Sure, the Beatitudes make a nice little framework for a life of faith in Jesus. Maybe I'll work on them sometimes, you know, like a church-related hobby. But we wouldn't want to go all in on them, would we? What would people think? We'd seem to be some kind of Jesus freaks if we did that. People might be mean to us. Some might even be angry! Jesus didn't really mean for his followers to take this stuff personally, did he?

Oh, let me tell you, he made this all VERY personal when he told us to put the salt of our lives into our manure!

Wait, what?

Join us today for salt, light, and the ninth blessing.

Is there any way to look at being made to suffer at the hands of others that could be considered any kind of a blessing? And yet, Jesus offers us this wild saying that says we are blessed when we are persecuted for righteousness! What the heck is he going on about there? Has he spent too much time in the sun?

Today, we dive into this Beatitude to uncover what it means and - just as importantly! - what it DOESN'T mean. And what, exactly, it means for those of us who are trying to follow the Way of Jesus that leads us into the Kingdom of God.

"In the real world, that stuff [that Jesus said] doesn't work."
This was said to me by a pastor friend as we discussed the importance of following the Way of Jesus as he laid it out. Our disagreement was about how we are to respond to those who are or may be trying to harm us.

That friend is no longer a pastor, which I think is probably for the best, because if a representative of Jesus doesn't believe the teaching and example of Jesus matters in "the real world" then they aren't representing Jesus, are they? I believe that the things of Jesus ARE the real world and his instructions often lead us to take positions which don't match our culture.

Like when he said that if we want to be identified as God's people, we need to make peace in all things...

Purity and holiness sound like terribly boring religious concepts requiring us to lead dull lives enclosed in harsh boundaries, deprivation, and perfection. When we screw up, we're out, right? ZAP goes the lightning, then straight into the depths of depravity and destruction!

Yeah, that would be every bit as horrible as it sounds. Fortunately, that's not at all what the Bible means when it talks about being pure in heart! Remember that Jesus was pure in heart but his opponents got all over him for spending so much time at parties and having too much fun. So what DOES it mean and how do we get to live out the going to parties purity instead of the drudgery version? Join us for today's discussion and hear for yourself!

Sometimes people suck, and when they do they should be held up for ridicule and contempt and mockery... Oh, wait. That's what we DO, but is that what Jesus asks of his followers? Is it the example God provides us with? Or are we supposed to find it in ourselves, somehow, to show mercy?

I suspect you already know the answer. Maybe looking at the examples Jesus gave for showing mercy will give us some hope that we might be able to learn how to do it. Or maybe we'll decide that we just don't care for that instruction and we'll stick with being unforgiving jerks who refuse mercy because we don't think some people are worthy of it.

How do you think a citizen of the Kingdom of God would act?

Now that we've spent a few weeks talking about being blessed, let's talk about what the word BLESSED means and how it may not be exactly what we've been thinking it is.

Then let's talk about the deeper meaning of righteousness and how it's something for every one of us to embrace, not just a thing for holiness superstars. Something to consider: Being righteous doesn't come from following rules! It's based on something else entirely. Something we all want!

Just because things rhyme, that doesn't mean they are the same. If you use a cat for a bat, you'll never get a hit, and if you wear it as a hat, you'll probably regret it. And yet we tend to mix up meekness by thinking it is a weakness when the reality is that it takes a lot more strength to live out meekness than it does to dominate, bully, or push your way over the top of anyone else.

Well then, what IS meekness? And how could we live it out, if we chose to give it a try? And what does any of this have to do with an argument about Moses having married (according to his sister) above his station? For that, I guess you'll need to join us for this week's dip into the Beatitudes of Jesus.

Today we start with a lesson in the obvious: Life hurts. There are wounds which we need to tend to or they will fester and drive us to self-destructive means of altering or covering the pain because we just want it to stop hurting. Or the pain takes over so much that we don't realize we can feel anything else. How can there be any blessing in pain or loss or disappointment?

But maybe there is...

This week, we explore how that might work, and why we are never so alone as we think.