Saints and Blessings (All Saints Sunday)

Sermons on YouTube…

The Beatitudes are among the most famous sayings of Jesus.  And yet, whenever we read them, I’m concerned that people hear them in one of two ways, neither of which is correct.

The first way is to read the Beatitudes as Jesus’ call to enjoy our misery!  Blessed are those who mourn – it’s better for you to be sad and miserable, and you should enjoy it.  But I’m certain that’s not what Jesus meant.  Otherwise, he wouldn’t have gone on to say that those who mourn would be comforted.  No, the beatitudes are not a call to Christian masochism.

But another way is to read the Beatitudes is as a form of denial.  Yes, you may be poor, hungry and persecuted, but someday in heaven all will be right.  So, just ignore what you and your neighbors are going through now and wait for heaven.  The thing is, Jesus goes on in the same sermon to tell people to live righteously, to help their neighbors and to be a light in the world around them.  So this also can’t be what Jesus meant.

Still, most of the times I’ve read the Beatitudes before, life has been OK for me and the world around me.  Yes, there’s always a crisis in the world.  And there’s always been some personal pain somewhere in my life. 

But Covid has been different.  For me, and probably for most of us, living through this time of pandemic has been a constant and sometimes crushing feeling.  It’s made feeling like the world is coming down upon us a daily, existential reality.

And so on this All Saints Day, that’s made me really wonder what the heck Jesus is talking about in the Beatitudes when he talks about blessing in the midst of suffering, oppression and evil.  And what does it mean for those of us who are called to be Jesus’ saints?

In my article for this month’s Glad Tidings newsletter, I wrote about the need for thankfulness in times when it doesn’t seem like there’s much to be thankful for.  I remember reading an article a few years ago that said, purely from a mental health standpoint, that it was helpful to conclude each day by thinking about at least three things that you were thankful for that day.  This was especially true on bad days, when finding things to be thankful for might be hard!  But the article said that people who did that built up a kind of emotional and mental resiliency that many others didn’t. So over the past few weeks, I’ve been working on a personal list of “19 Things I’m Thankful for During Covid-19”. 

And as I was thinking about those things in the context of the Beatitudes, it occurs to me that perhaps Jesus means that the saints are blessed because they can see blessings even and especially in the midst of pain and suffering – it’s not that the bad stuff isn’t bad; but it’s not all there is…

• And some of the things on my list are quite simple – for example, as a non-morning person, I haven’t had to set an alarm in months!; because I spend more time working out of the house, I can take longer walks with Blake; and (while I know I really shouldn’t count this as something I’m thankful for) Synod Assembly got cancelled this year (and maybe will be next year, too..!)

• And I know that I’m not alone in this.  Lots of others have experienced the ability to focus more deeply on important relationships; to realize things that are really important in their lives; and sometimes even lose weight…!  The bad stuff is real and often painful, but it’s not all there is…

• Maybe Jesus says the saints are blessed because they see God’s good gifts even when things are painful for them and the world around them…

It also occurs to me that perhaps Jesus means that the saints are blessed because they can see new ways of living and acting which they might not have seen had it not been for the conflict and stress.  Certainly, that’s been the case for lots of us, too.  As bad as Covid has been, and perhaps because of it, we’ve discovered:

• There are different ways of working than simply showing up in an office… (and it’s often been more productive and less stressful); and there are ways of doing meetings that are better for the environment if we don’t always have to have a whole bunch of people driving to one location…

• New ways of being church together, and (sort of paradoxically) new opportunities to connect with others even in a time of distancing …

• Snow days may even be a thing of the past (even though nobody wants to do school online on a regular basis, it could be used durning snow emergencies, and kids wouldn’t have to stay in school through the end of June in snowy years…)

• So maybe Jesus says the saints are blessed because they see the opportunities to live in new ways, and to shape the life of the world more into the image of the kingdom of God.  Maybe the blessing isn’t the pain per se, but the realization of new opportunities God puts before us, which might have been there all along, but which we wouldn’t have seen without the difficult situation…

And it occurs to me also that perhaps Jesus means that the saints are blessed because they can experience hope even in the midst of the problems.  Sometimes, experiencing hope – and sharing a vision of hope – is the thing you most need to get through tough times.  But the vision that makes the saints blessed is a vision that includes this life. It’s a vision that makes it worthwhile to hunger and thirst for righteousness and peace right here and right now.  And being able to see and share that vision is what helps people get through difficult times.

• To be sure, there are visions, like the vision from Revelation in today’s first reading, of life in heaven with God, where God will wipe away every tear, and most assuredly Covid also!

• But in our congregation, there are people who work for companies that are developing vaccines.  And people who are working on Operation Warp Speed to deliver it.  When I speak to those folks, I’m reminded that God is working through them and others to bring about hope beyond this present crisis, not just in heaven, but in the foreseeable future…

• So maybe Jesus means that the saints are blessed because they see hope for the future – surely in the afterlife, but also for this life as well, because they know God is still present and isn’t finished with us yet!

Today, as we remember the saints who have gone before us in our lives, it’s often the case that the people we remember as saints in our lives were the people who taught us how to see God’s blessings even in the midst of difficult times; they were the people who taught us that following Jesus was never more necessary than when times were tough; and they were the people who modeled hope for us even in the face of darkness.

So now it’s our turn.  Jesus calls us today to be saints by recognizing the blessings God is giving us, even and especially in difficult times.  Jesus calls us today to be saints by acting faithfully to share those blessings, even when things are personally bad for us.  And Jesus is calling us to be saints by modeling the kind of hope that gives others in our world the strength and courage to meet the days ahead.

Amen.