Sunday, January 29, 2017

Bee Attitude?


4 Epiphany A      January 29, 2017              Youth Sunday Dialogue Sermon

Micah 6:1-8       Ps. 37:1-18   1 Cor. 1:18-31    Matt. 5:1-12


Alex:         In the name of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Amen.  You may be seated.    Today we’ve read a speech that is more famous than Lincoln’s Gettysburg address.


Rylie:        What’s that?


Alex:         t’s the Sermon on the Mount delivered by Jesus Christ.  It is also called the Beatitudes.  Do you know what Beatitude means?


Caroline:  I do.  A Bee Attitude is how a bee behaves.  For example, collecting pollen is a Bee Attitude.  And buzzing is a Bee Attitude.  And making honey is a Bee Attitude.  And stinging people is also a Bee Attitude.


Rylie:        Caroline, that does sound correct, and it does make for an interesting pun.  But beatitude means something else.


Caroline:  Like what?


Alex:         I think the word comes from the Latin word “Beatus”  BEE  AT US. 


Caroline:  And was does that mean?


Alex:         Beatus means “Blessed.”


Rylie:        That’s it!   All of the beatitudes begin with the words “Blessed.”  So that is why this speech of Jesus is called the Beatitudes.


Caroline:  Now that we’ve got that settled.  Can we talk about some of the meanings of the beatitudes?  Some of the meanings are kind of hard to understand.


Alex:         What do you mean?


Caroline: Well like, “Blessed are you when people persecute you and when they speak falsely about you.”  How can that be happiness or good luck?  How can we say that we would be lucky if someone lied about us and how could we say that we are blessed and happy?

Rylie:        I think that Jesus was teaching his followers about what he valued in life.  Jesus valued telling the truth.  He said that anyone who lied would be living in a cursed state.  So it is much better to be the one who lives in truth and who is lied about than the one who tells lies to hurt other people.


Caroline:  So we are happy and blessed if we get to be the people who tell the truth; the people who tell lies are cursed and they hurt other people when they lie.


Alex:         It can really be hard to stand up for the truth sometimes.  And it is really hurtful when people lie and hurt the reputations of other people.  But Jesus said, if you want to follow him you must be willing to stand up for what is true no matter what people say about you.


Rylie:        What about the so called lucky conditions of life in beatitudes?  Like blessed are the meek, blessed are those who mourn?  Why would being meek or mourning be good at all?


Caroline:  Meek means to be humbly patient. This is the opposite of being proudly impatient.  People who are proudly impatient are people who trample all over the feelings and rights of other people. People who act that way are living a cursed life. The people who are humbly patient are those who have the Spirit within them giving them self-control. But how do humbly patient people inherit the earth? It appears that proudly impatient people just go ahead and take as much as they want.


Rylie:        Inheriting the earth means we get something free from our parents. And people who know God as their heavenly parent know that God has given them the blessing of the created world. This does not mean having lots of money and big houses. It means God has given us the world as a gift for us to enjoy. It is much better to have the gift of enjoying the world than just to own property. But why do you think mourning is a blessed condition of life?


Alex:         I think that mourning can be a blessed condition of life not because we always like to feel sad and cry. What Jesus probably means is that people who have mourned in their lives will know how to comfort and be with people who are sad. It is the gift of empathy. Empathy is knowing how other people feel and so you know how to comfort them. When you know how to comfort other people you can also know comfort for yourself and you can be thankful that you learned how to mourn.


Rylie:        That is a different kind of mourning than being a cry baby. Not that I would ever call anyone that!  But what is good about being poor in spirit? Isn’t is better to be wealthy and rich in Spirit.

Caroline:  I think what that means is that God’s Holy Spirit is the wealthiest Spirit of all. And if we think our own little spirits are the greatest and wealthiest then we will not make room for God’s Holy Spirit. So we have to learn how poor our spirits are to find out how much we need to ask the Holy Spirit to be strong and rich at the center of our lives.  When we discover the Holy Spirit within us, then we truly know that we are living in the kingdom of heaven.


Alex:         Quiz time!  How can you and I know for certain that we are children of God?


Rylie:        If we are peacemakers then we will know that we are children of God?


Caroline:   I think that is why we pass the peace every Sunday in church.  We practice the greeting of peace so that we take this as the way that we’re supposed to live with all people.  I know that my mom and dad are happy with me as their child when I live at peace with my dear sister.  So God is really happy with his children when they also live at peace with each other and when they help to bring peace to everyone.  But there is something important needed to make peace happen.


Alex:         What is that?


Caroline:  Since we are not perfect people and we have to live together, we need to practice forgiveness.


Rylie:        Jesus said, “Blessed are the merciful for they will receive mercy.”  Everyone who is not perfect needs mercy.  And the best thing that an imperfect person can do is to have mercy.


Alex:         And it just so happens that people who have mercy also receive mercy.  When we pray the Lord’s Prayer we say, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”


Caroline:  Yes, we should treat other people the way that we want to be treated.  So if we want mercy for ourselves, we need to practice forgiveness.  Well, this preaching makes me hungry.  I hope we have some good snacks in coffee hour.


Rylie:        Hold it Caroline.  Jesus said you should hunger and thirst for righteousness.


Caroline:  I’m sorry but my growling stomach tells me that hunger is not a metaphor. It’s how I really feel.


Alex:         That’s the point Jesus is trying to make.  He is saying that we should have a longing and a desire to do what is right.  And if we do what is right, then we will be filled.  We will be satisfied and contented.  But I think one of the hardest sayings of Jesus is when he said, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”


Rylie:        Doesn’t it say in other places in the Bible that no one can see God?  Isn’t this like saying if we were birds then we would be able to fly; but since we’re not birds, we will never be able to fly?


Caroline:  It might mean that when we learn to have the correct motives in life that we will begin to see how God is involved in our lives.  The Holy Spirit is working to create in us a clean heart and as our heart become pure, then we can better understand what God is doing in our lives and in our world.


Alex:         So we’re never going to be perfect, but we can always become “more perfect” today than we were yesterday.


Rylie:        As we find the good and right reason for doing everything then we will understand or see God more clearly.


Caroline:  Well, these beatitudes are not for the bees, they are for us.  And they are some very difficult habits of living for us to succeed at.


Alex:         Yes, Jesus set a very high standard for us, but this is good because it is better to have very high standards and fail than to have very low standards and not achieve much.


Rylie:        People of St. John’s, Jesus invites us and the entire world to learn to live by the beatitudes.


Caroline:  We are lucky, happy and blessed people if we are learning to adjust our lives to the beatitudes.


Alex:         Let us thank Jesus today for the high standards that he gives to us.  It means that we need God’s mercy and help as we try to follow the high standards that have been given to us.


Rylie:        Jesus gave us the beatitudes.  And now all I’ve got to say is, “Let’s get to work and follow Jesus towards the beatitudes.”  Amen.

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