If I Were Preaching this Week

If I were preaching this week I would be looking at the Gospel lectionary from Matthew.  The Beatitudes, Chapter 5 all the way to Chapter 7, provide some deep and profound words for us to chew on.  Last week I was struck how the initial, “Blessed are,” sayings are fully inclusive.  They gather us all into one body.  We all experience grief.  We all experience loss, abundance, and hunger.  We find ourselves in relationship without regard to any human agenda potentially sorting us into competitive camps. 

As I pondered the reading for this Sunday, I was wondering where that kind of radical relationship outlined last week might lead.  As I looked closer I found the same guiding thought leading me to the same conclusion.  We all are together in the same boat.  We all lose our saltiness at times.  We all walk in darkness at times.  We all deal with anger.  We all deal with lust and saying things which we regret.  We are in this together, like it or not.  God may not care to view a bunch of selfies.  Rather God might prefer to see a family portrait.

When we deal with our sin and our loss together, then we can also deal with our love and our new life in Christ together.  We were never built to go it alone.  The preceding passage to the Beatitudes finds Jesus calling the disciples together, and then ministering to the crowds.  No mention of individual preference or personal salvation in this reading.  We are invited to be in the boat, in the crowd, along with every other human being. 

Oh my goodness, in this society where even the church is crowned triumphant as it offers individual care, individual praise, and individual spiritual self-differentiation, here is different path.  Matthew is shouting that it is not about me.  Life is not about getting my needs met, or my agenda massaged.  Life is about walking with the crowd, dealing with the reality of finding ourselves in the midst of the fullness of human expression. Life abundant happens with us, all of us, together.  There is no other way.  Feel free to use these thoughts if they are helpful if you are preaching this week.