Introduction
“I’m so blessed.”
It seems we hear that statement more and more these days.
Probably the most noticeable time of hearing this comes from famous people talking to the media or giving an acceptance or victory speech. We’ll see these folks clutching a golden icon, and with tears in their eyes they recite, “I’m so blessed to be here today.” And with the Olympics starting this week, we are sure to hear such from Tokyo.
This is all fine and good, as certainly I am all for us embracing special moments of achievement and acknowledging from where such opportunity came. But admittedly, I take issue at times when I hear people say, “I’m so blessed.” My issue with such usage is not that it is flippant, or even untrue. Actors and athletes can be deeply sincere about feeling blessed. My issue with such usage is that it’s so easy. It requires little effort, in a moment of victory, to know oneself as blessed. Perhaps maybe it requires a small dose of humility, but not much more beyond that.
And for those of us watching at home— the un-elected, the un-famous, the un-athletic, even the unlucky—it’s easy to nod our heads in agreement, “Yep, you’re blessed alright.”
And the real slippery slope is to say, “Yep, you’re blessed…and well…I am not.”
In typical “first-world” fashion, we have transformed the spiritually profound into the exclusively limited, making it a new reality that blessing equals achievement, accomplishment, success, wealth, fame, and golden icons. Is that what it means to be blessed though?
Now generally we associate blessing or being blessed with some kind of religious activity or devotion within a religious organization. Other times we associate blessing or being blessed with being happy and cheerful. And other times we associate blessing or being blessed with just being lucky.
My point is this… This easy usage of the perspective of being blessed ends up making it appear that those who don’t go to church, those who are not religious, are not blessed. It says the unhappy, the un-cheerful, are not blessed. It says those who are unlucky are not blessed.
Is that what we really believe? I highly doubt it. What then does it mean to be blessed? If not achievement, accomplishment, success, wealth, fame, and golden icons, what then are the true blessings of life?
Move 1
The nine Beatitudes Jesus shares in his Sermon on the Mount are so much more than nine “be-happy/be-successful/be-a-champion” attitudes.
The Beatitudes are about perspective in life. That when life is good—yes God is there. But Jesus is also saying that when life stinks, when life is tough, when life is not filled with fame, fortune, notoriety, and golden icons, God is still present.
But these Beatitudes don’t stop there. The Beatitudes are also an invitation to see the world differently, and to live in the world differently. They are a call to see the world as God sees it, and to be a presence in the world as God is present.
The true blessings of life come not when the famous and athletic are finally clutching their golden icons. The true blessings of life come when our lives are aware of, and lived out from, what God is really doing and what God is really calling us to do.
Move 2
Normally at this point in my sermon I would pontificate about the exegesis of this text. And subsequently, it would be at this point in my sermon when many of you would kindly wait until that was over and done with. So what do you say we do something a little different, and consider some alternative perspectives to how we can reclaim a more faithful perspective of the blessings in life?
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The first perspective comes from that writer and theologian, Barbara Brown Taylor who preached a sermon on the Beatitudes entitled, “Blessed Are the Upside Down” a sermon rooted in the memory of when she was a little girl and would stand on her head to see the world in a whole new way.
She writes, “Grass hung in front of my eyes like a green fringe. Trees grew down, not up, and the sky became a blue lawn that went on forever. For as long as I kept my balance I could tap dance on it, while birds and clouds flew under my feet. My swing set was no longer an ‘A’ but a ‘V’ and my house seemed in danger of falling off the yard— just shooting off into space like a rocket— leaving the sidewalk lined with pansies that led to nowhere. In a world where trees grew down and houses might fall up, anything seemed possible.”
Taylor goes onto to say, “I think Jesus should have asked the crowd to stand on their heads when he taught them the Beatitudes because that was what he was doing. He was turning the known world upside down, so that those who had been fighting for breath at the bottom of the human heap suddenly found themselves closest to heaven, while those who thought they were on top of things found themselves flat on their backs looking up.”
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If we want to see God’s blessings in a true way then let us—with the faith of a child— stand on our head, and turn the world upside down. For that is what God’s blessings truly do.
Move 3
Another perspective comes from rock star Bono, lead singer of the band U2, when asked—by then President George W. Bush— to give the homily at the National Prayer Breakfast.
Quoting scripture in a number of places to emphasize the call and mandate for the world to focus on the needs of the poor, especially the poor in Africa, Bono gave an honest and moving sermon.
Also during his message Bono shared how a chance meeting of a wise man who confronted him with a healthy dose of reality and perspective changed his life and his attitude about God’s blessings. Bono said, “In countless ways I was always seeking the Lord’s blessing. I was saying to God, ‘You know, I have this new song, look after it for me. I have a family, look after them please. I have this idea, tend to it I pray.’ The wise man I had met said, ‘Stop. Stop asking God to bless what you’re doing. Instead, get involved in what God is doing because it is already blessed.”
Bono continued, saying, “That’s when I realized God is with the poor. That, I believe, is what God is doing. That I believe is what God is calling me to do.”
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If we want to experience God’s blessings in a true way then let us stop asking God to bless what we’re doing and start looking for what God is doing around us, and become part of it.
Move 4
And yet another perspective comes from a contemporized list of beatitudes written by a friend and mentor, Rev. Bob Hill, retired senior pastor at Community Christian Church in Kansas City, Missouri. Rev. Hill writes,
* Blessed are you when you grow sick and tired of being sick and tired, for you will know where your real strength comes from.
* Blessed are you when, in the face of tragedy and horror, you are reduced to mute tears, for then you will know the eloquence of God’s embrace and the profundity of God’s presence.
* Blessed are you when you’ve been rejected, dejected, and perhaps even ejected from a relationship, an association, or a job because of a stance you have taken—for then you will know the gift of integrity and courage.
* Blessed are you when your money runs out, for then you will discover true wealth.
* Blessed are you when you finally “fess up” to not knowing how to pray, for then you will have opened the door to truly listening for God’s voice.
* Blessed are you when you participate in life-saving strategies like Heiffer Project International’s “Passing on the Gift,” for then, one day, you will see the whole world fed and fit.
* Blessed are you when you are in the midst of a medical crisis, for then you will have begun a journey into true patience, authentic humility, and blatant, unadorned, stupefying gratitude.
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If we want to know God’s blessings in a true way, then let us— in those moments where it seems God is nowhere to be found—look again, but look in ways the world doesn’t look and least expects. For that is when we will find God’s true blessing.
Conclusion
“I’m so blessed.” I have no doubt everyone in this room is blessed. We have been given much by God, and we should never take any of it for granted. Seeing our joy, our accomplishments, even our stuff as being from God is not bad, nor wrong. When we see only them as being from God is where things take a negative turn.
The Beatitudes of Jesus are among the strongest challenges for human conduct and religious life ever inscribed. And while they can never be improved upon, pondering new ways of being blessed can stimulate our faith. They implore us to ask ourselves if our values reflect those of Jesus, particularly with regard for love for our neighbor.
So then, do we believe blessings for us have to include achievement, accomplishment, success, wealth, fame, and stuff? Or are we blessed because we are able to see the world differently; because we are involved in what God is doing; because we know where God’s real blessings are found? Do we believe we are “so blessed” or that we are truly blessed?
Those who can truly see that they are truly blessed, are people who know what it is to be blessed—not in the way the world understands blessing— but in the ways Christ brings the true blessings of life. Amen.
Pastoral Prayer, July 18, 2021
Holy God… Blessed are…the poor and rich; the meek and strong; the hungry and filled; the sad and happy; the un-cheerful and cheerful; the unlucky and lucky; the blessed and those unaware of being blessed. May all come to know the blessings of life—your blessings— do surround them; all because you are a constant and abiding presence to your children, offering true blessings of life in all times and places.
Gracious God, we know we are blessed. No matter the day—good or bad; joy filled or filled with struggles—we know you are with us, inviting us to draw closer to you in ways that will make the joy even more abundant, and the struggles easier to navigate.
Yet we know we have been blessed to be a blessing. So help us we pray, to see the opportunities to share your blessings with others—be it in word or deed. Show us how to take our riches, our fullness, our laughter, all we have in excess and let it rise up in the poor, the hungry, and those who weep. Make this so that together all may delight in the good things that come from you our creator. Make this so that together we gather to break bread with one another; that we most especially eat and drink the bread of life and cup of salvation. Make this so that our hearts are open in joy and in sorrow, and that together we seek your kingdom as one body, brothers and sisters all of us, in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Holy God, you have so richly blessed us with life, with love and joy, with hope in the midst of despair; surrounding all your children with your constant and abiding presence. Move us then to be aware of, and always sharing those blessings—the true blessings of life.
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Hear now Holy God, the prayers of our hearts as we offer them to you in this time of Holy Silence.
All this we pray in the name of Jesus the Christ, who taught us to pray saying, “Our…”