EMMANUEL UNITED CHURCH

SCRIPTURE READINGS

January 30, 2011

GOD’S WORD FOR US

THE FIRST LESSON is Micah 6:1-8

INTRODUCTION TO THE FIRST LESSON:  Micah pictures his world as a scene from Law and Order.  God is the prosecutor and the people the defendants.  According to the prophet, the people already know what God requires of them.

¹    Hear what the LORD says:

    Rise, plead your case before the mountains,

    and let the hills hear your voice.

²    Hear, you mountains, the controversy of the LORD,

    and you enduring foundations of the earth;

    for the LORD has a controversy with his people,

    and he will contend with Israel.

³    “O my people, what have I done to you?

    In what have I wearied you? Answer me!

⁴    For I brought you up from the land of Egypt,

    and redeemed you from the house of slavery;

    and I sent before you Moses,

    Aaron, and Miriam.

⁵    O my people, remember now what King Balak of Moab devised,

    what Balaam son of Beor answered him,

    and what happened from Shittim to Gilgal,

    that you may know the saving acts of the LORD.”

⁶    “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?

⁷    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?”

⁸    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?

THE RESPONSIVE LESSON is Psalm 15

INTRODUCTION TO THE PSALM: In the psalm, the questions and answers continue.  God is asked, who can be a guest in God's tent.  The psalmist says, "those who do right."

God, who may be a guest in your house,

          or who may dwell on your holy mountain?

One who leads a blameless life,

          who does what is right,

          who speaks truthfully from the heart;

one whose tongue is free from malice,

          who never wrongs a friend,

          who utters no reproach against a neighbour;

one who cannot respect the unworthy,

but honours those who fear God;

          who stands by a promise given,

          though it be to personal disadvantage;

one who will not take interest on a loan,

nor accept a bribe to testify against the innocent.

       Whoever does this shall never be overthrown.

THE NEW TESTAMENT LESSON is Matthew  5:1-12

INTRODUCTION TO THE SECOND READING: This morning the Sunday School is hearing the Beatitudes from the paraphrase, The Message.  We are going to do the same.  This is Matthew's introduction to what we now call the Sermon on the Mount.

¹When Jesus saw his ministry drawing huge crowds, he climbed a hillside. Those who were apprenticed to him, the committed, climbed with him. Arriving at a quiet place, he sat down ²and taught his climbing companions. This is what he said:

³“You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.

⁴“You’re blessed when you feel you’ve lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you.

⁵“You’re blessed when you’re content with just who you are—no more, no less. That’s the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can’t be bought.

⁶“You’re blessed when you’ve worked up a good appetite for God. He’s food and drink in the best meal you’ll ever eat.

⁷“You’re blessed when you care. At the moment of being ‘carefull,’ you find yourselves cared for.

⁸“You’re blessed when you get your inside world—your mind and heart—put right. Then you can see God in the outside world.

⁹“You’re blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight. That’s when you discover who you really are, and your place in God’s family.

¹⁰“You’re blessed when your commitment to God provokes persecution. The persecution drives you even deeper into God’s kingdom.

¹¹“Not only that—count yourselves blessed every time people put you down or throw you out or speak lies about you to discredit me. What it means is that the truth is too close for comfort and they are uncomfortable. ¹²You can be glad when that happens—give a cheer, even!—for though they don’t like it, I do! And all heaven applauds. And know that you are in good company. My prophets and witnesses have always gotten into this kind of trouble.

Blessed Are You

       I am going to make a prediction about next week’s Super Bowl Game.  Afte the game, when one of the victorious football players from the Packers or the Steelers gets interrupted in his victory dance to give an interview, you can expect the comment, “I want to thank God.  God has blessed me!”  And what is he really saying?   Is he saying that it’s God’s intention that his team wins or that God is personally rewarding him?  Is he saying, blessed are those who succeed in life... blessed are those who rise to the top..  blessed are the winners?

       We may not be so blunt, but we too may feel that God is with us when life is going well and when life does not go according to plan, we may wonder why God is allowing this to happen.  Where’s the blessing?

       The philosophers and teachers of the ancient world all had their beatitudes, advice on how to be happy, how to avoid life’s difficulties. 

       The book of Proverbs is a typical example, a collection of sayings borrowed from neighbouring countries offering advice on how to have a successful life.  Don’t waste your time.  Work hard.  Listen to your parents.  You can tell parents wrote this material.  If kids wrote this stuff that’s be saying, “Stop working so hard and play with us.” These proverbs are conventional sayings that dutiful citizens of every age have believed.  Be sensible and practical, that’s their message.

       Most of us don’t take these proverbs as absolute, which is a good thing because they also tell you beating your child with a rod is a good thing.  and women should keep in their place. We need to use our own minds and hearts to filter the Bible, recognizing that some of this is timeless wisdom and other proverbs are poor advice.

       Many of these proverbs do carry this belief that bad things only happen to bad people.  “The Lord’s curse is on the house of the wicked, but he blesses the abode of the righteous.” (Prv. 3:33)

       But Jesus says just the opposite.  He says blessed are the poor, the hungry, the persecuted, the sad.

       That’s not a very positive list. Why is all this so negative and depressing?  The gospel of Mark does not include these words, so why does Matthew?  Perhaps because much has happened in the 20 years between the time that Mark and Matthew wrote their gospels. 

       In 64 Rome burned and Nero, needing a scapegoat, blamed the Christians.  The persecution probably led to the deaths of Peter and Paul.  Two years later, the Jews revolted and enjoyed a few brief years of freedom.  In the year 70, the Romans sent their top general and best Legions east and all resistance was crushed.  They burned Jerusalem, wiped out the Dead Sea Scroll community at Qumrahn, sieged and destroyed the final zealot stronghold of Masada.  The Jewish people went through a time of persecution and severe poverty.

       It was at this time that Matthew wrote to the suffering Christians and told them that even if the world had turned on them and life appeared hopeless and bleak, God would bless them. Even though they were hungry and poor, or mourning the death of a loved one, God would bless them. In spite of intimidation or persecution, God would continue to bless and care for them.

       The Beatitudes are an example of how Jesus challenges the conventional wisdom of the day.  Jesus wants his followers to realize that nothing is permanent.  We may be well off for a while.  Then - we may not.  What is permanent, what is secure is the love and blessing of God. 

       Jesus spoke his beatitudes.  Matthew gathered them and  arranged them and edited them for his own community. And they still have the power to turn our lives and our communities upside down, to move us from safe and conventional to imaginative and adventurous, from self-centred individuals determined to get ahead no matter what it costs our neighbours to a community of people who care deeply about the whole creation around us. ...

       Beatitudes are not just for ancient times.  Here are a few present day beatitudes that I have heard recently:

Blessed are the dog-walkers,

for they will discover the streets of the kingdom.

       Blessed are the asylum seekers,

       for they will be welcomed with open arms.

Blessed are those who read to children,

for they will plant seeds that bear fruit.

Blessed are those who weep for the homeless,

for they will be shawled in God's grace.

Blessed are those who stock food pantries,

for they will taste God's hope.

Blessed are those who bring in the marginalized,

for they shall be called bridge-builders.

Blessed are the faith-full foolish,

for they shall be called the clowns of God”

                                    (Thom Schumann)

Blessed are those who sing God's praise

for they shall always hear music

Blessed are those who forgive others

for they shall have many friends

       There is a value in putting our own theology into words and framing it as Jesus did with a theology of abundance and blessing, seeing the gift and the treasure within us and in others.  How would you describe God’s blessing in your life?  What kind of beatitudes would you write? 

       In the Beatitudes, there are no commands, there is no you must or you should.”  Jesus does not tell anyone to do anything.  Instead he describes people who are having a hard time, hoping that his listeners will recognize themselves somewhere in the list.  Then he promises all of them: that the way things are is not the way they will always be. 

       Barbara Brown Taylor offers this lovely image of a ferris wheel.  She writes, “The ferris wheel will go around, so those who are swaying at the top, with the wind in their hair and all the world’s lights at their feet, will have their turn at the bottom, while those who are down there right now, where all they can see are candy wrappers in the sawdust, will have their chance to touch the stars.  It is not advice at all.  It is not even judgement.  It is simply the truth about the way things work, pronounced by someone who loves everyone on the wheel.”

       We all get our turn at the top and at the bottom of the ferris wheel and whether we are on a good roll or whether its been a painful stretch of life, God’s blessing is there for us.  We are held and loved.  We are embraced by God.

       May  we know that for ourselves.

with thanks to:

Thom Schumann, Barbara Brown Taylor,