on the Plain, which just doesn’t have the same ring to it as the Sermon on the Mount which you find in the Gospel of Matthew.  In Matthew, Jesus delivers similar words about blessing from a high point.  High points were often associated with God.  That is why we have the phrase “mountain top experience.” 

The first line in our Gospel reading for today was Jesus coming down from the high point to be with the people.  He was not above them…he was with the people.  This is a really important theme in the Gospel of Luke—that Jesus wanted to be present with the poor, the oppressed, the marginalized, those who were often ignored.

In Matthew, there is just a long list of blessings.  In Luke, there are four blessing verses and four woe verses. The first and last blessings are based not on future rewards or blessing, but on what is happening now. “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.” It doesn’t say, you will one day be in the kingdom of God and things will be much better then.  It says yours is the kingdom of God right now. 

“Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven.”  Jesus says rejoice on that day, that day that you are reviled and hated.  It doesn’t say that you have to wait until heaven for your reward.  No, the fact that you are being defamed or insulted on account of the Son of Man is the blessing. That’s a hard one for me.  Does that mean we have to be ok with being insulted? Does this mean we have to be doormats? The key is---Jesus says on my account.  There have been a few times I have been insulted and excluded because of my faith, but it’s usually much more ordinary reasons.  What I have found is that when the exclusion or insult is because of my faith, it’s a lot easier to handle, because that is an area where I feel confidence.

Just this week our president issued an executive order to eradicate anti-Christian bias.  I have to admit, there was a part of me that felt a tiny bit good about that.  I am sick of churches being mocked, ignored or denigrated. But then I thought about this blessing that Jesus gave us. I think Jesus would say that if we are practicing our faith the way he wanted, there would always be a bias against us, especially from the elite and the powerful.  Remember, with blessing, comes opposition.

That becomes really clear when we read the woes.

“But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.

‘Woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry.

‘Woe to you who are laughing now, for you will mourn and weep.

Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets.”

 The Gospel of Matthew doesn’t include the woes.  We don’t know why, but it’s probably because he was speaking to a different audience.  Or maybe he just conveniently missed that bit.  We don’t know.  Some people interpret the “woe” as “curse you” or “damn you.” They interpret it that way not because that is the right translation, but because that is what they consider the opposite of blessing.  Remember, being blessed doesn’t mean you are favored or even happy.  It’s being loved by God, being in relationship with God.

 The Gospels were written in Greek and the translation of woe should actually be “woh!” or “yikes.” It’s a word that was meant to say, “pay attention.”  If you are rich, or satiated, or carefree or beloved by all people, you need to be careful. Because when you have those things, it’s easy to assume that you got them because you deserve them.  We have all heard people say that they got where they are because they worked for it. I get it. I worked hard too. But I was also born in this country, to highly educated parents who loved me and supported me.  Some of it was hard work, much of it was just luck. 

When we think we deserve what we have, that we don’t need to rely on anyone but ourselves, then we forget how desperately we need God.  That is a dangerous place to be…much more dangerous than being criticized because we are preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  If we reframe how we perceive blessing---instead of being prosperous of favored, it’s being in right relationship with God—which means depending on God, showing gratitude for all God has given us.  If we can frame it that way, then the opposite would be when we put our faith in ourselves, or behave as though we have control or should have control. The prophet Jeremiah put it more starkly, “Cursed are those who trust in mere mortals and make mere flesh their strength, whose hearts turn away from the Lord.”

That is what kind of bugs me about these prosperity Gospel preachers, the focus is on you being better and how God ass blessed you. It’s the individual and not the whole. And the more we focus on ourselves and bettering our circumstances, the easier it is to ignore the needs of the people around us. That is a woeful place to be. Blessed are those who weep---that is not saying that God wants us to be sad all the time, it’s a blessing for those who are weeping on behalf of the state of our world. If you are scared, anxious or depressed right now because of things that are happening, then you are blessed, because it means you still care.

There are times when we all need to be reminded that we are blessed by God, that we are beloved by God.  But there are also times when we have to be reminded to pay attention when we become too comfortable or too self satisfied.  Sometimes I need both those reminders at once. I hope that we can all remember that the Jesus who came down from his high place to be with his people is the same Jesus that we worship and the same Jesus that we try to emulate.

Blessed isn't always happy: Feb 2 2025

 Year C, The Presentation                                Luke 2:22-40                                                                        

                The summer after my senior year of college, I interned in a tiny town outside of Harrisburg.  The youth in this town were bored and one of the churches decided to bring in someone who would work with those youth just for the summer.  It was a good opportunity for someone like me, someone who was not sure if I wanted to work in the church or not.  However this was before cell phones were common and I didn’t know anyone in the town except the people who hired me and the youth I was working with. It was a lonely time in my life and I was depressed.  I was still Roman Catholic and so I went to a Bible study at the Catholic Church.  The priest was talking about the sermon on the mount, also called the Beatitudes. He said that being blessed is not the same as being happy.  At the time, that was a revelation to me.

          One need look no further than the version of the Beatitudes in the Gospel of Luke to prove this. “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. ‘Blessed are you who are hungry now for you will be filled.

‘Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh ‘Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man.” Every time I see some social media post with a #blessed next to a picture of a beautiful family or an update on a major accomplishment or goal achieved, I want to post these words from Luke’s Gospel.  For Luke, being blessed had a lot more to do with being in relationship with God and finding hope in that relationship  than just having good things happen that you can brag about on social media.

          The Gospel reading for today tells the story of the Feast of the Presentation.  Jesus’ parents (Mary and Joseph) were observant Jews.   Thus, they followed the customs and laws of the Jewish faith.  One of those laws was presenting the child at the temple 40 days after the birth.  In that act, they were dedicating their son to God.  Of course, this was no average child. This was the Son of God.  Mary and Joseph knew that, but they still followed the laws of their faith. 

          When they entered the temple, they encountered a devout Jew by the name of Simeon.  We do not know much about Simeon, except that he was devout and righteous and led by the Holy Spirit.  The Spirit is mentioned three times in relation to Simeon.  He had been told that he would not die until he saw the Messiah.  He immediately recognized this infant as the Messiah. He was so moved, he made this beautiful speech which is known as the Song of Simeon or the Nunc Dimmittis. He essentially said that he could die now, because he had seen salvation. 

          You might think, well this should not have come as a shock to Mary and Joseph. They had heard all this before.  But according to this Gospel, Mary had heard very little. This is only chapter 2 of Luke.  At this point, Mary had been told by the Angel Gabriel that she would bear a son who would be the Son of God.  Mary’s conversation with Gabriel had been affirmed by her cousin Elizabeth when she met her.  Upon seeing Mary pregnant, Elizabeth greeted her as the Mother of the Lord.  Mary and Joseph also received additional news about their son from the shepherds who visited them right after she gave birth.  The shepherds told them that angels had appeared to them and told them this child would be the Messiah, the Lord. 

This was all Mary and Joseph had, a few short conversations that probably left them a little confused.  Then out of the blue comes this man who was a complete stranger but was able to shed more light on this tiny baby they held in their arms.  The text says that they were amazed by what Simeon said.  Then Simeon blessed the child and they probably thought that was the end of that interaction. 

Simeon had more to say: “This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed—and a sword will pierce your own soul too.” Can you imagine how the atmosphere must have changed with that one comment?  They received a beautiful blessing from this devout and inspired man and then he told them that their sweet little baby will be opposed and a sword would pierce their soul. Sometimes when I read that, I feel that sword.

          I want you all to try to picture something.  Think of the most wonderful thing that has happened or something you hope will happen. Maybe you just got some wonderful news—a baby was born, someone recovered from a horrible illness, the Eagles win the Superbowl.  Just think of something incredible…and then you hear that someone who you love will suffer, will suffer so much that you will feel like your soul is being pierced.  Try to wrap your mind around that. It would crushing.

          I just can’t get past the fact that Simeon would hold this child in his arms, bless him and then provide that very traumatic prediction.  If this was a normal couple, they could have walked away and said, “Well that guy was crazy.” But they knew that it all fit.  Nothing about their lives had been easy thus far.  Why would it be now?  For Mary and Joseph, the blessing came with opposition and heartache.

          Jesus would affirm this strange blessing decades later when he said, “Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man.”  I think many of us already know, that even the most blessed life can be full of opposition, pain, fear and death.  Hashtag blessings belong on social media, but not in our Christian faith. 

          A part of me says this with some trepidation because I think, why would anybody sign up for this?  Why be a Christian when it’s so damn hard?  Because of hope.  You see the other person in this story was named Anna.  She was 84 years old and had been living in that temple for most of her life.  She also recognized Jesus for who he was.  But the funny thing is, it doesn’t say that the Holy Spirit guided her like it did Simeon. It says, “At that moment she came, and began to praise God and to speak about the child to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.” As soon as Simeon said that a sword would pierce the soul, Anna started praising God and reminded Mary and Joseph that this child would bring redemption. 

Hope always has the last word in our faith.  Hope swings in after the blow that brings us to our knees and says, “Redemption is near.”  Not only is redemption near, but Mary and Joseph held the child that would bring redemption. Salvation was that close to them.

Today we Christians also hold that blessing, the blessing that feels like a burden at times, but also brings redemption and salvation to world that is sick of empty promises and superficial blessings.  Will our message bring opposition? Yes it will and if it doesn’t, we might not be proclaiming the right message.  But the good news is this---hope always has the last word.  Weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes in the morning.

All Saints is Complicated: November 6, 2022

Year C, All Saints                                  Luke 6:20-31                                                                           

            It’s complicated. All Saint’s Sunday is complicated. This is partly because the understanding of this day has evolved over the years. It was originally meant to be a day to commemorate all the Christian martyrs (those who had been persecuted and died for their faith).  In the first few centuries of the church, they would commemorate a martyr with a specific day. But by about the 4^th century, with the increased persecution of Christians, it became clear that they were going to run out of days.  Finally, by the 9^th century, they picked one day and called it All Saints Day.  This was to be the day that would not only commemorate all Christian martyrs, but all Christians who had died.  With all of these changes, the understanding of what it was to be a saint shifted to what many people perceive as the original intention of the New Testament—to mean all Christians who have died and all Christians still living.

            When Paul used the word saint, he was almost always referring to those who were alive. In his letter to the Ephesians he wrote, “I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints…” Here at St. John’s, and in many other churches, we attempt to embrace both perspectives. In the evening, our choir provides a lovely Evensong where we read the names of those in our parish who have died in the past year. 

            At this service we sing, “I sing a song of the saints of God” and we talk about how we can meet them at school, on the sea, in church, in trains and at tea—and then we end by singing, “…and the Saints of God are just folk like me and I mean to be one too.”  I don’t know about you, but I have always interpreted that as, I mean to be one in this life.

            But that is the thing about the Christian life, the line between the living saint and the saint that has died is blurred.  We live in this life—it’s all we know.  But we live this life with a promise of what is to come.  We live knowing that life as we know it could end at any moment. We have all experienced that too many times, someone we love dies unexpectedly or even a personal health crisis that has taught us how incredibly fragile life is and how narrow the line is between life and death.

            A lot of people think that we come to church or read the Bible to learn how to be good Christians/saints, so that we can get into heaven when we die.  But the Bible isn’t a how to manual on heavenly acceptance.  Jesus was a lot more concerned about how we live in the here and now—how we love the saints in our midst. 

            Our gospel reading is often referred to as “the beatitudes.”  You can also find the beatitudes in the Gospel of Matthew.  However, Matthew’s beatitudes are a little tamer, more palatable. Both gospels contain blessings (which in Latin is translated to beātitūdō). However, Luke contains fewer blessings and balances them with woes. Like All Saint’s Day, Luke’s beatitudes are complicated. 

            First of all, they contradict what we think of as being blessed. Usually when someone says that they are blessed, they are talking about something good that has happened.  They just had a healthy child.  They got a new job, a nice house, a clean bill of health.  No one ever says, “I just lost my job. I am so blessed.   Everyone is mad at me. I am so blessed.  I am so depressed…and blessed! I have never heard anyone say anything like that.

            But that was what Jesus was telling his disciples—“Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh…”  Another way that blessed is translated is to be happy. That makes even less sense.  The best translation that I have found is “unburdened or satisfied.” While that is better than happy, it still makes this text complicated. Usually when people are struggling with money, they don’t feel unburdened or satisfied.  People who are grieving are not unburdened. Sometimes you can tell someone is grieving by the way they walk as if they are literally sinking under this invisible weight. So what in the world is Jesus talking about?

            We aren’t blessed because we are poor or sad or persecuted. We are blessed because in our grief or poverty, we are (hopefully) able to reach out to God, we are able to acknowledge that we need God and that we are nothing without God. That is where the blessing comes in. It’s subtle, but it’s there.

            Luke also has a woe section—“But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.” This doesn’t mean you aren’t blessed if you are rich. In means that if you find your consolation (or your comfort and security) in your wealth, then woe to you.  Alas, that doesn’t really make me feel a whole lot better because most of us find comfort in financial security. That is why it’s called financial security. That’s not necessarily a bad thing.  But if we put too much faith in that and not enough in God, then our priorities are askew.  Because in the end, money can only do so much. It can’t protect us from grief or illness.  It definitely cannot protect us from death. And when we face those things, we better have some other place where we can find comfort and strength.

            That’s why I think Jesus said that the poor, hungry, weeping and persecuted were blessed.  It wasn’t because their life was easy. In fact, it almost guaranteed that their life was hard. It was because their hope was in God.  Remember who Jesus was talking to in this text—the newly chosen disciples, who had just left their homes, their family and any chance of financial security. They needed to hear this. While I find the beatitudes a lot more challenging than comforting, I bet the disciples found comfort in these words. 

            All Saints Day was first created to commemorate the lives of Christians who were persecuted for their faith and died as a result.  There was a time in the church when sainthood was exclusively connected to martyrdom and how you died.  Today, I think most of us want to be remembered for how we lived. 

            I’ve buried a lot of saints since I have been at St. John’s.  Many of them inspired me with their faith and service.  Yet I think the ones that inspired me the most are the ones who found blessings even in the midst of trials, those who never gave up on God. This isn’t to say that they didn’t question or struggle, but they found strength in their weakness, they found God’s strength.  I have seen that in many of our living saints as well.

And if I have just one hope for each one of you, it would be that—to find blessings not merely in the success and security that life can bring, but also the hard and scary times when we can see glimpses of God’s presence in our lives and the lives of those around us. When we are overcome by darkness, the blessings come in narrow rays of light that break through the broken places in our lives.  Those narrow rays of light might be the most beautiful and life sustaining light we’ve ever seen.

#blessed: Feb. 17 2019

Jeremiah 17:5-10                                                                   

Year C, Epiphany 6                                                                             

            Our Gospel reading for today is part of the Sermon on the Plain, which is similar to a more familiar passage in the Gospel of Matthew called the Sermon on the Mount.  In the Sermon on the Plain, Jesus is speaking to a large group of people about what it is to be blessed.  He has come down the mountain to be with the crowd and share a message of both blessing and woe. Typically the readings for every Sunday are picked in such a way that there will be connections between them. Sometimes these connections are rather muddy.  Sometimes, like today, they are quite clear.  The Old Testament reading, the Psalm, and the Gospel all talk about what it is to be blessed.  Unfortunately the concept of blessing has become quite misunderstood in popular culture.  You see it all over the place on social media (facebook, twitter, Instagram).  People talk about their most recent accomplishment and end with #blessed.  What they should really be writing is #lucky because blessing has nothing to do with personal accomplishments, fame or fortune.

            The way the Bible describes blessed is far different than the way most people use the word.  Jeremiah wrote, “Blessed are those who trust in the Lord…”  The Psalm tells us that the people who are blessed are those whose delight is in the law of the Lord.  The Gospel reading takes it a few steps further from our common understanding, “Blessed are the poor, the hungry, those who weep, those who are hated…”  Let’s start with Jeremiah…

            Jeremiah is best known as the weeping prophet in that he was often predicting destruction.  He faced persecution and at one point, was actually dropped in a big well and left to die. He knew what it was to suffer, to face hardship.  The imagery Jeremiah used in the text for the day is of foliage.  He wrote that those who trusted in mortals (themselves or others) as opposed to God were cursed.  They were like shrubs in the desert.  Those who were blessed were those who trusted in God.  They were like a tree in the desert. At first glance, you might think, well both of these are in deserts and probably struggle in the same ways.  But if you look at the text more closely, you will see that the shrub is in a parched place in an uninhabited salt land.  The tree is planted by water.  Its roots can reach toward that source of water.

            Plants often depend on rain and dew to keep them alive.  We all know that we have to water plants to keep them alive.  I have tried the not watering route and that really doesn’t work.  Even desert plants require some kind of water. However, the desert tree planted by water is not as dependent on the weather.  Even if the water is not right next to it, its roots can still reach toward that water for sustenance.  Sometimes you might see a grouping of trees or plants in the desert with no visible water.  That usually means there is a hidden stream that these plants are drinking from. 

            Jeremiah pointed out that these desert trees still encountered scorching heat and drought, but they had this alternate source of water keeping them alive.  It was their deep roots reaching out to the water that nourished them and kept them safe.  So it is with people.  We all face adverse situations in life.  Bad things happen to all of us.  Some of those bad things are avoidable, but much is not.  Jeremiah never said that blessed people didn’t face hardships.  Of course they do. The difference, is that those who are blessed, those who trust in the Lord do not let those bad things determine whether or not they are blessed.  The blessing is not exterior---it is deep within the soul. 

            Often times, when things are going well for me, I get this nagging feeling in the back of my mind that things might turn bad at any minute.  I get so anxious about the bad thing that might happen, that I have a hard time enjoying the good things that are happening. I am always waiting for the other shoe to drop.  Then I get so anxious, I get almost greedy with my good fortune and I cling to it for fear of losing it.  Yet what I have learned is that as long as I depend on good things happening to feel blessed, well I am always going to be in that state of anxious grasping for good things.  I know I am not alone in this.

            Yet, what if…what if we could find contentment not in what is happening to us or around us, but in the source of all peace and joy…God.  That doesn’t mean you will never be sad or discouraged, but it does mean that deep within you will reside this inner peace.  We have all known that person who seems to carry that serenity and joy.  We think…how did they get like that?  What is their secret? It’s not a secret.  These people have found their source of life. They have tapped into that inner stream so that the drought will not parch them. Those are the people who know what it is to be blessed. 

            Blessing is not about prestige, money, success or even health. To be blessed is to be in relationship with God.  We are all blessed. God wants to have that relationship with all of us.  In case I have not convinced you about what blessing really means, let’s consider out Gospel reading. Blessed are the poor, the hungry, those hated…Why would Jesus say those people are blessed if blessing is supposed to be a gift of fortune or happiness?  Yet Jesus called them blessed because despite their hardships, they were still loved by God.  In God’s eyes, they were equal to all the people around them who acted as though they were superior. 

In those days (and today as well) people often associated prosperity and health with one’s goodness or sinfulness.  If you were good, good things happened.  The more God loved you, the better you were treated.  So not only were you suffering because you were hungry or treated unfairly, you were suffering because you thought it meant that God didn’t love you.

Most likely, the crowd Jesus was talking to were full of people who were suffering. These weren’t the important people of the community. These were the desperate people.  He was assuring them that they were blessed because God loved them.  And no human wielding any worldly power could take that away from them.  It might have been the first time they had ever heard that. It’s not that hard to imagine.  I think we all have those moments when we feel as though we could not possibly deserve God’s love.  Imagine being in that moment and being told by God in the flesh, that God does love you and that no matter what happens here on earth, one day you will rejoice. 

I learned an interesting thing about trees while preparing this sermon.  Most of us learned in school that trees pull in water from their roots and then some of that water is released from the leaves the next day.  In the 1990’s, scientists discovered that not only did trees release the water through the leaves, but through their shallow roots, which then watered the ground around them, providing nourishment to the plants around the tree.[1] 

The next time something gets you down---I want you to imagine for a moment a stream dwelling within your soul, a stream that never goes dry.  In that stream, God’s love flows. It courses through you.  Then act like that tree and release some of that light and love to the people around you.  The best way to understand what it is to be blessed, is to be a blessing for others, to be that stream that carries God’s love to the people who need it that most. 

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[1] https://www.nytimes.com/1993/10/26/science/plants-share-precious-water-with-neighbors.html