“A Familiar Message”
Luke 6:17-26
Beatitudes with woes make us uncomfortable, with good reason. We wonder how well we’ve done and if we’re in the woe camp or the blessed one.
We start doing calculations and thinking about the times we didn’t help and feel guilty, but here’s the thing friends, we’re all going to mess up, the important thing is that we keep trying. We need to keep trying to share compassion and love with every decision and action we make, whether it’s big or small because that is how we are called to live, not by some tally sheet that compares our good actions with our wrong ones. We have the opportunity and call to join in bringing the kin-dom here on earth. Again, and again.
So the question is how do we do that? How do we continue to try, even after we’ve messed up or blundered something or done wrong both as individuals and a community? We repent, we make amends, and we focus again on love and compassion. Because we are human, we will mess up again but if we return to love, the arc bends.
In our community we support one another and seeks ways to live out this life too. We do this when we speak out in support of ALL PEOPLE, like we did for the non-discrimination ordinance and for marriage equality. We do this with the thousands of birthday backpacks that have been delivered over the years. We do this when we act on our best instincts and show up with food, support, and friendship for one another in times of need. If we began to quantify all that has been done here, think about how many undies we’d count delivered. Or school supplies. Or what it means to the many churches and faith organizations like the Islamic society that have had a home in our building.
What about blankets and supplies that have been purchased through week of compassion, or drives to help those in need, like the refugee families we supported.
And our time isn’t up yet. We’re still here. We are still going, and All of These activities give life. We are called to return again AND AGAIN to this way of love, even when it looks like the future is uncertain. We are called to return again AND AGAIN to this way of love even when we mess up, even when we need forgiveness.
So, friends, our future may be unclear, we may need forgiveness we may need to make amends, but God is still calling us to love. And based on what I’ve seen, we are capable, equipped and called. Let’s keep going. Because the only way out is through and love will bring us there, amen.