The lens through which we see life is formed early in our lives. We pick up the attitudes of our parents and all they try to teach us. We absorb the cultural goals for us. We see through the attitudes of our peers in school and whether we are accepted or not. The pain and […]
The fourth Beatitude, Blessed Are They Who Hunger and Thirst for Righteousness, is, to me, the heart of the Beatitudes. To step on this rung of the ladder, after acknowledging that we need God in our poverty of spirit, after mourning our losses and suffering, and after seeing ourselves as meek, just one of billions […]
When we have acknowledged our poverty(poor in spirit) and chosen God to be our redeemer, when we have mourned all the losses and pain and suffering we have endured, then the next step is to be meek. Meekness or humility is not a quality that we Americans seek, so this is the third countercultural move […]
Jesus is very clear about grief in the second Beatitude: those who mourn will be comforted. [Matthew 5:4] Unexpressed grief, sorrow, pain and suffering keeps us tied to the past and unable to be present in our lives or present to God. Mostly what happens is that anger at the injustice, the pain we have […]
The Sermon on the Mount is an insightful summary of Jesus’s teachings in the Gospels. And, to me, the Beatitudes show what the teachings lead us to—complete devotion to God. So this 8-week series will focus on each of the Beatitudes and relevant passages in the rest of the Sermon. I would group the Beatitudes […]
3.15.21 We absorb so much from our culture and our families. I’ve read that before the age of six, we have absorbed what our parents are trying to teach us. Then, add to those instructions any abuse or trauma or illness or suffering in the young child and the self-image of the child is […]
“As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me […]
Jesus came into this world not just to bear and atone for our sin, but also to teach us, to show us how to live our lives as servants of God. So many of His teachings add to our understanding of God’s laws and go way the Ten Commandments, beyond the letter-of-the-law interpretations. He […]
Since March 2020 the COVID-19 has ruled our lives, from working at home instead of in the office, to wearing masks everywhere we go, to few parties or group encounters, to so many changes in the school schedules. It’s been dizzying and trying. And yet, we human beings are highly adaptable. So, we have done […]
2.22.21 Prayer Prayer is a broad spectrum of practices that keep us in touch with God. From memorized prayers like the Lord’s Prayer to any dialogue with God to silence in His presence, the ways of prayer are varied and rich. Prayer is asking God for help and healing for ourselves and others. It […]