We're nearing the end of Holy Week and the shadows are gathering in the passion narrative and in our own lives as a nation. The disciples gathering in the Upper Room could feel the tension rising and so can we. In the midst of it all, we have a teacher who calls us blessed. Jesus turns upside down the very idea of blessing and the image of God's kin-dom. Here's Kate Bowler's take on it
Jesus says, blessed are you when you are at the end of your rope. When you are exhausted and despairing. When tears are your food, morning and night. When your stomach grumbles and your mouth is dry. Blessed are you who forgives the person who never said sorry and who definitely didn't deserve your forgiveness. You who are ridiculed and humiliated, left out and left behind. The timid and the soft-spoken. The one who works toward peace instead of the easy road of vengeance.
The left out will be welcomed with a warm embrace. The forgotten will not just be remembered but honored. The ones who don't have it all together are exactly who God is inviting into the kingdom. In fact, the whole kingdom belongs to the ones on the edges. This is the upside-down kingdom—directly available to those of us who don't have it all together.
Sometimes the only thing that's possible is to bless life's every present moment—even, and especially, the hard ones. Blessings in those moments fall like a summer rain over the driest times and places in our lives. And though a blessing seems counterintuitive in moments of grief and sorrow, that's when you need to be reminded of the presence of God most—the God whose kingdom is available to all of us.
At tonight's Maundy Thursday service, our choir will offer "A Blessing for When You Don't Feel #Blessed." Join us in the garden to stay and watch with Jesus in these troubling times. And then join us on Easter morning, join us in welcoming those coming for a word of hope and new life. In times of anxiety, it is especially important to build and lean on our sense of community. On Sunday, we'll all have an opportunity to provide a place of hospitality for a people seeking a way to belong to something deeper than the news cycle.
–Pastor Kelly
