What would their understanding be of blessings?

The common meaning is to be favored by God….God is the source of all blessings! Blessings were part of their faith tradition the people gathered around Jesus would understand the meaning of blessings. They would remember the blessing God gave to Abraham, the blessing Isaac gave to Jacob, the blessings Jacob gave to his sons…blessings have been passed down from generation to generation connecting them to God who is the originator of the blessing. We don’t carry this same sense of generational blessings, do we?

Our modern interpretation of blessings has more of an individualistic implication. How do we experience blessings in our own personal lives. John O’Donohue in his book, To Bless the Space Between Us,” articulates so beautifully what a blessing is to him. He writes, “there is a quiet light that shines in every heart…” I like this idea of a blessing being connected to a light that shines in our hearts. And he goes ahead to explain more about this light and its blessing. “There is a quiet light that shines in every heart. It draws no attention to itself, though it is always secretly there. It is what illuminates our minds to see beauty, our desire to see possibility, and our hearts to love life. This shy inner light is what enables us to recognize and receive our very presence here as a blessing.” This inner light he is talking about is the divine light of God that is within each of us. We were created to give and receive blessings because our very lives are blessings…isn’t that a wonderful thought.

From my own experience, I have come to realize how blessings are best experienced and realized within a community. Our blessings are connected to each other and sometimes blessings are hidden.  I’ll never forget this night when I was an on call chaplain walking the hospital halls at 2 am. You see, just hours earlier I was with a grieving family saying goodbye to a loved one who was becoming an organ donor. Now in this early morning hour, I realized that another person was in surgery at this very moment receiving a life giving organ, a surgery that for that family was answered prayer, a sure presence of God and a true “blessing.” But for the family saying their goodbyes the blessing is hidden.

It took me a long time to realize this hiddenness of blessing, I have a personal story to share with you. When my mother died I was so, so, sad, asking over and over again, why, why so quickly, why when I couldn’t get there to be with her. Why, why, why? I know many of you have often asked this similar question about a variety of devastating occurrences. With the “whys” came insight…quiet insight in the darkness of the night, I realized that it was a blessing for my mother to die the way she did, no suffering, no pain…just gone. It was a hidden blessing that I could not see at first, but it opened my heart to have a broader perspective of blessings and our connections with one another.

The connections we have with one another takes us back to the Sermon on the Plain. I believe Jesus is teaching them about blessings from the perspective of the gathered community. You’ll notice Jesus calls the people “his disciples. It’s clear that he is referring to more than the original 12 disciples. More and more people are becoming his disciples. More and more people are learning about why Jesus came to live among us. He came to make their lives better and not just in the next life but here and now. He said to them, “blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh”.

Jesus is opening their hearts up to see God’s blessings coming to them in an expansive way. By embodying God’s love in a visible way, Jesus is teaching them about the blessing that he, himself gives to them.

In and through their belief in Jesus, they will learn to embody this same love that now can become blessings for each other. These are blessings that are sometimes hidden, yet Jesus is giving them a new hope that life will change for them. And life did change for those who followed Jesus and who joined the movement that he started. As the number of those who Jesus called disciples grew, churches were formed. And in the community of the church people were cared for, food was given to those who were hungry, the poor were helped and supported, those who wept found joy in the love expressed.

I agree with John O’Donohue that there is a quiet light that shines in every heart. Each one of you has this light. It might seem hidden, but the light is there. It does illumine our minds to see beauty, our desire to see possibility, and our hearts to love life. This light gives us hope and courage and strength just when we need it. This light helps us to see the blessings that are given to us…for indeed we are blessed and live blessed lives. And I also believe that this quiet light that shines in every heart, is a direct connection to the living God, and it prompts us again and again to become a blessing for each other. We can do this for we are connected to Christ and in this connection God’s love pours out into limitless blessings that become visible for the world to see. And then truly our very lives are a blessing. Amen