Christian Pathway

So, we turn to what Billy Graham is said to have called “the beautiful attitudes”, which is quite a useful definition. They are the first words I ever read in the bible,  Matthew five, six and seven- salt and light, treasure and worry, judging others, ask seek, knock etc etc
Just the very bedrock of what it means to be a Christian.  I felt then, and when it boils down to it, I 100% still believe that these are the central ethics of Christianity, and anything that goes against them is just wrong.

It amazes me that when Jesus is SO clear, how often we get it wrong, me included. , judging others, missing the plank in their own eye, performative prayer, etc.

This reality and certainty that this man was the key to it all was first discovered for me when I held this little Bible in my hand and said, “If you’re real, I really need your help.” I had just moved to Corfe Mullen in Dorset, which was very nice compared to Forest Gate, but I hadn’t built up a social circle and coming from a busy house, when the door shut, I was very lonely.

However, the moment I uttered these words, as I was sat cross-legged on my bed in my little flat. That room was filled with unalloyed love, and I have never felt alone from that moment; I can point to him here?

So the book, the words, and the reality of him , the actual experience of him sort of  met  and intermingled in a dynamic chemistry that I felt and knew and know as a fact from that moment onwards. In many respects, it still drives my Christian journey

This knowledge of who he is like and the feeling of him inside me kind of gives me an interior knowledge of him, his love is always in me.  It’s my fall back, it’s been a powerful thing and  I can always revert to my interior knowledge of him at all places. Just turn the out eye inwardd

However, much a lot of Matthew 5-7 is pretty relatable and easy to grasp. The beatitudes can be deep and somewhat mysterious.  In my soul, I grasped them at some level because of my experience and him being inside me; I get them and know the truth of  them at a spiritual level  but what do you do with them apart from letting them sweep inside you?

To do something with them and make Logical sense of them, I think we have to think about them at least a little this deep magic.

Beatitude comes from the Latin beatitudo, meaning blessedness which is  the state of being blessed or deeply happy.

This however is very different from receiving a blessing, as when Jonathan blesses us in a service. The Latin word for that is benedictio, literally “speaking well”, which is where “benediction” comes from.

So a benediction is a blessing spoken over you; a beatitude describes your blessedness in God’s eyes. Jesus is declaring people blessed/happy because of how they are. 

It should be noted they are not giving you a checklist for earning God’s blessing. Quite the reverse they cannot be earned, only shared through grace

The Beatitudes are less about a list of things to do than about a way of being. Jesus isn’t saying, “Make yourself like this and then God will bless you.”
He’s declaring God’s favour on people who are like this: people who know their need for him, who mourn and lean on him,  who show mercy and who make peace.

The good news is he hasn’t set us a task we can’t do; he has  set us a task we can’t do on our own

I think, as we follow him and let him work in us, we begin to grow into this kind of person. And we can see that movement in the Beatitudes themselves: from the places where God meets us to the way we live as we open ourselves to him.

So I find it helpful to look at the list in two halves.

First, there are the states people find themselves in, where God meets them:

• Meek
• Poor in spirit
• Mourn
• Hunger and thirst for righteousness

And as we let him work in us, that encounter begins to shape how we are  and how we live . This brings us to the second half: ways of living, the shape of a life open to God:

• Merciful
• Pure in heart
• Peacemakers
• Persecuted for righteousness
  
  

I think what they actually are States in which God meets us
Poor in spirit, mourning, meekness and hungering for righteousness can be seen as circumstances or conditions in which people discover God’s blessing. I can relate to finding God in my darkest moments. Because at our weakest, we’re at our most exposed, and that’s where this merciful God steps in.

• And that dynamic god, alive god steps in where we are weak
  
  
  And that’s why this is always the reading for All Saints’ Day.
  
  This way of being is what we call saintliness.
• Merciful
• Pure in heart
• Peacemakers
• Persecuted for righteousness
  
  

A saint is humble, compassionate, righteous and peace-making, willing rto sacriced themselves for the betterment of others.
However
Most of them didn’t start off like this, and many had many diversions along the way.
Many Saints at some point like the drunk or the addict just reached a point where they reached out knowing they were at the bottom and needed him to move forward.

This is the point when the beatitudes become our state of blessedness

So who are the saints? Not a spiritual elite. Ordinary people who reached the end of themselves and found him there, like I did on that bed in Corfe Mullen.

John puts it beautifully: “We are God’s children now. What we will be has not yet been revealed.” That’s the Beatitudes. We’re blessed already, and we’re still becoming.

So this All Saints, remember those who’ve gone before us. And remember this too: if you know your need of him, you’re already standing where the saints stood. The kingdom is yours.