A Message From The CEO

A Sermon Preached by the Reverend Patricia Rowe-Jones

Poland Community Church
January 28, 2001

Being that today we will hold our annual meeting, you’d expect me to use certain scripture passages to talk about the church. Probably you would at least expect to hear Paul’s classic metaphor comparing the Church of Christ to the human body; each part, even the smaller seemingly insignificant parts being essential to the whole. But today I wish to use the Beautitudes of Christ as an unlikely centerpiece scripture. Please hear the word of God as it is found in the gospel of Matthew 5: 1-17

Somebody once suggested that if you inserted the word ‘happy’ for ‘blessed’ in the beautitudes that they would be more meaningful to a modern audience. Let’s try and see (and by the way it worked for me) don’t you see? Jesus is giving a prescription for happiness. He is saying that the true road to happiness involves disciplining oneself in God’s ways which involve poverty in spirit as opposed to excessive pride, mourning with the knowledge and faith of eternal life in Christ as opposed to experiencing the loss of a loved one with no faith that there is more meekness as opposed to a posture of aggression and self serving attitudes, hungering and thirsting for righteousness as opposed to apathy and intolerance of others in less fortunate life situations or shunning the lives of those different to ourselves, being merciful, that is being willing to forgive and forget just as God is willing to do for us, as opposed to hardening the our hearts to others who need and want our forgiveness so they can have a second chance (or more) being pure in heart as opposed to encrusted with unattended human sin, being peacemakers willing to become involved in issues of justice even when we may not totally understand the issue ourselves, as opposed to burying our head in the sand like the proverbial ostrich, being willing even to suffer persecution in the name of what is right as opposed to running away when the stakes are too high which might even involve personal sacrifice and ridicule; and this includes being willing to stand up for Jesus Christ when called to do so, as opposed to being ashamed or embarrassed to share our faith. For if we do these things we will “Rejoice and be glad,“ and we are told by Jesus this morning that “our reward will be great in heaven.” I just love the rest of the words that follow so I will read them again: “You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good, but is thrown out and trampled under foot. You are the light of the world. A City built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lamp stand, and it gives light to the entire house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.” A Father and a Son had a terrible argument. The father was so angry that he was just about ready to ask his teenage son to pack his bags and leave. Then the father sat back and reflected: what is it that I want: to win this argument and retain my authority? Or to keep relationship with my son? Of course, he concluded, he wanted to keep relationship, no matter what. He let go of his pride and anger, knowing he had lost; but, as he lost, the son lost also. What resulted was the miracle of reconciliation: both won big. And we can all win big if we adopt the path of humility and embrace God’s ways with all of our hearts, all of our minds, and all of our souls. For just as a Father can choose the higher path and forgive his son, we too can do the same. People all over the world belong to churches, and all over the world churches often forget Jesus poignant words of God ringing out over the millennia to us in the ‘beatitudes’.  Instead of being what God calls us to be, too often; we are prideful, unforgiving, arrogant and even rude. Our humanness leads us to be separate from one another. Often times a smile covers up a deep well of resentment, hostility and anger towards others. Our communities have cancer and the cause is us; but Jesus words this morning remind us that God’s ways offer us a solution; they offer us the potential for happiness. We might have to suffer some persecution to get there, but it will be worth it! I have learned that right relationship is the key to righteousness, to love, community, family, church and society. I testify, that in my experience, I have found out that mature people keep relationships first of all – they hunger and thirst to do so. Immature people insist on strict codes one way, their way, and estimate the love of the other by his or her subservience to the codes. To keep right relationships with people is to give a chance for genuine happiness to blossom. So it is our joyous but risky task as a congregation of disciples of Christ to create a community where forgiveness is real, where peace is genuine and healing, where dependence upon God and one another is seen as a good thing, where people are not afraid to be who they are because they know that the arms of the people of God will surround them and embrace them and accept them. Can you imagine what would happen if the church really believed it was called to be a ‘Beautitude’ community, a place where people honest to God love one another, warts and all? A place where the first shall be last and the last shall be first but nobody really minds who goes first and who goes last because they know there is more than enough of every-thing to go around? A place where the mourners are comforted and the losers win? What would it be like to live in a community like that? Know what I think? I think it just might feel like the kingdom of God. And by the way; If you haven’t figured out who are CEO is yet; see me after the service. I’d like to conclude with a prayer. It is the classic prayer of the ‘beautitude’ philosophy “Lord; make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; and where there is sadness, joy.”