Words for the Journey - February 5, 2023
When Creator Sets Free (Jesus) saw this great crowd, he went back up into the mountainside and sat down to teach the people. His followers came to him there, so he took a deep breath, opened his mouth, and began to share his wisdom with them and teach them how to see Creator’s good road.
“Creator’s blessing rests on the poor, the ones with broken spirits. The good road from above is theirs to walk. “Creator’s blessing rests on the ones who walk a trail of tears, for he will wipe the tears from their eyes and comfort them. “Creator’s blessing rests on the ones who walk softly and in a humble manner. The earth, land, and sky will welcome them and always be their home. “Creator’s blessing rests on the ones who hunger and thirst for wrongs to be made right again. They will eat and drink until they are full. “Creator’s blessing rests on the ones who are merciful and kind to others. Their kindness will find its way back to them—full circle. “Creator’s blessing rests on the pure of heart. They are the ones who will see the Great Spirit. “Creator’s blessing rests on the ones who make peace. It will be said of them, ‘They are the children of the Great Spirit!’ “Creator’s blessing rests on the ones who are hunted down and mistreated for doing what is right, for they are walking the good road from above.
“Others will lie about you, speak against you, and look down on you with scorn and contempt, all because you walk the road with me. This is a sign that Creator’s blessing is resting on you. So let your hearts be glad and jump for joy, for you will be honored in the spirit-world above. You are like the prophets of old, who were treated in the same way by your ancestors.”
- Matthew 5:1-12, First Nations Translation
When did we become so proficient at ignoring suffering?
- Charles Lattimore Howard
If you want to be holy, be kind.
- Frederick Buechner
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Blessing. Everybody wants one. In so many ways, the story told in Scripture is about how badly humans want a blessing. People scramble for: the fathers blessing, for land ownership, for power, for a good harvest, for children - all signs that you are #blessed.
In our day, it’s the nice house, the car, the bonus, the vacation, the Instagram-worthy family photo, a job you love, being on the winning team.
If you’ve been around here long, you know I struggle with using this word at all anymore - mostly because it’s only ever used to talk about the success, the win or the windfall.
You are “blessed” when things go your way or when you fit in neatly - but not so much when you are down on your luck, when you color outside of the lines or when you are barely getting by.
Then what are you?
Unblessed? Unworthy? Nothing? In a way, the story of scripture & our stories are not just about how badly we want a blessing, but how broken our system of blessing has been.
Do you see the problem? Jesus sure did.
And this should come as no surprise, given what we have already been told about him. So far, Matthew has told us how Jesus’ genealogy was full of people who would otherwise be overlooked - “foreigners”, cheaters, and off the beaten-pathers. His parents are an unwed teenager and her unimpressive fiance from an unimportant town. They are immediately placed at odds with a power-hungry, yet fragile-ego’d king who immediately sees Jesus as a threat.
Jesus is baptized in the wilderness by his trouble-making cousin who will soon be arrested and after spending time in the wild, he gathers a group of economically disadvantaged fishermen and they begin moving from place to place healing the sick, the lame & the demon-possessed - aka the unclean, the unfit, the unholy, the unblessed - the ones whose very existence was deemed unnecessary.
And then Jesus goes up on a mountain, according to Matthew who is once again likening Jesus to Moses. Moses, too, had gone up a mountain where he was handed a set of Law(s), including the 10 commandments. Jesus delivers instead a series of teachings we call the “sermon on the mount”. He begins by addressing this broken blessing system.
He begins by scattering blessings like confetti on the least likely candidates: the weak, the suffering, the broken-spirited, the mentally unstable, the very ones he had just spent time healing, but also the small & seemingly insignificant ones - the humble ones whose tenderness may never be noticed - all who have been overlooked or devalued or excluded from community.
Christopher Holt (American, 1977–), Haywood Street Beatitudes, 2018–19. Fresco, 9 1/2 × 27 ft. Haywood Street Congregation, Asheville, North Carolina. Photo: John Warner.
I recently came across a beautiful depiction of this kind of blessing in art. The Haywood Street Fresco [right] was created by the Haywood Street Congregation in Asheville to illustrate the beatitudes. The fresco intentionally highlights community members who tend to go unseen or who are often looked down upon…
like a man named James, who is seated on the right side of the painting holding a cane. According to Haystreet, James can light up a room with his warm and loving nature. He freely shares stories about his struggles with homelessness and sometimes shares his music, singing acapella gospel songs during Haywood’s services.
like a woman by the name of Jeannette, featured as the light bearer. Jeanette stumbled into Haystreet during a lunch break. She says her "lousy choices" had wrecked relationships with friends and family. She soon became a valued volunteer and is now one of their care ministers, bearing the light of hope in countless small ways.
The fresco is a picture of Jesus’s, counter-cultural way of blessing. It tells all who thought they were undeserving or had nothing to offer that they are valued members of our human community.
This will remain at the center of Jesus’s faith & the life that he is inviting people to experience. It will define his path and the journey that those who join him are invited to walk - because here’s the thing - he was not just sparking them to imagine something different. He was telling them to join him in remaking the whole system that kept some people inside and others out.
And there is no way to join him - no way to walk “Creator’s good road” (First Nation Translation) - there is no way to know this kind of life without experiencing a fair amount of discomfort - without giving up control & without pain.
I made the mistake of listening to the entire “open mic” event held by a prominent Jacksonville church last Sunday. They had recently decided to require members to sign a sexuality statement (not a statement denouncing greed or racism or war which might have been in line with Jesus’s teachings), but one stating you must believe humans were either created male or female and that sexual relationships can only be between one man and one woman in order to remain a member of their congregation. The implications are obvious.
The open mic was supposed to be an opportunity to listen to the community, many of whom - including myself - see this as further alienation & rejection of our LGBTQ friends & family, only the pastor ended up doing most of the talking.
One brave woman - she called herself the lone wolf, and she was - showed up to share her story. Her name was Katie and she was there with her partner Dee. Growing up in a Baptist church herself, she shared how as a queer person, her life felt like a constant battle. As a youth, she was told by her sunday school teacher, her pastor and even her own family that she would be going to hell for her choices.
When she was done sharing, the pastor who was the moderator of the open mic - instead of acknowledging the harm done to her, instead of seeing her pain or even taking a minute to just see her as a human being - quickly thanked her and began offering up a defense of his position. He made sure to call attention to her walking out the door. At least he noticed that.
There is a lot I don't know anymore, but I do know this:
When unconditional love & inclusion are deemed immoral,
when we are too scared or superior to attend to another’s
person’s pain, we have lost our way.
This is a warning to all of us - to not start getting too high & mighty, to stay humble & low to the ground & near to the pain of the world (including our own) - to not grow numb - to not settle for living in a “diverse neighborhood” or having progressive beliefs, but to lean in, to listen, to connect, to learn how to show up in hard places where we can be a part of the reordering that needs to happen here - as hard and messy and uncomfortable as it might be at times.
There is a reason that Jesus ends his blessings this way: Others will lie about you, speak against you, and look down on you with scorn and contempt, all because you walk the road with me.
Because when you dare to start down this path - to challenge stereotypes, to confront your own, to try breaking down age-old barriers, to go to places where the pain is raw and deep, when you start challenging who is in and out - there will be trouble. And there is also the risk that you might not be seen at all.
This week started with the honor of officiating a funeral for our friend, Amy’s step mom, Holly. I only had a few opportunities to spend time with Holly. She struggled with many health problems, and for the past 5 years, one of those was cancer.
We expected it to be mostly family gathered for this graveside service, but what we quickly learned is that family to Holly was not defined by blood. A group of 5 or 6 women stood on the edge of the canopy and when it was time to offer a word of gratitude or memory, each one shared about how much Holly had meant to them. One woman said, “I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for her.” See Holly had been in recovery from co-dependency for years and had begun sponsoring other women who were in that same place. Even through her illness she had quietly been showing up with these women, continuing to listen, to be a source of hope & healing. They beamed with light while talking about her - even her family was surprised.
She had been a beatitude among those who felt they could not get their shi*t together - she had walked the way of blessing. Well done, Holly.
What about us? Jesus disrupted an old broken way of blessing - one that is still alive and well today - saying only the deserving, the in crowd, those who fit in neatly, who follow the rules belong. Jesus disrupts & shows us another way to be in relationship & he doesn’t just want us to imagine it - he wants us to live it.
He started with a blessing and that seems like a good place for us to begin, too. I want to share a modern translation of the Beatitudes, some written by Nadia Bolz-Weber in her book, Accidental Saints. Others have been added. Listen for a blessing for you and make some room for others who come to mind…
Blessed are the agnostics.
Blessed are they who doubt.
Blessed are those who lack direction & who feel like they will never find it.
Blessed are the toddlers who are busy & noisy & have so much to teach us.
Blessed are those who feel they have nothing to offer.
You are of heaven, Jesus blesses you, and we see you.
Blessed are the poor in spirit.
Blessed are those for whom death is not an abstraction.
Blessed are they who have buried their loved ones, for whom tears could fill an ocean.
Blessed are they who have loved enough to know what loss feels like.
Blessed are the mothers of the miscarried.
Blessed are they who don’t have the luxury of taking things for granted anymore.
Blessed are those who “still aren’t over it yet.”
You are of heaven, Jesus blesses you, and we see you.
Blessed are those who no one ever notices - the caregivers, the bus drivers, the janitors, the kids who sit alone in the school cafeteria, the sex workers, and the night shift street sweepers.
Blessed are the closeted.
Blessed are the unemployed, the unimpressive, the underrepresented.
Blessed are those who have been told they don’t belong - blessed are the Katies and the co-dependents.
You are of heaven, Jesus blesses you and we see you.
Blessed are those who can’t seem to fit in and can’t find friends.
Blessed are the exhausted from trying so hard.
Blessed are those who depression will not let up.
Blessed are the overworked, the farmers & factory workers, those not getting paid a living wage.
Blessed are those who are targeted by police; blessed are the mothers whose dying children are calling their names.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for justice - for a world made right. Blessed are those who speak the truth while their voices shake & those who tell their stories.
You are of heaven, Jesus blesses you and we see you.
Blessed are the merciful, the humble, the ones who bear light in the dark.
Blessed are you who no matter how many times you hear it - still think you will never be worthy of a blessing.
May you know it - may you see it - may we all live it. Amen.