Here We Go Again, or The Beatitudes Are Not for Wimps

I said all this the last time, but it bears repeating.

On this first day of Trump 2.0, I wondered if I had any good news to share the last time he became president, any thoughts that could rev me up and get me focused on facing the four years ahead. So I dug back through old sermons, and as they say — everything old is new again.

Sunday, January 25, 2017 was the day of my former parish’s annual meeting. I used to take that preaching opportunity to say something to the congregation about where we had been, where we were headed, and what the scripture had to say about all of that. Well the text for that day was Matthew 5:1-12. The Beatitudes.

The Beatitudes are the sort of thing you see cross stitched on pillows or printed atop a hazy photo of a sunset. They tend to be your grandmother’s favorite scripture. They are so nice.

Jesus is at the very beginning of his ministry, teaching on a mountaintop and laying out the vision of God’s good world: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

So nice. So nice you almost don’t even have to think about it. Yay for peacemakers and the poor in spirit and the merciful, yadda, yadda, yadda.

But, back in 2017, I offered a different perspective on these nice words of Jesus. First of all, the word blessed is … “A word from the Greek makarios which can also be translated as “honored” – honored are.

“Honored are – the poor in spirit. Honored are – those who mourn. Honored are – the meek. Honored are -- those who hunger and who thirst for righteousness. Honored are – the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers. Honored are those persecuted for righteousness’ sake. Honored are those who are rejected and reviled and lied about, for living like Jesus in this world. Honored, honored are these.

“This is where Jesus begins. He describes what a beloved community of followers looks like. It’s almost shocking to hear what Jesus says, because he describes a way of being that does not honor people in the way that our everyday world honors people. No, as Jesus explains, those who become his followers will never succeed in the way the world views success.

“Their blessings will never come from riches, or satisfaction, or rudeness, or an easy complacency with the world as it is. Their blessings will never come from domination, or divided allegiances, or from beating their enemies. Their blessings will never come from taking the well-traveled path. Their blessings will never come from hedging their bets about following Jesus.

“God’s blessings can only come to the poor, the grieving, the meek, and those who starve for justice. They can only come to the merciful, to the pure in heart, to the peacemakers and the persecuted.

“Clearly -- the Beatitudes are not for wimps. No matter how often they are cross-stitched onto samplers or printed on greeting cards, the Beatitudes will not be domesticated. They startle us by giving us a clear picture of the upside-down Kingdom of God. The Kingdom Jesus came to proclaim, and initiate, and fulfill.”

I called that parish to become a Beatitude-inspired community, to live like the upside-down Kingdom of God is an actual possibility. “A Beatitude-inspired community is one of profound and powerful hope, even joy. A Beatitude inspired community can take a hard, clear-eyed look at the world and all the ways the world is cruel and broken and destructive and dangerous, and can say in defiance: ‘This is not what God intends. And God is not going to settle for this. And God is going to bring us out of this. And God is going to redeem it.’

“The powerful surge of joy in a Beatitude community comes from knowing--not that things are easy, or that they are always getting better--but that the Kingdom is real, and it is coming. As Archbishop Tutu said, even while fighting the cruelties of apartheid -- ‘God has already won the battle, and we are on the winning side.’”

OK, all evidence to the contrary (like really, we are going to do all of this again?), I’m going to take myself at my eight-years-past word. God does not intend this. God is not going to settle for this. God is going to bring us out of this, and God is going to redeem it. There is hope in that belief, that God intends better, and that there is redemption ahead. But not without our own participation in that work of justice and healing and redemption.

I was also surprised to see that the injustice I lifted up as one my congregation could address, is the very injustice I am working on right now, again, in the face of the second Trump rejection of refugees, immigrants and sojourners. Particularly, the fate of refugees. Refugees are not illegal immigrants, or asylum seekers, or guest workers. They are vetted and supported and settled here by the U.S. Government. My home town of Lansing is a refugee resettlement hub. In the past 40 years, more than 20,000 refugees have made their way to this small Midwestern city.

As he did last time around, yesterday, Trump put a 120-day stop on any refugee admissions. Even if the administration restarts the program after those four months, the number of refugees allowed into this country will dwindle to a trickle. These are people suffering from religious persecution, political persecution, warfare and famine. This hold means increased suffering. Danger. Even death.

And it’s not Biblical! “It is not Christian to turn suffering people away,” I said in that sermon in 2017. “To welcome the stranger, the alien, the foreigner in the land is a mandate in our Holy Scriptures… all through the Hebrew Scriptures and all through the New Testament.

“This mandate also appears in Matthew’s gospel. In Matthew 25, in his final teaching before he goes to die, Jesus tells his friends where they will find him after he is gone … he will be found in the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick, and the imprisoned. He says, ‘I was a stranger, and you welcomed me …’ And I say, ‘Did we, Lord? Will we, Lord?’

My sister quoted Matthew 25 yesterday as her motivation for volunteering to help refugees get settled once they arrive in Lansing. She has worked with Syrians, Afghans, and others, helping them get needed supplies—including a special wheelchair for a 5-year-old with cerebral palsy whose family had been living in a Turkish refugee camp for three years, waiting for a chance to resettle in America.

She is a faithful Catholic. And she quoted that scripture right to a Catholic priest. We were meeting with him to try to convince him his congregation should get deeply involved with this work, that this is a special moment for people of faith to act like Jesus told them to act.

And that’s the work right now, my work anyway. To help support the refugees already here, and the agencies that settle and support them. To get others involved with me in this work, showing up, looking and acting like Jesus in the world.

So I’m doing pretty much what I did eight years ago. It seems to be what I am supposed to do. It seems to be my calling right now.

So on this first day of this second go-around on the Crazy Train, I’m going to remember what I already said, do what I already know needs doing, show up where I know people are needed to show up. I’m going to try to make the Beatitudes more than an inspirational poster or a pretty cross-stitched sampler. As I already said, as I already know:

“The Beatitudes are not for wimps. But the Beatitudes will show us how to find blessings, even in tough times. They will teach us to be courageous, even when we might want to step back and stay uninvolved. They will make us people of kindness and courtesy. They will give us hope, and they will fill us with joy.”