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Sunday, November 2, 2014

"#blessed"

Sunday, November 2, 2014
First Congregational United Church of Christ – Sermon by Rev. Caela Simmons Wood

Back in May there was an article in the New York Times that caught my eye.[1] It was all about the use of #blessed by celebrities and everyday people on social media. In case you don’t get the whole hashtag thing, basically it’s a way of earmarking something that you post on Twitter. When you put #blessed there, it means that anyone searching for #blessed will find your post.

So people will often post things like, “So excited to start a new job on Monday! #blessed” or “Welcomed our baby girl to the world at 8:43am #blessed.” The article in the New York Times discussed how #blessed has become a bit of a joke because of it’s overuse. Some people see it as the ultimate humble-brag. You can brag about something, but appear to be humble because it’s not really about you, it’s about God and what God is doing in your life.

The problem, of course, is that this just leads to rampant bragging about everything imaginable. Celebrities are #blessed because they won an award or scored the big touchdown. Comedian Erin Jackson says, “Now it’s just like ‘Strawberries are half-price at Trader Joe’s. I’m so blessed!’”

In a world where blessed has become slang for “I’m having a good day!” what are we to make of today’s passages from Genesis and Matthew, both of which are deeply rooted in the language of blessing?

Our story, as people of faith, begins and ends in blessing. The first chapters of Genesis are full of abundance. It’s as if this magnificent, generous creator-God is just overflowing with blessings that spill out onto the blank palate of the Earth. Trouble follows, of course, as it always does. We are whisked through the stories of Cain and Abel, Noah and the Great Flood, and the Tower of Babel.

And then we come to Abraham. The story of the father of our faith begins with a commandment and a promise. “Go from you country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and I will make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.”

This commandment is wild. Leave behind everything you have – all of the things that really matter to you….to go to a place that…well….I’ll show it to you eventually, don’t worry.

But the pay off for this gamble is also huge. You will be blessed. Your name will be great. And lest we think that the whole deal here is that Abraham is being blessed just to sit around and count his riches and good fortune, God is very specific about the purpose of these blessings. Abraham is being blessed so that he can bless others.

God is big on blessing. Our first stories about God in the Bible, those creation stories, are filled with blessing language. After God creates, God blesses and gives the command, “be fruitful and multiply.” Blessing is about having enough, being enough….more than enough. Blessing is about relationship and future-hope and abundance.

God’s goal seems to be to bless the whole world. God blesses Abraham and Sarah so they can bless others. We humans, of course, tend to try to limit God’s extravagant generosity because we worry that there might not be enough for all of us. “Reign it in God! There might not be enough to go around! Maybe there some people who don’t deserve quite so much!” But then Jesus shows up and gosh-darn-it if he isn’t full of blessings, too.

“Blessed are the poor in spirit (or, in Luke, the poor), for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth…”and on and on. Blessed…blessed…blessed…

All jokes about social media and half-priced strawberries aside, I truly do believe that one of the most powerful things we can do as human beings is count our blessings. Not so that we can feel better than everyone else. Not so that we can rest on our laurels and stop working hard. But because it is in remembering our blessings that we, along with Abraham and Sarah and all the saints who have gone before us, remember that there’s a second part that comes after being blessed….we are blessed to bless others.

I don’t know about you, but when I’m exhausted, down in the dumps, frustrated, angry, and feeling decidedly un-blessed…..well, those aren’t times when I necessarily feel like I can bless others. And that’s okay. I’m not saying we can’t ever feel that way. But, after a while, I get tired of being miserable and I want to find a way to crawl out of the hole that I either fell in, was pushed in, or dug for myself. I want a way out.

And that’s when I notice that even in the deepest, darkest of pits, I am not alone. God is with me. And God is still offering blessings. God may not be able to control everything and make sure nothing bad happens, but God can sit with me and point my eyes to the top of that pit where I can see a little speck of light. And God can coach me, cheer me on, help me remember to be aware of the blessings I do have in my life. God will give me shoulders to stand on while I climb out.

God is like this awesome, life-sustaining, supernova of blessing – just overflowing goodness and holiness and blessing and super-abundant hope into our world. Sometimes it’s easy to see it and grab onto it. Other times? Well, we have to work a little harder.

Wherever you are – whether your down in a pit or flying high on a mountain top – Christ is with you and the Spirit’s super-nova-esque blessings are overflowing. Our job – no, our privilege, really – is to grab on to those blessings, count them as our own….and then extend ourselves in blessings to the world. Because once you start filling up with blessings, a funny thing starts to happen. You, too, start to overflow – just like that never-ending super-nova of blessing that comes from our Source. And you bless the world and then it just keeps going and going and going like a chain reaction. Blessing upon blessing. Hope upon hope.

Now, there is a catch. At least in my own life, I have discovered that this blessing chain reaction has an enemy. I’ve hinted at it already. You can probably guess what it is. Fear. Fear of scarcity. What if I give away too much? What if there’s not enough to go around?

This is a normal, natural human fear. Of course it is. That’s why our Bible both begins and ends with what Walter Brueggemann calls “the liturgy of abundance.” From the fruitful world created in Genesis right on through to the New Heaven and New Earth unveiled in the last chapters of Revelation, the Bible is overflowing with stories that are meant to help us defeat this fear of scarcity.

In my own life, giving away my hard-earned money has been one of the most powerful tools I’ve found for combating this fear of scarcity. I can’t quite explain it, but there is something about giving away my money that makes me feel rich. Makes me feel blessed. Makes me feel at peace and not so worried about making ends meet.

David and I have had a practice of giving away 10% of our income since we were married, back in our college days. Back then, 10% felt monumental, even though it was a tiny sum. But, every month, we would write two checks. One to the church and one to a community organization. Being able to write those checks to the church I loved and those nonprofits that I knew were providing critical support for people with very real needs? I felt like a million dollars. I felt like an heir to some great fortune and, I guess, in a way I am.

We all are. No matter how much or how little we have, we are all able to do something to help those around us. We all have the ability to combat the great lie of scarcity, to say no to fear and yes to abundance and blessing.

We are all children of blessing. We are all heirs to the promise given to Sarah and Abraham. We are all blessed and we are all created in the image of that great super-nova of blessing…commanded to be a blessing to others. What a task. What a responsibility. What a joyful privilege to be called to live in this way.



[1] http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/04/fashion/blessed-becomes-popular-word-hashtag-social-media.html?_r=0

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