This afternoon on my Zoom with the kids they asked to watch a little video about the Beatitudes. These videos are pretty simple and they always end with a question that we can talk about. But I was struck as this first verse was mentioned and have thought this evening about what Jesus may have meant when he said it. The Beatitudes are found in Matthew 5: 1-12 and are part of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. At first glance you might read them with a bit of confusion....why would being poor in spirit be a good thing?
The longer we are socially distanced from one another, the more often I hear sadness and grief in the voices at the other end of the phone. I've spoken with so many of you who are feeling unproductive and really beating yourselves up about not accomplishing all the things on your to-do lists. This unique and strange head and heart space is taking its toll. For some it is motivation to reach out and call, write, zoom, and generally connect with as many people as possible. For others, lethargy, sadness, and a deep feeling of being lost are companions on the journey. For all of us though, there seems to be this profound realization that we really DO need one another.
It is really easy to take our people for granted. It's easy to get short tempered with the people you know are stuck with you - right? These days it is easy to focus on what we are missing out on, the things we long for, what WE want...and to forget that there's a much larger movement at work for the good of the whole. And yet, these days in that recognition of how much we long for our church, our friends, far-away family members, the normalcy of shopping and eating out without concern, it's in the midst of all of that, when we begin to understand what Jesus meant by poor in spirit.
Being poor in spirit means that what I want is not more or less important than what others want, that having my needs met is not more important than the needs of others. I suppose in some sense it is a form of humility, yet it is also a way of being, or a rule of life even. Jesus is constantly calling his followers into an active form of sacrificial love.
Now, don't hear me as beating up on any of you. Because what I think we forget is that caring for ourselves may also be a true act of sacrificial love right now. If you're feeling like you are the only one who can't seem to get it together, or that you should be accomplishing more, or that you're wasting this opportunity - remember that when Jesus called us to love our neighbor, he finished with....as you love yourself. Are you showing yourself the grace and kindness that you show others?
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of God. When I think about the Kingdom of God I marvel at the way God fashions us all uniquely, and as Paul said, we are one member of the Body of Christ - but think what we would be without all the other people making up the other parts! We aren't supposed to do this life thing in solitude - because it is when we interact with people who think and act differently than we do, that we catch one more glimpse of the identity of God. The Kingdom of God is here...and not yet. It is breaking into this world in which we live currently, it is the voice of God challenging us to really ponder what's most important, to look hard until we see the Image of God in ALL people.
So whether this finds you completely irritated at the world and the people with whom you share your current space, riding high on quarantine productivity, or feeling like you might not make it another day....remember that you're never alone and that YOUR piece of the Body of Christ is a creation of the Great I AM. You are crucial to what God is doing in the here and now....yes, even in quarantine time. May we continue our journey into the new normal, where I pray poor in spirit leads the way.
Love to you this rainy night.
Pastor Devon
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