Sermon for April 19th, 2015 - Revision history

Iraneal at 20:12, 17 April 2015

2015-04-17T20:12:44Z

Iraneal at 19:43, 17 April 2015

2015-04-17T19:43:36Z

Iraneal at 19:32, 17 April 2015

2015-04-17T19:32:03Z

Iraneal at 19:08, 17 April 2015

2015-04-17T19:08:47Z

Iraneal at 18:36, 17 April 2015

2015-04-17T18:36:05Z

Iraneal at 18:23, 17 April 2015

2015-04-17T18:23:15Z

Iraneal at 05:58, 17 April 2015

2015-04-17T05:58:10Z

Iraneal at 18:59, 16 April 2015

2015-04-16T18:59:49Z

Iraneal at 18:37, 16 April 2015

2015-04-16T18:37:49Z

Iraneal: Created page with "==Matthew 5:1-12== 1When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. 2Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying: 3..."

2015-04-16T18:32:55Z

Created page with "==Matthew 5:1-12== 1When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. 2Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying: 3..."

New page

==Matthew 5:1-12==
1When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. 2Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying: 3“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. 5“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. 6“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. 7“Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy. 8“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. 9“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. 10“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11“Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

==Luke 6:20-26==
20Then he looked up at his disciples and said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. 21“Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled. “Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. 22“Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. 23Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets. 24“But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. 25“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. 26“Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets.

==Beautiful Attitudes: The Brokenhearted==

Crying as perceived helplessness.

"In this beatitude, Jesus praises … those who can enter into solidarity with the pain of the world and not try to extract themselves from it." Richard Rohr with John Bookser Feister, Jesus' Plan for a New World

@@ Line 39: / Line 39: @@
 The word he uses in the beatitudes is κλαίω (klaio) -- public, out-loud crying that begs to be heard, to be comforted, because there is no solution, no comfort to be had on our own.
-The good news of the gospel is this:  You don't have to go it on your own. Jesus gathered a community of people to himself, and taught them how to love each other, how to take care of each other. At our best, that's what the church does, that's what the church is.  It's God's kingdom here on earth.
+The good news of the gospel is that we are not on our own, we don't have to go it alone. Jesus gathered a community of people to himself, and taught them how to love each other, how to take care of each other. At our best, that's what the church does, that's what the church is.  It's God's kingdom here on earth.
-Some of you may be bothered by the fact that, in Luke, after Jesus says "blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh" later on he says "Woe to you who laugh now, for you will weep."  I don't think he's saying that those who are unhappy in this life will be happy in the next life, and those who are happy in this life will be unhappy in the next.  I don't think that Jesus, for one, was always weeping, always unhappy, never laughing.
+Some of you may be bothered by the fact that, in Luke, after Jesus says "blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh" later on he says "Woe to you who laugh now, for you will weep."  I don't think he's saying that those who are unhappy in this life will be happy in the next life, and those who are happy in this life will be unhappy in the next.  I don't think that Jesus, for one, was always weeping, always unhappy, never laughing. This is, after all, the guy who rode into town on a donkey, and said that before you tell your brother about the splinter in his eye, take the log out of your own eye. The one who said the pharisees would strain a gnat out of their water while drinking a camel!
-I think what he's trying to say is more along the lines of what Ecclesiastes says: "For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: A time to weep, and a time to laugh.  A time to mourn, and a time to dance."
+I think what Jesus is trying to say is more along the lines of what Ecclesiastes chapter 3 says: "For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: A time to weep, and a time to laugh.  A time to mourn, and a time to dance."
-In other words, those who are laughing today will eventually find themselves crying, and those who are crying today will someday laugh again.  We all laugh. We all cry. Sometimes it's your turn to comfort, and sometimes it's your turn to be comforted. But that means we all need each other.
+In other words, those who are laughing today will find themselves crying at some point, and those who are crying today will someday laugh again.  We all laugh. We all cry, over and over again. Sometimes it's your turn to comfort, and sometimes it's your turn to be comforted. But laughing or crying, we all need each other.
-−
-*"In this beatitude, Jesus praises … those who can enter into solidarity with the pain of the world and not try to extract themselves from it." Richard Rohr with John Bookser Feister, Jesus' Plan for a New World
+We are God's kingdom.  We are the ones whom God calls blessed, and we are also the ones whom God calls to be the blessing for the world.
-*"It is impossible for one to live without tears who considers things exactly as they are.
-Gregory of Nyssa, De Beatitudine"
-−

@@ Line 39: / Line 39: @@
 The word he uses in the beatitudes is κλαίω (klaio) -- public, out-loud crying that begs to be heard, to be comforted, because there is no solution, no comfort to be had on our own.
 *"In this beatitude, Jesus praises … those who can enter into solidarity with the pain of the world and not try to extract themselves from it." Richard Rohr with John Bookser Feister, Jesus' Plan for a New World
 *"It is impossible for one to live without tears who considers things exactly as they are.
 Gregory of Nyssa, De Beatitudine"
+*

@@ Line 25: / Line 25: @@
 Jesus weeps silently for Lazarus, because no one needs to hear him. It is a personal expression of grief, and Jesus knows what he is going to do. He weeps, and then he saves his friend. But for Jerusalem, there is no immediate salvation. 40 years after Jesus speaks these words, the Roman army marches into Jerusalem and brutally slaughters everyone, tearing down the temple and burning the city to its foundations.
-We don't like to admit it, but life is kind of like that, isn't it? We cry out to God in prayer and desperation--sometimes God rescues us, but sometimes we get the Roman army. We can't for the life of us understand why God won't work according to our formulas, and so sometimes we get angry and blame God. Sometimes we blame ourselves. Sometimes we blame each other. And none of that ultimately helps us much in our grief, in our brokenhearted loss.
+We don't like to admit it, but life is kind of like that, isn't it? We cry out to God in prayer and desperation--sometimes God rescues us, but sometimes we get the Roman army. We can't for the life of us understand why God won't work according to our formulas, and so sometimes we get angry and blame God. Sometimes we blame ourselves. Sometimes we blame each other. And none of that ultimately helps us much. In fact, sometimes it backfires.
-I think Jesus, in the beatitudes, points us in a new direction.
+One day a little girl was sitting and watching her mother cooking in the kitchen. She suddenly realized that her mother had several strands of white hair sticking out in contrast on her brunette head. She looked at her mother and inquisitively asked, "Why are some of your hairs white, Mom?" Her mother replied, "Well, every time that you do something wrong and make me cry or unhappy, one of my hairs turns white." The little girl thought about this revelation for a while and then said,"Mommy, how come ALL of grandma's hair are white?"
-Up to this point in our study of the beatitudes, I have told you that the beatitudes are not--contrary to popular belief--a magic formula that tells us what to do, or what attitude to have, so that God will bless us.  I have said that the beatitudes are a reflection of God's beautiful attitude toward all of us, and especially those described by Jesus in these passages.
+Rather than blaming ourselves, each other, or God, I think Jesus points us in a new direction.
 But that doesn't mean there is no action required (or requested) on our part. It's just that we tend to get confused about who is supposed to do what.  We think that if we have the right attitude, God will take the action:  If we become poor, God will bless us with his kingdom. If we become hungry God will fill us up. If we cry and mourn, God will comfort us.  But I think we need to flip that around--God has the beautiful attitude that compells us to action:  Poor people matter to God, so we need to welcome them into the kingdom.  Hungry people matter to God...so we need to go feed them. Brokenhearted people matter to God...so we need to comfort them.
@@ Line 37: / Line 39: @@
 The word he uses in the beatitudes is κλαίω (klaio) -- public, out-loud crying that begs to be heard, to be comforted, because there is no solution, no comfort to be had on our own.
@@ Line 51: / Line 46: @@
 *"It is impossible for one to live without tears who considers things exactly as they are.
 Gregory of Nyssa, De Beatitudine"
-*One day a little girl was sitting and watching her mother cooking in the kitchen. She suddenly realized that her mother had several strands of white hair sticking out in contrast on her brunette head. She looked at her mother and inquisitively asked, "Why are some of your hairs white, Mom?" Her mother replied, "Well, every time that you do something wrong and make me cry or unhappy, one of my hair turns white." The little girl thought about this revelation for a while and then said,"Mommy, how come ALL of grandma's hair are white?"

@@ Line 25: / Line 25: @@
 Jesus weeps silently for Lazarus, because no one needs to hear him. It is a personal expression of grief, and Jesus knows what he is going to do. He weeps, and then he saves his friend. But for Jerusalem, there is no immediate salvation. 40 years after Jesus speaks these words, the Roman army marches into Jerusalem and brutally slaughters everyone, tearing down the temple and burning the city to its foundations.
-We don't like to admit it, but life is kind of like that, isn't it? We cry out to God in prayer and desperation--sometimes God rescues us, but sometimes we get the Roman army. We can't for the life of us understand why God won't work according to our formulas, and so sometimes we get angry and blame God. Sometimes we blame ourselves. Sometimes we blame each other. And none of that ultimately helps us much in our grief, in our loss.
+We don't like to admit it, but life is kind of like that, isn't it? We cry out to God in prayer and desperation--sometimes God rescues us, but sometimes we get the Roman army. We can't for the life of us understand why God won't work according to our formulas, and so sometimes we get angry and blame God. Sometimes we blame ourselves. Sometimes we blame each other. And none of that ultimately helps us much in our grief, in our brokenhearted loss.
 I think Jesus, in the beatitudes, points us in a new direction.
 As a pastor, I know a thing or two about mourning and weeping. One of the difficult, bittersweet, strange yet beautiful apsects of my job is that I attend all of the funerals.  More than that, I usually (when invited to do so) visit the homes or hospital beds of those who are near death, or the families of those who have recently died. I grieve with them as they grieve, mourn with them as they mourn, and in putting together a funeral service, I help them to express and process that grief in what (I hope) is a meaningful and helpful way.

@@ Line 23: / Line 23: @@
 When Jesus weeps over the city of Jerusalem, it is the Greek word κλαίω (klaio)--to weep audibly so others can hear you. It is a public weeping that seeks a response, that seeks to arouse the empathy of others.  It is weeping that begs to be comforted.
-Jesus weeps silently for Lazarus, because no one needs to hear him. It is a personal expression of grief, and Jesus knows
+Jesus weeps silently for Lazarus, because no one needs to hear him. It is a personal expression of grief, and Jesus knows what he is going to do. He weeps, and then he saves his friend. But for Jerusalem, there is no immediate salvation. 40 years after Jesus speaks these words, the Roman army marches into Jerusalem and brutally slaughters everyone, tearing down the temple and burning the city to its foundations.
 As a pastor, I know a thing or two about mourning and weeping. One of the difficult, bittersweet, strange yet beautiful apsects of my job is that I attend all of the funerals.  More than that, I usually (when invited to do so) visit the homes or hospital beds of those who are near death, or the families of those who have recently died. I grieve with them as they grieve, mourn with them as they mourn, and in putting together a funeral service, I help them to express and process that grief in what (I hope) is a meaningful and helpful way.
@@ Line 30: / Line 36: @@
 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
 *Crying as perceived helplessness.
 *Ecclesiastes, time to weep time to laugh, time to mourn, time to dance.
 *"In this beatitude, Jesus praises … those who can enter into solidarity with the pain of the world and not try to extract themselves from it." Richard Rohr with John Bookser Feister, Jesus' Plan for a New World
 *"It is impossible for one to live without tears who considers things exactly as they are.
 Gregory of Nyssa, De Beatitudine"
 *One day a little girl was sitting and watching her mother cooking in the kitchen. She suddenly realized that her mother had several strands of white hair sticking out in contrast on her brunette head. She looked at her mother and inquisitively asked, "Why are some of your hairs white, Mom?" Her mother replied, "Well, every time that you do something wrong and make me cry or unhappy, one of my hair turns white." The little girl thought about this revelation for a while and then said,"Mommy, how come ALL of grandma's hair are white?"

@@ Line 6: / Line 6: @@
 ==Beautiful Attitudes: The Brokenhearted==
 As a pastor, I know a thing or two about mourning and weeping. One of the difficult, bittersweet, strange yet beautiful apsects of my job is that I attend all of the funerals.  More than that, I usually (when invited to do so) visit the homes or hospital beds of those who are near death, or the families of those who have recently died. I grieve with them as they grieve, mourn with them as they mourn, and in putting together a funeral service, I help them to express and process that grief in what (I hope) is a meaningful and helpful way.
@@ Line 16: / Line 35: @@
 *Crying as perceived helplessness.
 *There's no crying in baseball ... and the repression of tears/emotion/weeping
 *Jesus wept. Like he did for Jerusalem, not for Lazarus.

← Older revision		Revision as of 18:59, 16 April 2015
Line 6:		Line 6:

	==Beautiful Attitudes: The Brokenhearted==		==Beautiful Attitudes: The Brokenhearted==
		+	As a pastor, I know a thing or two about mourning and weeping. One of the difficult, bittersweet, strange yet beautiful apsects of my job is that I attend all of the funerals. More than that, I usually (when invited to do so) visit the homes or hospital beds of those who are near death, or the families of those who have recently died. I grieve with them as they grieve, mourn with them as they mourn, and in putting together a funeral service, I help them to express and process that grief in what (I hope) is a meaningful and helpful way.
		+
		+	I never look forward to receiving that call that a member of our community has passed away, and yet when all is finished and the last guest leaves the church on the day of the funeral, I know that more than any sermon I ever preach, more than any big event we host as a church, more than any small group or Sunday school class, and probably even more than any baptism or wedding I perform, comforting those who mourn is without a doubt one of the most important things I do as a pastor.
		+
		+
		+

	*Crying as perceived helplessness.		*Crying as perceived helplessness.