"Those Through Whom God's Light Shines." A Sermon from Littlefield Presbyterian Church on All Saints Sunday.

"Those Through Whom God's Light Shines"

Luke 6:20-31

            In today’s gospel reading we heard some of the Bible’s most challenging descriptions of the Christian life.   It’s what’s known in the gospel of Luke as the “sermon on the plain.”  The parallel “Sermon on the Mount” in Matthew is better known-- but I think Luke’s version is even more demanding. 

Both start with what’s known as the Beatitudes:  Blessed are you who are poor.  Blessed are you who are hungry…you who weep and mourn…you who are persecuted.  But Luke’s version continues with the “Woes:” Woe to you who are rich now.  Woe to you who are well fed now…you who laugh now…you who are applauded and commended.  You’ve already had your rewards.”

            Both versions are followed with a series of instructions for how to live as a Christian.  “Love your enemies.  Do good to those who hate you.  Bless those who curse you.  Pray for those who abuse you.  If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other cheek also.  If anyone takes away your coat, don’t withhold even your shirt.  Give to everyone who begs from you.  If anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again.” 

            Surely Jesus isn’t calling us to be naïve-- and easily exploited doormats for everybody else to wipe their feet on?  But surely Jesus doesn’t mean for us to ignore these words because they are too hard.  So…   how are we supposed to understand this?

           

According to Jesus, it is better to be poor in things and rich in spirit—than it is to be rich in things and poor in spirit.  There is joy and celebration for those who enjoy the reign of God, but those who trust in the riches of the present world have received all they will ever have.  What Jesus teaches is radically counter-cultural. 

            The culture says, “Show me the money,” while faith says, “Give me the kingdom.”  The world says, “I want it my way—now,” while faith says, “I’ll take it God’s way—in God’s time.”  The society says, “What you see is what you get,” while faith says, “What you see may well be an illusion.”

            When I was studying Hebrew and Greek in seminary, we had to read passages were translating aloud in class.  In English, you can’t tell the difference between “you” singular and “you” in the plural, but you can in the original Greek.  So, we sounded a bit “Southern” when we did our translations-- when we would read “you all” to distinguish from you in the singular form. 

            When we read “Blessed are you who are poor… blessed are you who are hungry now,” it’s clear in the Greek that it’s plural.    “Blessed are you all who are poor.”  “Blessed are you all who are hungry.”

            What difference does it make?  If I say to [one of you], ‘I need you to lift the piano off the floor,’ I don’t that s/he’s going to be able to do it.  It would be a real struggle.  But if I say to the choir or to the people sitting in the third pew, ‘You all need to lift the piano off the floor’—I think you all could do it.

                       

            This morning we’re celebrating All Saints’ Day.  It’s about remembering the Christians who have gone before us...  those who have shown us what it means to walk in the way of Jesus Christ.  It reminds us that we’re part of the “communion of the saints.” 

            So…  on this All Saints Sunday-- greetings to all you saints. 

            Does that make you squirm a little?   Most of us don’t think of ourselves as being very saintly.  We might be able to relate to what Nelson Mandela said when somebody called him a saint.  Mandela said, “I’m just a sinner who keeps on trying.”

            I think that’s a good way to think of it.  We are all sinners, in need of God’s redemption.  In some Christian denominations, saints are people who have lived exceptionally holy lives.  But, in our baptism, we are called into a holy priesthood.  So, in the New Testament understanding, any Christian is a saint.

            In the Catholic tradition, on each day of the year there are certain saints who are remembered.  Two of the best-known examples are St. Patrick’s Day and St. Valentine’s Day. 

            Over the centuries, there got to be more saints than there were days in the year.  The church also realized that there were many people who lived saintly lives, but who did so in such a quiet way that most people never knew about them.  So, All Saints’ Day was created as a day to remember all the saints.

            In the Protestant tradition, we have come to understand the word “saint” as not just referring to a special select few Christians.  Rather, we have come to understand the word “saint” in a broader sense—in the biblical sense.  All Saints’ Day is a day to remember all the faithful people of God.

            We remember that saints aren’t just those who did miraculous and amazing things.  The saints are also all those people across the years who showed their faith in Jesus by how they lived their lives.  Quite often, that faith was shown in very quiet and simple ways.

            It’s been said that a saint is someone who lets God’s light shine through them.   As followers of Jesus Christ, we are called to be “the light of the world.”  God’s light shines into the darkness of this world, and we are called to let God’s light shine through us.

            It isn’t our light that is shining:  it is the light of God, shining through our lives. 

           

            The apostle Paul began some of his letters by writing, “To all the saints at Rome…or Ephesus…or Corinth”—even if he was going to spend part of the letter telling them how they’ve been failing in the Christian life and need to do better.  Their failures don’t keep Paul from calling them “saints.” 

As Will Willimon says, “A saint is any Christian, anyone whom God has called out to be blessed… baptized… different… distinctive.  Saints are those ordinary people who have had their little lives caught, commandeered by Christ in rather extraordinary ways.  And for that, Jesus calls them “blessed.”[1]

            We are called together to be the church.  The church is in the business of producing and equipping saints for their ministries.

            Think about it.  You are the only word from the Lord that some people will ever hear.  So, you—you all-- are blessed and sent out into the world to be God’s word in a troubled, hurting, confused world. You and I are called to embody God’s love and light to the people we meet who are sad… or lonely… or hungry…or just need a friend. 

            The GOOD NEWS is that you are not alone.  On this All Saints Sunday, we remember the saints who have gone on before us, trusting in the promises of Christ and the reign of God.  We are in a long line, part of a procession of people of faith who are rooted in the past and march on toward an eternal hope. While we who are a part of the Communion of Saints here on earth labor on for the kingdom of God, the rest of the Communion of saints, those who’ve gone on before, are cheering us on!

            Saints, the light of God shines through your lives.  It is not our light that is shining:  it is the light of God, shining through our lives.  So, let the light of God shine through you so that others may know God’s hope and peace and joy! 

To God who is able to accomplish abundantly

            far more than all we can ask or imagine--

            to God be the glory in the church... 

            and in Christ Jesus... 

            to all generations, for ever and ever! Amen!  (Ephesians 3:20)

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[1] William Willimon, “Saints, All of You” at www.chapel.duke.edu/worship/sunday/

"Blessed Are the Peacemakers." A meditation for the Interfaith Prayers for Peace" at Littlefield Presbyterian Church.

Some of the leaders and participants at Interfaith Prayers for Peace at Littlefield Presbyterian Church, 2018.

"Blessed Are the Peacemakers"

Matthew 5:1-16

         The verses we just heard are from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.” We heard Jesus speaking what we call the Beatitudes:  "Blessed are the poor in spirit...  the mourners...  the meek... the merciful...   Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you....  Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven."^[1]

            Blessed are you who mourn. 

            For those of us who long for a better, more peaceful world, this is a distressing time. There are so many things to mourn.

            More than 400 children who were separated from their families at the southern border are still separated from their families.

            The mass shootings happen so often that we don’t even hear about most of them.

            People struggle to deal with the ways trauma from assault changed their lives, and the hashtag #Why I didn’t report is trending in social media.

            The list could go on and on…

            There are so many things to mourn.  Like poverty and injustice, in our communities, in our nation, and in the world.

            In the United States of America--one of the richest countries in the world. children remain the poorest age group. According to the Children’s Defense Fund, nearly one in five children--12.8 million in total-- were poor in 2017. Over 45 percent of these children lived in extreme poverty at less than half the poverty level.

            3 million children in the U.S. live in families surviving on $2 a day per person.[1]

            The federal poverty threshold is $12,140 for individuals and $25,100 for a family of four. One in seven people in the United States live below the federal poverty threshold. That’s 13.9% of the population, or 44.7 million. According to this federal threshold, a single adult making $12,141 is not poor, though they are considered “low income.”   The wealthiest 1 percent of American households own 40 percent of the country’s wealth, which is more than at any time in the past fifty years. [7]
            When we look around and see all the injustice and need, it can feel overwhelming and despairing.  But we don’t have to work alone.  I find myself mourning all this violence and need, and longing to do something. 

            So, what can we do? 

           We can begin by praying together and forging bonds of friendship and solidarity… getting to know one another better… opening our hearts and minds to one another… and finding ways to work together to change the world. 

            Sometimes, it’s a matter of seeing a need and working together to relieve suffering and let people know we care, like the time a group of interfaith friends gathered needed items for Syrian refugees and got together in somebody’s basement in this neighborhood and packed them for sending them.  People of different faiths work together with Project Dignity to feed desperately poor people in Detroit and address the needs of women and children through Zaman International.

            More than fifty years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. declared in his famous speech “A Time to Break Silence” that, “True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar. It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring.”

            Last May, on the Monday after Mother’s Day, in our nation’s capital and in state capitals around the country, people who are committed to work for a fairer society gathered to launch the first phase of a new Poor People’s Campaign. This is an interfaith movement, made up of older people and younger people, Jews, Muslims, Christians, people of other faiths and people of goodwill who aren’t part of a religious community. It’s a movement that gives voice to people who are directly impacted by poverty and injustice, that brings people together in solidarity as we work together in a series of actions to try to change the conversation in our nation about systemic injustice.

            There’s hard work to be done.   But we can work together to make a difference.  There are values our faith traditions hold in common—values that have to do with love and justice and peace. 

            For all people of faith and goodwill, this is a time for us to find ways to come together and work for a better, more peaceful, merciful, and just world--for everyone.
            As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “We must learn to live together as brothers [and sisters] or perish together as fools."

            Our commitment to peace and justice and reconciliation, and our love for our own children, demands that we provide a better inheritance for them.” There’s hard work to be done.   But we can work together to make a difference.

             After worship, we invite you to stay for a time, to enjoy some refreshments and conversation.   We hope you’ll make a new friend today.  Talk with one another about your families—especially your children or grandchildren and about what kind of a world you want to leave for them.

            Talk about what teachings from our various faith traditions inspire and challenge you…and about what common ground you see in our various traditions. Talk about the people who inspire you and challenge you in your commitment.

            Let’s renew our commitment to change the world-- beginning today. 

            Amen!

Rev. Fran Hayes, Pastor

Littlefield Presbyterian Church

Dearborn, Michigan

September 23, 2018

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[1] Child Poverty, at Children’s Defense Fund website:  https://www.childrensdefense.org/policy/policy-priorities/child-poverty/

      

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[1] Child Poverty, at Children’s Defense Fund website:  https://www.childrensdefense.org/policy/policy-priorities/child-poverty/

"Blessed Are Those Through Whom God's Light Shines." A sermon from Littlefield Presbyterian Church on All Saints Sunday.

"Blessed Are They Through Whom God's Light Shines"

Matthew 5:1-16; Rev. 7:9-17

Jesus saw the crowds, and he went up the mountain and sat down, in the classic posture of an authoritative teacher.  He was teaching a New Law, casting a vision of the Kingdom of Heaven.  It quickly becomes apparent that the Beatitudes and the rest of the Sermon on the Mount turn the values of the world upside-down.

            Jesus begins this sermon with a list, but it isn’t a list of “thou shalts” and “thou shalt nots.”  But if the Beatitudes are a description of reality, what world do they describe?  Certainly, not the one we’re living in now.  One of my colleagues puts it this way:

            “Blessed are the meek,” Jesus says. But in our world, the meek don’t get the land, they get left holding the worthless beads. “Blessed are those who mourn,” says Jesus, but in our world mourning may be tolerated for a while, but soon we’ll ask you to pull yourself together and move on. “Blessed are the pure in heart,” says Jesus, but in our world such people are dismissed as being naïve.

            “Blessed are the peacemakers,” says Jesus, but in our world, those who pursue peace risk having their patriotism called into question.

            In the world we live in, it looks like we live by other beatitudes: “Blessed are the well-educated, for they will get the good jobs. Blessed are the well-connected, for their aspirations will not go unnoticed. Blessed are you when you know what you want and go after it with everything you’ve got, for God helps those who help themselves.”   If we’re honest, we have to admit that the world Jesus proclaims is not the world we have made for ourselves.[1]

Our lives as disciples are in need of transformation.  The church and our society--the world--is in need of continuing re-forming.

            Living in the ways of the Kingdom of Heaven isn’t easy.  It doesn’t come naturally.  It’s something we have to learn over time, as disciples.  We learn the ways of heaven in Christian community, where we encourage each other and hold each other accountable.

                       

            This morning we’re celebrating All Saints’ Day.  It’s about remembering those who have gone before us...  and who have shown us what it means to walk in the way of Jesus Christ.  It reminds us that we’re part of the “communion of the saints.” 

            So…on this All Saints Sunday--    GREETINGS to all you saints. 

            Does that make you squirm a little?   Most of us probably don’t think of ourselves as being very saintly.  We might be able to relate to what Nelson Mandela said when somebody called him a saint.  Mandela said, “I’m not a saint unless you think of a sinner who keeps on trying.”   I think that’s a good way to think of it.

            In some parts of the Christian church, saints are people who have lived exceptionally holy lives.  But in the Protestant and Reformed tradition, we’ve come to understand the word “saint” in a broader sense--in the biblical sense.

            The apostle Paul began some of his letters by writing, “To all the saints at Rome…or Ephesus…or Corinth”—even if he was going to spend part of the letter telling them how they’ve been failing in the Christian life and need to do better.  Their failures don’t keep Paul from calling them “saints.” 

As Will Willimon says, “A saint is any Christian, anyone whom God has called out to be blessed… baptized… different… distinctive.  Saints are those ordinary people who have had their little lives caught, commandeered by Christ in rather extraordinary ways.  And for that, Jesus calls them “blessed.”[2]

            Jesus’ teachings about how to live as his followers were handed down to us as a community of people called to live this way together.  It’s a radically different culture than the mainstream culture around us. We are called together to be the church, which is in the business of producing and equipping saints for their ministries.

It would be too hard to live this way as individuals.  But as part of a community of people who are inter-connected with one another, who support and nurture and encourage one another in living prayerfully and generously and hospitably, we can find ways of sustaining each other in the Christian life.

            Think about it.  You may be the only word from the Lord that some people will hear this week or ever.   So, you—you all-- are blessed and sent out into the world to be God’s word in a troubled, hurting, confused world.  

            You and I are called to embody God’s love and light to the people we meet who are sad… or lonely… or hungry… or just need a friend. 

            The GOOD NEWS is that you are not alone.  On this All Saints Sunday, we remember the saints who have gone on before us, trusting in the promises of Christ and the reign of God.  We are in a long line, part of a procession of people of faith who are rooted in the past and march on toward an eternal hope.   While we who are a part of the Communion of saints here on earth labor on for the kingdom of God, the rest of the Communion of saints, past and present, are cheering us on!

            In the Revelation that was given to John, we receive a glimpse that great multitude of saints:

“The redeemed are so numerous they cannot be counted. Who is among them? There is Steven who was stoned and St. Peter who was crucified. Martin Luther. John Calvin. John Knox. John Wycliffe.

There is Dietrich Bonhoeffer, triumphant over the Nazi gallows. There is Bishop Oscar Romero with the Eucharistic prayer of thanksgiving still issuing from his mouth as he was killed for his activism against poverty, social injustice, and torture.

There is Martin Luther King Jr., still praying that his dream will come true for humanity.  Sister Dorothy Stang, who was killed for advocacy for the rural poor in the rain forests of Brazil. Egyptian Copts killed on their pilgrimages.  Hildegard of Bingen.  Mother Teresa.  The list goes on and on. We see a procession of the faithful… these witnesses, through whose lives God’s light shined.

So, I hope we will ponder, with one of my colleagues:  What would it mean if we honored those whom God honors, in how we live our lives?  What would happen if we stopped aspiring to the culture’s prizes of status and power and privilege?  What would it cost us if we lived more deeply into justice and mercy and humility?[3] 

The Beatitudes give us glimpses of what the world looks like when the Lord’s Prayer and the Sermon on the Mount is answered: “Thy kingdom come; thy will be done…” 

What is the world like when God’s will is done? 

           

            Saints, the light of God shines through your lives.  It is not our light that is shining:  it is the light of God, shining through our lives.  So, let the light of God shine through you so that others may know God’s hope and peace and joy! 

To God who is able to accomplish abundantly

            far more than all we can ask or imagine--

            to God be the glory in the church... 

            and in Christ Jesus... 

            to all GENERATIONS...

            for ever and ever!  Amen!

Rev. Fran Hayes, Pastor

Littlefield Presbyterian Church

Dearborn, Michigan

November 5, 2017

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[1] Lance Pape, “Commentary on Matthew 5:1-12, at Working Preacher,  http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=2203

[2] William Willimon, “Saints, All of You” at www.chapel.duke.edu/worship/sunday/

[3] I am grateful to Sarah Dylan Breuer for posing these questions at www.sarahlaughed.net. Cited by Barbara Bruneau in “All the Saints and All the Hypocrites at REVGALBLOGPals.  https://revgalblogpals.org/2017/10/31/revised-common-lectionary-all-the-saints-and-all-the-hypocrites/

"What Does God Require?" A Sermon from Littlefield Presbyterian Presbyterian Church.

"What Does God Require?"

Micah 6:1-8; Matthew 5:1-12

 

            The prophet Micah lived and prophesied during a time of political turmoil and transition, during the second half of the 8^th century BCE, in Judah.  Earlier in the book, Micah describes a kind of religiosity in which people, especially religious leaders, are making a public show of how pious they are, with loud lip service to God.[1]   It seems that the conventional religion of the time kept religious leaders self-satisfied and the powerful in power.  So for a messenger of God to speak prophetic words and proclaim judgment was a subversive act.

            In the reading we heard this morning, we’re told that “the Lord has a controversy with his people.”  We don’t get a list of the transgressions in these verses, but in chapter 3, Micah says to the corrupt rulers, “Should you not know justice?-- you who hate the good and love the evil, who tear the skin off my people, and the flesh off their ones…. Hear this, you rulers of the house of Jacob and chiefs of the house of Israel, who abhor justice and pervert all equity, who build Zion with blood and Jerusalem with wrong! Its rulers give judgment for a bribe, its priests teach for a price, its prophets give oracles for money.  Yet they lean upon the LORD and say, ‘Surely the LORD is with us! No harm shall come upon us.’”[2]

            So, in the passage we heard today, God and the people are involved in a dispute.  God is upset with the people and argues with them through the prophetic voice of Micah.  So, God summons “earthly” observers such as the mountains, hills, and earth’s foundations to listen to this dispute.
            In verses 3-5, God reminds the people of all the wonderful gifts God has provided and God’s actions for the sake of Israel.  It is a brief salvation history with God playing the role of liberator, savior, and provider.
            Basically, God says, “What have I done wrong? I am constantly saving you so that you will always remember my righteous deeds.”  
            Finally, in verses 6-8, the language of dispute is dropped, and we read a series of rhetorical question about what kinds of gifts God desires from us.  “With what shall we come before the Lord?”  Tell us, O God, what kinds of offerings you want from us.           
            God makes it clear what is good:  “Do justice.  Love mercy. Walk humbly with God.”

            This is pretty straightforward.  What’s harder, though, is to live into these requirements as God’s people.  What actions do these requirements call forth from us, as we look into our neighborhoods, into our cities, our nation, and the world?

           

            We look around us today, and we see people who are hurting.  Some people are resentful because they feel like immigrants or people of color are “jumping the line” to get the opportunities they feel are their right.  Someone with a high school diploma or a GED used to be able to get a good job and live a comfortable life, but those opportunities for have been disappearing in this time of globalization and automation.  For some people, if something’s wrong in your life, it’s handy to have a scapegoat you can blame it on.  Somebody who’s different from you-- someone who’s “other.”

            A lot of people are anxious and afraid.  People are afraid of what will happen if they or a loved one gets sick.  Those who are food insecure are afraid they won’t be able to put food on the table for their loved ones.  Some people are so afraid of terrorist attacks they’re willing to cut off access for refugees from Syria an elsewhere and for Muslim immigrants.  The list could go on and on….

            So what are we called to do, as people of faith?

           

            Last Tuesday evening Emily N. and I attended the January meeting of the Presbytery of Detroit.  The January meeting is when the Moderator and Vice-Moderator are installed for the new year, and we come together to celebrate the Lord’s Supper as a presbytery.  An important part of the meeting was a presentation by the Rev. Kevin Johnson and the Rev. Bryan Smith on the theme for the coming year, which is one of the Great Ends of the Church in our Presbyterian Book of Order: “The promotion of social righteousness.” 

            The Great Ends of the Church were adopted in 1910 by one the Presbyterian Church(USA)’s predecessor denominations, just two years after the Federal Council of Churches in the United States (the predecessor of the National Council of Churches, adopted the Social Creed of the Churches, in 1908.  This was in an era when the main character of Charles Sheldon’s best-selling novel, In His Steps challenged his congregation to ask themselves before every decision, “What would Jesus do?”  

            The Presbyterian Church has long been a Christian community that values both personal and public/social morality.  The Great Ends of the Church is a summary of what the church is called to be and why we exist: “the proclamation of the gospel for the salvation of humankind; the shelter, nurture, and spiritual fellowship of the children of God; the maintenance of divine worship; the preservation of the truth; the promotion of social righteousness; and the exhibition of the Kingdom of Heaven to the world.”

            The scripture lessons today and through the season of Epiphany challenge us to live our faith in ways that promote social righteousness and exhibit the kingdom of heaven on earth.  (Tune in next week for Isaiah 58 and more from the Sermon on the Mount.)

            In the past, Presbyterians have promoted social righteousness through involvement in the underground railroad and working for the abolition of slavery and for women’s suffrage.  Presbyterians have fought for basic rights for workers, to eradicate poverty, and for civil rights.   They did so because they believed that those who follow Jesus should act to advance the coming of the kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven.   Their belief was grounded in our scriptures.

           

            Luke tells us that after Jesus was baptized and was tested for forty days in the wilderness, Jesus went to his hometown synagogue in Nazareth and read from the prophet Isaiah:  “The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor.”  Then he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”  People were amazed at Jesus’ teaching until he said something that made them feel uncomfortable.  Then they tried to throw him over the cliff.[3]

            Near the end of Matthew’s gospel, we hear Jesus teaching that the nations will be judged by how we treat those who are marginalized.  I’m going to pause here to say that again:  The nations will be judged by how we treat those who are marginalized. 

            “The king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave me food. I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing I was sick and you took care of me. I was in prison and you visited me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me….’”[4]

            Could it be any more clear that doing justice and acting mercifully are an essential part of our faith and how we show our love for God and neighbor?  So what does this requirement look like for us, in our time?

            For each new time and context, we who follow Jesus must prayerfully discern how we are called to live.  When we study the scriptures and pray, we are challenged to see the face of Christ in those who are “the least,” those in need of mercy and hospitality, those we might be tempted to fear because they are “strangers” to us. 

            One of the things that’s weighing on my heart especially this weekend is the indefinite hold on admitting refugees who have fled Syria and elsewhere, people who have been in a vetting process that lasts 2 or 3 or more years.  I think about several of my friends who have family in Iran and how it could be a very long time until they can see one another face-to-face. 

            In Deuteronomy 10:19 in the Hebrew scriptures, we are taught that we are to love those who are foreigners, “for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt.”   In Leviticus 19:33, we hear: “When an alien resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the alien. The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.”

            So what do we do with these teachings?  How are we called to live?  Is it right or moral or Christian to choose personal comfort and safety and look the other way to avoid seeing those who are hurting or oppressed or in danger or hungry or locked out?  I think we need to be praying about this.  We need to be studying the scriptures and history and remembering how our nation decided to operate out of fear and turned away ships carrying Jewish refugees fleeing the Holocaust, many of whom perished in concentration camps.  We need to be and listening to “the voices of those long silenced” and having holy conversations with one another about who we’re called to be and why we’re here.

            We need to remember that the Gospel is a word of protest.  The Beatitudes are blessings, but they are also a call to action that point us to who Jesus is.  If we listen, we may hear the truth about ourselves.  We will hear what the Kingdom of Heaven is about. 

            This can be scary for some of us.  For some, it may seem inconvenient to hear new truths that call us to change.   But we can live into new adventures in faith with hope when we trust in God’s Holy Spirit to lead us further into God’s way of love. 

            I love the way our Brief Statement of Faith puts it:  “In a broken and fearful world, the Spirit gives us courage to pray without ceasing, to witness among all peoples to Christ as Lord and Savior, to unmask idolatries in Church and culture, to hear the voices of peoples long silenced, and to work with others for justice, freedom and peace.”

            I invite you all-- us all-- to spend some time re-reading these sacred and transformative texts in the coming week.  I pray that we might all find both challenge and blessing in Jesus’ words from the Sermon on the Mount: 

            “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.

            Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.  Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”[5]

           

 May we be found faithful as we live into this blessed way of love and justice and mercy!  Amen!

           

Rev. Fran Hayes, Pastor

Littlefield Presbyterian Church

Dearborn, Michigan

January 29, 2017

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[1] Micah 3.

[2] Micah 3

[3] Isaiah 61; Luke 4:16-30.

[4] Matthew 2532-40

[5] Matthew 5:1-12