January 5

The New Testament scripture is the first of 3 parts of the Sermon on The Mount. This part of the scripture contains the Beatitudes. First a disclaimer. I worked all summer long on the Beatitudes since I am teaching this to the Women of Mt Vernon Presbyterian all year long in Presbyterian Women. I know way more about these 8 verses than I do lots of books of the Bible. So this is a cheat.
First, this is a poem. It is definitely one of the "Sayings of Jesus" that constitutes the Q part of Matthew and Luke. There are 2 stanzas and a coda. The poem is about 2 different people. The first stanza is verse 3-6. It is describing a person who is in terrible crisis. They are extremely poor, mourning a loved one, beaten down by the powerful, and longing for justice. God loves this person and will lift them up. Maybe not in this life, but God has not forgotten or abandoned them in their crisis. The second stanza (verses 7-10) is about someone who is in relative stability. But in order to be blessed by God, the person has to show mercy, work on renouncing sin, making peace rather than discord and helping the ones who are looking for justice. At various times in our lives, we are either one of these peoples. At no time are you abandoned by God. But if you are a stanza 2 person right now, you've got obligations. Stanza 1 people just have to hold on.
The word Beatitude is a conflagration of two words -- beatify and attitude. Beatify means to glorify God. So a Beatitude is glorifying God no matter what your circumstances. You might not be able to avoid being oppressed but you can praise God. Easy to say, hard to do.
And just a thought on the finish of the Proverb that arched from yesterday to today -- I cannot help but think of the folks in New Jersey, Connecticut, and New York this summer who ignored the storm and didn't prepare. Or how they ridiculed the City of New York for shutting down the subway. "Nothing happened..." (Would they rather have a train operator injured so they could have the possibility of getting to their deli on Saturday???) We seem to have a mental block about being prepared. I personally know people who would rather die than leave the Emerald Coast of Florida even when a hurricane shows a direct hit. Wisdom would have us prepare and even, yes, evacuate when the powers that be say go. That is why She was busy waving her arms and yelling at us. This is true about much of life. Sometimes, just the prep work is a teaching moment for us and/or our children. Planning, budgeting, scheduling, having an escape plan. You hope you never need it but it is great to know that you have a Plan B and you've practiced it enough times that everyone knows their part and how to execute it. I am thinking I am going to jump up and do a fire drill.