Beloved friends, Christ is risen, He is risen indeed.

Resurrection Sunday is about the power of God triumphing over all that is death and destruction. Resurrection Sunday is about the power of God breaking the hold of death and destruction so life can burst forth!

Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 5:10

Matthew 5:8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God."

Through the life of Jesus we see him choosing to offer Mercy to many undeserving people, some of whom if they were within my circle i’m not very sure if that would have been my natural response...

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.