Todays beatitude places us right in the midst of all that is broken around us and reminds us that our ache and longing for a whole and repaired world is a place where God meets us!

And as we are met by God we rise up and engage the world in loving and healing ways.

Today’s Beatitude is Matthew 5:5 “Blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth” NRSV.

The meek? Really? Who even uses that word? To our ear, Matthew 5:5 sounds ridiculous and naive. At the top of a list of things Jesus said that we don’t really believe I would place the third beatitude. It is those that wield their power that will take possession over land and nations.

Society celebrates the strong and the capable

This beatitude is simply a beatitude of grief. A radical invitation to embrace grief and mourning in a world that dismisses them. A beatitude that cautions us that there is no deep joy without having faced the depths of our griefs and sorrows. This is a

beatitude that tells us that the happy lives bombarding us daily are not all that happy. Because to be truly happy we have to allow for the griefs and sorrows that are a reality

of life!

Today we are beginning a new series that is going to carry us through the lenten season: shaped by the beatitudes.

 To stand firm is to see ourselves primarily as disciples of

Jesus.

So today in our standing firm conversation we will look at standing firm in generosity.

Coming together as a church and offering our unique gift to the world...That many might be reconnected to a life of significance.

There are two foundational things that should be part of your time with God.

However your time should include prayer and the Scriptures.

In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed.

Mark 1:35

Welcome to JourneyFamily. A community that seeks to see people and our world coming fully alive in the love of God as modelled by Jesus.

We begin this year reflecting 1 Corinthians 16:13: Keep alert; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong.

The month's theme is ‘Standing Firm’.

Thank you for continuously being part of this community.

And today we are with Mary and Joseph as we reflect on what it looks like to wait when it doesn't make sense.

It is the end of 2025 and you get to be here!

This year there could be some things which you quit and there are some things in which you did not quit even when you

wanted.

We all have faced that moment when we wanted to quit on something!

It happens to us at some point in life.

We have been carrying out a particular task and we are somehow dissatisfied and disillusioned about it and we just want to quit!