Each week over the next two months we’ll journey through one of the beatitudes in Matthew 5. Take time to move slowly through the rhythms of reflection.

Read. Listen. Reflect.

This week we focus on Matthew 5:4, “Blessed are those who mourn…”

Find the full guide here: missiodeicommunities.com/beatitudes

What does it mean for Jesus to call us the salt of the earth and light of the world? How do we reconcile this with Jesus also claiming that he is the Light of the world?

Jesus began his sermon on the mount with the words, “Blessed are…”

He went on to make several outrageous claims as to who is blessed. What does it mean to be blessed and how can we make the list of people who are? Is this a checklist to attain? We explore the beginning of the famous Sermon on the Mount by examining the good life Jesus came to offer those in need.

Each Wednesday over the next two months we’ll journey through one of the beatitudes in Matthew 5. Take time to move slowly through the rhythms of reflection.

Read. Listen. Reflect.

This first week we focus on Matthew 5:3, “Blessed are the poor in spirit…”

Find the full guide here: missiodeicommunities.com/beatitudes

Jesus said those who become like children get to enter the Kingdom of God. Why are children so important? What does it mean to become like them? What can we learn from the nature of children, but perhaps more importantly, the social status of children in Jesus’ time?

Jesus’ first message was that of John, the baptizer: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” What did Jesus mean by this? Who was this message for? How was Jesus bringing the kingdom into the broken world?

Jesus, the fullness of the God of the universe, fully immersed himself into the identity and life of humanity — so that humans could have the possibility of being fully immersed into the identity of being children of God. It is his immersion into our world and his invitation for us to be immersed into his identity that we find true life, fulfillment, fullness, and restoration of who we were meant to be.

John was a voice in the wilderness crying out and calling people out of the kingdom of the world and into a new kingdom. He was sent to prepare people to turn away from one way of living and turn toward the ways of Jesus and his kingdom. That invitation is still being called out today.

When Jesus arrives, the God of the universe become human, he is met with poverty, wandering, oppression, violence, rejection, and suffering. This Christmas season we recognize that not all is as it should be, yet we have much to celebrate because we have a God who has come to be in it with us. And this baby Jesus, grew into a man who loved, served, and healed — and ultimately gave his life over to death so that he could conquer it with resurrection. This is the greatest gift we have been given.

What made a group of magi travel far from the east to come and pay respect to a newborn king of the Jews? How were they able to find him? And once they got there and found the current king wanted him dead, what led them to believe this baby born to a poor family in a little town was actually who they thought he was?

The story of the wise men is full of mystery... and may make you rethink how you set up your nativity figures on the fireplace mantle.