In the Gospel According to Matthew, the Beatitudes are a series of nine blessings pronounced by Jesus while preaching his sermon from the mount.  The Gospel According to Luke deviates slightly in his retelling of this teaching.  He centers it as part of Jesus’ teaching while on the plain and it has four blessings followed by four woes.  No matter which list you read from, you quickly discover that Jesus’ vision of blessing is contradictory to our modern definition.  Where we think of being blessed through measurements of wealth, status, privilege, and comfort, Jesus says the ones that are blessed find themselves engulfed in a different form of living.  While we believe that Jesus is the eternal king we also recognize that Jesus is not bound up in the trappings of earthly royalty.  Rather, Jesus is a humble king who gave everything away out of love and sacrifice.  Apparently this was his vow and his vow is our calling.  If we desire to live in God’s richest blessings then we must be willing to walk a diverging path.  While we may never give up everything we possess, we can learn, among other things, humility, love, mercy, and peacemaking.  I invite you to join us as we take time to consider Matthew’s version of the Beatitudes.- Rev. Dr. Jim Hoffman

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