Blessed, for what?

And yet as we talked she was able to smile a bit through her pains, with the wisdom of her years of experience in the faith when I reminded her about what the nurses cannot take away:

the promise of the Lord Jesus to hold onto her, no matter what.

May each of us hold onto our true blessings whenever we are faced with a time of hardship!

We're working on a definition of a blessing.

--It is not merely something which makes us feel good or comfortable.

--Rather, a blessing is the event of Christ's word which points us toward the fulfillment.

--A blessing changes something devilish into something heavenly.

--A blessing makes life just a little more like it will be when God's power is fully known.

So, then, to follow this idea into some specific situations:

--A blessing is what can break down the strife of an argument that has gone on for years.

--A blessing helps us venture to invite someone to join us in worship.

--A blessing is what identifies and places new leaders and renewed vision in the congregation.

--A blessing is what gets us stirred and moving again in the morning.

In summary:

--A blessing is what is not yet

breaking into the present

to become what might be.

Perhaps everyone has put the ribbon markers in place for the next hymn, and have been wondering why it was chosen.

Maybe we'll have an early spring, if the groundhog folks were right, but still, it may seem a bit overly optimistic to be singing “We Plow the Fields and Scatter” today.

It is for the sake of the refrain of this hymn:

All good gifts around us are send from heaven above , So thank the Lord, so thank the Lord for all his love.

That is is cue for our entire life, isn't it?

Upon arising, at table, before bed, together at church, alone in crisis --

whenever, and at all times, say Thank you, Lord , by what we say and what we do.

So, now we have investigated the idea of blessing,

--discerning what they are,

--and remembering that our proper reaction is to give thanks to God.

This brings us back to our first observation that as people who have been blessed, who have been pointed toward a particular future, we cannot do just whatever we please, since Jesus has an exclusive claim upon us.

The harsh Gospel lesson hits us over the head today.

There are consequence, terrible, hard consequences, when we do not receive with joy the blessings which God offers to us.

The Gospel lesson is a whole litany of consequences:

(1) swearing cheapens you because it devalues the Lord God who is the Word of blessing.

(2) divorce is tragic because it is the recognition that one or both partners have not been able to find or hold onto God's blessing in their relationship.

(3) adultery, lust, murder, anger are the kinds of things that happen when we forget about the idea of blessings,

when we begin to treat a blessing as our own private possession which we can use or dispose of as we wish.

(4) Jesus names a group of three things –murder, insult, name-calling – that is decreasing in magnitude, that at the same time has three punishments – judgment, council, and eternal fire – which are increasing in severity.

This is very unsettling, but it seems as though Jesus wants it known that sin and brokenness of relationships at whatever level is serious business.

There is no such thing as a little sin, an insignificant hate, or casual murder; they are all destructive.

(5) And then there is the great exaggerations that Jesus uses in listing the punishments.

We would all be blind quadriplegics if we followed literally the cutting off of limbs, etc. as punishments for failings!

Again, he is pointing out how utterly seriously he takes the community of the future, the church when it is what it finally will be.

The presence of sin is itself destructive of the body of the church,

and we must be aware of this problem, and diligent in working against it.

No, we won't be successful until the end, but we are indeed directed to be working right now on the problem inside of ourselves and among our number.

Both words and actions are important.

In our day, talk seems to be ever cheaper.

It seems to some to be such a quaint thing to say what one means, and mean what one says.

So much of what passes for public speech, for political speech, even for personal speech is meaningless, or perhaps even lies.

This is tremendously significant for the God who creates by Word,

for the God who comes among us as the Word made flesh,

for the God who makes promises by Word and action,

for the God whose very nature is conversation within the Father Son and Holy Spirit.

Cheap words must indeed be a very serious matter for the Lord God.

Blessed? Yes, indeed.

We have indeed received blessings which are the events of Christ's Word pointing us toward the fulfillment.