Micah 6: 1-8

Matthew 5: 1-12

Let Blessings Flow

Elizabeth Macaulay

General Bradley was one of the military geniuses of World War II. At the end of that war, he shared this reflection:

“We have grasped the mystery of the atom and rejected the Sermon on the Mount…Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. We know more about war than we know about peace, and more about killing than we know about living.”

The teachings of our faith- teachings we learn through Scripture, through our families, through the ways we are church and world together - are teachings that are meant to help us to know the ways of living. The texts we heard this morning are arguably two of the most power filled teachings we have about what it is to live our faith through the intentions of our hearts and the actions of our lives.

We hear from the prophet Micah that God has told us what is good; what is required of us. God requires that we do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with our God.

And we hear from Jesus that we will live and be blessing if we will let God into our lives and use the stuffs of our lives to be about the bringing of God’s vision to life – a vision of living in community in which the poor and the meek and the peacemakers and the justice seekers all know themselves to be blessed as the kingdom of God is brought into being through the work of our collective hearts.

What Micah and Jesus teach about living is that what we do in our relationship to our life matters. It matters greatly.

On this Sunday we celebrate the ministry of the United Methodist Women. It is an international organization founded with the teachings of Micah and Jesus in mind. Through UMW, women were to be intentional about enriching their spiritual lives. They were also to be intentional about learning of the needs of the world and to take part in activities that have moral and religious significance for the public welfare and that contribute to the establishment of a just global society. UMW was also organized in order that women, who were far outside the public leadership realm when it began, would be trained as leaders.

We hear the words of scripture about what our God requires of us. We don’t celebrate often enough the many who step up and live those words.

I want to tell you about a powerful ministry that goes on here. Monthly, women meet in circles. In those small groups they learn about their faith and they learn much about the aches and joys of the other women in the group. Women in this church have raised children together, juggled careers and children and challenging marriages. Women have supported each other when children and husbands die. Throughout, they are engaged in activities that build justice through providing food and mittens and money to outreach ministries.

They are also the heart that people come home to when they are in pain. When there is a funeral, it is the UMW that gathers to serve coffee and meals and provide hospitality. I cannot tell you how often I hear appreciation for these women and the grace they lend – I need to mention too the men who come to wash dishes and support the women in their work. There are not many places where you CAN go home again. Church is one of them. Loving kindness is not just an idea. It takes on flesh here in the ministry of women and men – some who are eighty and more – who put on an apron and open this church for the sharing of grace.

There is a story told by Sister Mary Margaret Funk, one of the women who live and teach at the monastery of Our Lady of Grace in Indianapolis, where I go to spend time twice a year.

One of the Sisters, Sister Mary Gerald, retired for working as the supervisor of the kitchen at a facility for elderly residents. The facility housed about 115 people. She had twenty-five workers who reported to her. She had been there for twenty-six years and was a very very gifted cook.

I (Sister Mary Margaret) was the prioress when Sister Mary Gerald retired and returned to the monastery. So, I had the happy opportunity to assigning her to the monastery kitchen. Well, in the monastic kitchen, she reported to a woman younger than herself and with a reading disability, another woman who had multiple handicaps – hearing, sight, and probably cooking wasn’t her strength – and another cook who had practically no experience at all.

Sister Mary Gerald and I would meet once a month to talk about how things were going, and she reported real inadequacies in the food preparation, cleanliness, nutrition, presentation, purchasing, and so on. In short, nothing in the monastery kitchen was up to Mary Gerald’s standards and experience, her “former way of life,” as we put it.

Then one day I was walking out of church and was on my way to the office when she came right up beside me and said, “I got it! I got it!” I replied, “Well, what did you get?”

She again said, “I got it!” And then, speaking softer and softer, she said,

“I got that the kitchen is not about food. “It’s about love.” (Transforming Suffering, PG 76)

With what shall we come before our God? We come offering our love and our willingness to take what we have - cakes at a funeral, meals on wheels, our willingness to be patient with each other, and the wisdom and honesty of our hearts - and use it to create grace. And we know that living the moral wisdom of Micah and Jesus is no easy thing in this world we are called to be blessing in.

Sometimes the turn the world upside down power of these teachings feels like too much to ask of us. Sometimes, when the newspaper will not be still about the violence unfolding in Iraq. When monies are being appropriated to fight a war so far away while we are encouraged to wage war on poverty with volunteers. When we wonder whether any of our leaders walk humbly with God and when we wonder if we can afford the vision of the meek inheriting the earth.

Sometimes we think that God is asking too much, expecting too much, dreaming too much.

And then we experience a time when the kingdom of God is at hand. And we know that we can go on for another day.

I share a story with you. Spirit Express has heard it, because I shared it at a worship event we did together. Bear with me. This story blesses my life, so I’d like to share it with you.

I served as a Pastor in Duluth for seven years. Duluth has an organization called CHUM – Churches United in Ministry – which offers a variety of services such as a drop in center, a food shelf, a Parish Nurse support system, and a monthly worship service for adults with special needs. It is held on Sunday afternoons at the UCC church in town.

I had led worship for “CHUM church” as it is called, a number of times. The service consists of lots of singing, and anthem performed by the choir, scripture readings, and a very short message. There is great pride in their church on the part of the participants in worship. Most of them aren’t encouraged to sing in the choir, for example, in the churches they grew up in and now attend. But at CHUM church, they are the choir. With robes. In the choir loft.

The director of the program called me to ask if I would consider a special service. She explained that most of the CHUM church folks had never been confirmed. Their growing up churches hadn’t offered such a thing for folks with special needs. They had been talking about confirmation, and wondered about it, and the director wanted to know from me: would I lead a service of worship, which would culminate in the confirmation of those gathered?

I said I would. In thinking about what we did for our youth at confirmation, it seemed important to have a sign to go with the affirmation of their faith, so women’s sewing circles from five different churches created stoles for the CHUM church Confirmands. People brought in extra treats, and members of our youth group were on hand to serve as a choir during the time of confirmation.

On Sunday afternoon, the air was charged with excitement and anticipation.

The youth in my youth group were not sure what to expect, but they joined in teaching the song the congregation was invited to sing as the blessings, laying on of hands, and stoles were shared with each individual.

We joined together in singing this Libby Roderick tune:

“How could anyone ever tell you, you are anything less than beautiful?

How could anyone ever tell you, you were less than whole?

How could anyone fail to notice, that your loving is a miracle?

How deeply you’re connected to my soul?”

As each member of the CHUM church came forward – a rainbow of diverse bodies and beings – the sign of the cross was traced on their head, hands were laid on in blessing, and a stole was placed upon their shoulders.

And almost without exception, the joy of being called a beloved child of God and the receiving of the bright colors of claimed discipleship around their shoulders launched them my direction (and Cooper’s the pastor who was blessing by my side) into the biggest hugs of joy I will ever receive at a Confirmation service.

Fifty children of God. Proclaimed as miracle. Claimed as faith brothers and sisters.

We celebrated who and what we were, and moved toward who and what we are called to become.

What does our God require of us?

That we “get it”. It’s about love.

Amen