January 29, 2023 – 4th Sunday after Epiphany

For the next three weeks, our Gospel reading from Matthew will be an excerpt from the Sermon on the Mount, perhaps the most famous extended teaching of Jesus from the Gospels. This week, we have the first part of the Sermon, what is often called the Beatitudes.

You may recall a sermon where I said that these are attitudes of being – things which we should BE, ways we should live. It’ s a different way to look at these phrases that we think we know. But I wonder, what would happen if, instead of learning the ten commandments and posting them everywhere, we posted these little nuggets of our faith. What if we put up little banners of the Be-Attitudes around the sanctuary. These are glimpses of what living in heaven will look like for the faithful. What if we put them around our house, even just one in a place. Something we could focus on daily throughout our ho-hum lives.

But my friends, Jesus isn’ t condemning us for not living into this promise. Rather, Jesus is blessing those who already have a vision of what it means to be fully alive in Christ. Jesus is encouraging those who haven’ t yet caught that vision to lean into the possibilities that might be.

But how do we, as followers of Jesus, balance the blessing that we have for envisioning what it means to be fully alive in Christ with encouraging others who haven’ t yet caught the vision to examine what might be?

I keep talking about inviting and welcoming, because this is what it truly means. We all need to feel the blessing –  the presence of Spirit and affirmation of our desire to follow Christ. And by all, I do mean all. But we can still challenge ourselves to continue in the way that leads to God’ s reign here on earth. We invite our neighbors and friends into the presence of God here –  whether in a church service, party, or just friendship –  and we welcome them when they make a genuine connection with Christ. And once they – and we – make that genuine connection, there is always a challenge to do better, to grow more, and to share more of God’ s good news with others.

My friends, where do we go from here? I believe we started to come up with our own vision of our future yesterday in our Vestry Retreat. This is a mutual journey –  it’ s our vision of the future of St. Michael and All Angels. It’s a vision that takes us from our known present reality into the unknown scariness of God. I liken this to having a child who plays with legos. You know your kid has played with legos in a room, but you take a step of faith into that room in bare feet, trusting that God will direct your feet to avoid those blasted toys that can gouge holes in your feet like you never knew plastic could…

Regardless, we cannot assume that those who come to visit us know where to go from here. People who didn’ t grow up in the church don’ t know how to be a part of the life of the church. Hold their hand. Provide help.

We cannot continue to keep the gift of our church to ourselves. We must share it. It’ s scary stuff. It’ s hard work. It makes us feel better if we don’ t have to do the work. But we are not blessed because we keep to ourselves. We are blessed by God to be a blessing to others.