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Some 21st Century Beatitudes - Mucknell Abbey
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Beatitude

21 Jul Some 21st Century Beatitudes

Posted at 16:25h in Poetry, Prayer and Meditations by

This take on the Beatitudes originated with US Lutheran pastor Nadia Bolz Weber, founder of the House for All Sinners and Saints. The text has been Anglicized by friend of Mucknell Abbey, Rev Kim Brown (currently Curate of the Upper Room in Cirencester) and further adapted for use at a Community Quiet Day Eucharist held at the Abbey.

The Beatitudes: You are of Heaven and the Lord blesses you…

 

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are the agnostics. Blessed are they who doubt. Blessed are they who are spiritually impoverished by feeling they have all the answers. Blessed are those who feel they have nothing to offer. Blessed are they for whom nothing seems to be working. Blessed are those who take care of our rubbish. Blessed are those on zero hours’ contracts. Blessed are the poor in spirit. You are of heaven and the Lord blesses you.

 

Blessed ate those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are those for whom death is not an abstraction. Blessed are they who have buried their loved ones, for whom tears are as real as an ocean. Blessed are they who have loved enough to know what loss feels like. Blessed are the mothers of the miscarried. Blessed are they who don’t have the luxury of taking things for granted any more. Blessed are they who can’t fall apart because they have to keep it together for everyone else. Blessed are the motherless, the alone, the ones from whom so much has been taken. Blessed are those who “still aren’t over it yet”. Blessed are they who laughed again when for so long they thought they never would. Blessed are those who mourn. You are of heaven and the Lord blesses you.

 

Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those whom no one else notices. The kids who sit alone at school lunch tables, the laundry guys in the hospitals, the sex-workers and the night-shift street sweepers. Blessed are the losers and the parts of ourselves that are so small – the parts of ourselves that don’t want to make eye-contact with a world that only loves the winners. Blessed are the forgotten. Blessed are the closeted. Blessed are the unemployed, the unimpressive, the under-represented. Blessed are the teens who have to work out ways to hide the new cuts on their arms. Blessed are the meek. You are of heaven and the Lord blesses you.

 

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the wrongly accused. Blessed are the ones for whom life is hard – for they are those with whom Jesus chose to surround himself. Blessed are those without a country or documentation, the asylum seekers and refugees. Blessed are foster kids and trophy kids and special needs kids and every other kid who just wants to feel safe and loved and never does. Blessed are they who know there has to be more than this. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. You are of heaven and the Lord blesses you.

 

Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy. Blessed are those who make terrible business decisions for the sake of employing people. Blessed are burnt-out social workers, despairing health visitors and over-worked teachers. Blessed are the lawyers who work for legal aid. Blessed are the kids who step in between bullies and the weak. Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy. You are of heaven and the Lord blesses you.