Matthew 5:1-12
Blessed Are…..
We had a wedding yesterday. Two of our members – Lindsey and Manus – were joined in Holy Matrimony. I think that deserves a round of applause! (And I hope they are watching this morning – to receive it.)
The wedding was supposed to happen here at St Michael. Last November, when the couple made the request, we realized that we needed to get our wedding guidelines updated. Sommers worked really hard on that, and she made the appropriate contact with the couple to get everything all lined up.
Then, the coronavirus pandemic started. And it continued. Lindsey and Manus and I decided it might be better to complete the premarital counseling via ZOOM. This seemed like such a novel thing to do – back in March.
In June, the pastoral visits with couple began to discuss “possible alternative plans.” By August, it seemed obvious we would not be able to welcome the 140 guests for a worship service.
One of the parent units lives in a community complete with golf course, a fitness center, and a small chapel. As alternative plans go, this one was looking pretty good. Rehearsal dinner in the backyard; reception on the clubhouse patio. The guest list was trimmed to twenty, and things seemed to be all set. Then, on Friday, Zeta made its way through the northern mountains of South Carolina. The chapel, the patio, the home which was to serve as hub were all without electricity.
I have officiated at a lot of weddings. (There was one calendar year in which I had thirteen.) But I want to say that yesterday was a blessing in a way which all of those hundreds of other weddings could never be. (My apologies to all those others.)
Yesterday, a group of twenty or so of us experienced what Jesus tries to tell the crow who listened to him speak of being “Blessed”. Being blessed has nothing to do with the waxing and waning of fortune in our lives. Being blessed means knowing that God is with us and that God is pleased with us. Being blessed means knowing that amid all of the things which might seem to be going in the wrong direction, there is one thing totally as it should be. And that one thing is sufficient. That one thing pulls a whole host of other, somewhat unexpected things, along with it.
The list in Matthew 5 of those whom Jesus declares as “Blessed” does not match the lists often repeated at award ceremonies. When asked the heights to which one aspires, being meek or hungering and thirsting usually don’t make the list. We are so pre-occupied with the things which the world speaks of as important that we are quick to ignore or fail to recognize the things which do truly bring blessings into our lives.
There are so many things going wrong in our world an in our lives. I have made more than my share of jokes about how I can’t wait for 2020 to be over. But if I had never had this year, I would not have been able to laugh and cry and celebrate with Lindsey and Manus. If this horrible year had never happened I would not have had those visits with Heddie West, or experienced the depth of Ann Huffman’s impact on St. Michael. Carol Kelsey’s quiet acceptance of her death, or seeing Heywood make it back home to draw his last breath would be blessings missed. These experiences do not make all the other things less disappointing; but the disappointments are given their appropriate place and significance.
Do not be distracted by what is too often valued as signs of being blessed. Being blessed has very little to do with power or money or prestige or social position. The blessings which remain are the ones which call upon us to notice the lost and lonely and those which encourage us to cast our lot with them. Blessings unite us with others and they give us the courage and confidence to set aside our own ideologies for the sake of how what we value might affect the lives of others.
You have the words of Jesus before you. And you probably know many of the verses by heart. What Jesus called “Blessed” may not be what we would identify. But what Jesus says is a blessing is truly a blessing.
Amen.
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