Beatitudes for the 21st Century.

By Becky Withington in All Sorts

contemporary reflections on the Beatitudes

Beatitudes for the 21st Century Becky Withington
Blessed are the marginalized, for they are extravagantly welcome in the culture of God. From the earliest descriptions of nomadic tribes of Israelites in the Hebrew Scriptures, hospitality has been a hallmark of the culture of God. In the desert, if you don’t offer hospitality to people, they can die. Again and again, scripture urges God’s people to care for the orphan, the widow, and the stranger. Jesus made it his life’s work to seek out and lift up the “poor in Spirit,” Blessed are the marginalized, for they are extravagantly welcome in the culture of God. Blessed are those who care for the earth, for they promote a healthy, dynamic ecosystem that cares for us
all.
We are the stewards of creation. We ignore that responsibility at our own peril, and the peril of every living thing on this earth. Thankfully, people of all faiths and many who don’t follow a spiritual tradition are awakening to this peril, putting everything from their money to their lives on the line. Those who care for the earth are truly blessed, and they are a blessing to all.
Blessed are the bold, for they see the culture of God manifest before their eyes.
Blessed are the meek, Jesus said, the humble, the gentle, for they will inherit the earth. Gentleness and humility are wonderful traits, and it’s my prayer that those who display them will cease to be exploited by the boastful and belligerent; that they, the deserving, will inherit the earth.
Blessed are the empathetic, for they heal the brokenness of the world. To heal the painful divisions of our world, to ensure that everyone has their basic needs met and mutual respect is the basis for all human relationships, we need to move beyond sympathy and compassion to empathy.
Blessed are the inclusive, for they see through the eyes of love.
It is characteristic of human beings to shape our identities and our communities as much by what we are not as by what we are. We set ourselves apart by not demonstrating beliefs and behaviours that other groups do. Perceiving differences and similarities is a valuable survival skill but like many survival skills, its evolution lags behind many other areas of human development. We have to be awakened; we have to let go of fear and insecurity and the scarcity mentality in order to see through the eyes of love as the Christ did.
Blessed are those with integrity, for their hearts, minds, words and actions are one.
When we are in right relationship with God and one another, when right intention leads to right action, we are integrated. Our words and actions match our thoughts and feelings. I don’t know about you, but for me this is a fleeting state of grace that I experience only sporadically. Most of the time I am conflicted. I lack the courage to take the action I think is right. I think things I would never say out loud. But those moments when my thoughts, feelings, words and actions are aligned feel sacred, holy.
Blessed are those who commit themselves to peace, for they disarm violence.
Violence is a commonly used tool of oppression and conquest. When people are oppressed and persecuted, when their homes and rights are taken away, they respond with anger – righteous anger, justified anger, but anger that often leads to retaliatory violence. From the time of their slavery in Egypt, God’s people expected a warrior-king, an anointed one who would avenge them and secure their freedom by any means necessary. Like other great leaders throughout history, Jesus understood that violence only begets more violence. He called peacemakers blessed, and only by committing to strategies of peace can we end violence.
Blessed are those who organize, struggle and sacrifice for freedom and equality, for they bend the moral arc of the universe towards justice
Martin Luther King Jr. said the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice. He may have based it on words from a sermon by Unitarian Minister Theodore Parker who in 1853 wrote, “I do not pretend to understand the moral universe, the arc is a long one, my eye reaches but a little ways. I cannot calculate the curve and complete the figure by the experience of sight; I can divine it by conscience. But from what I see I am sure it bends towards justice.” Our eyes reach but a little way. We cannot see beyond the horizon to confirm beyond certainty the arc is bending, little by little, towards justice. Sometimes our current trajectory seems like a path that will hurtle us past the point of no return. If we want to live in a just world we must all do our part, we must all throw our weight against the levers of power to bend the moral arc of the universe towards justice.
Blessed are we in the amazing diversity of our ethnicity, age, ability, and orientation, for we make visible the glory of Creation.
What better way to show gratitude to the source of all life than to embrace and affirm all persons for their unique selves, to love all our siblings as ourselves, to look upon the endless variety of creation and declare with God that “it is good.”