Who's Blessed?

 

I want to talk to you today about a word we all know. Bless. And we Southerners say:"Bless yo' heart" whether we mean it or not. Or simply: "Bless you!" Some time people come up to me and say: "Ive been so blessed!" And I stand there thinking: "Hmm. What about me? Don't you think I've been blessed?" Leaving a restaurant the other day I looked at the tag on the back of a huge Mercedes. "I've Been so Blessed!" Well, I thought, I guess so. Folks, blessing is not just for the well-heeled or the pious--but for everybody.

The Power to Bless

One of the books that has meant a great deal to me is a little book called, The Power to Bless. It was written by a Pastoral counselor, Myron Madden. He said that the great power of primitive religion was the power to curse. This was a most fearful thing—to be cursed. But beginning with Abraham a new dimension was added to religious history. It was the power to bless. And over and over we read through the Bible these wonderful words: “I will bless you and I will bless your descendants.”

Now the great news is that the power to bless is much stronger than the power to curse. This is the heart of Judea-Christian religion. Instead of giving us some curse for our cussedness, God graciously holds out a blessing instead.

The Curse

Now we all know something about the curse. It’s those crippling messages we have heard all our lives. That we don’t count. That we’ll never amount to anything. That we are dumb, lazy, sissies. Dead-beat. Maybe foreigner or illegal. It is the feeling that we are just not important. And this curse cripples us. It shrivels our self-image. Sometimes it makes us too dependent 

 and we spend all our lives just hoping for a blessing a father for mother could not give. Hoping, hoping somebody will bless us.

The Blessing

But we also know something about the blessing. To be blessed is to be accepted. To be blessed is to be brought into the circle. To be blessed is to belong—to be a part. When her parents gave their blessing to your marriage, your career, your dreams. It is to be accepted by another person—though they know us warts and all. Bless is really is amazing grace. Remember how the old father blessed that boy that came back home in rags and shame. What did the father say? “My son…my son.” And standing at the door was the prodigal’s brother. Seething. Furious. While he was out there doing God knows what I have been here. Working. Working. Working. I took care of the crops. I have kept this house from falling in. I paid all the bills. And the father turned and said tenderly to that other son: “My son…my son. Don’t you know you have been a blessing to me all these years. 

So the gospel holds out a great promise for all of us. We are blessed despite all sorts of obstacles that are thrown in our path. Or that we throw in our own paths. You are blessed even if you didn’t not get your share when the will was read. Or your brother has a shelf with all those trophies and you have no trophies. And continually at the dinner table you have to hear over and over again about when your sister was crowned Miss Anderson and in bitterness you say:”Huh, I never got crowned for nothing except up beside the head.”

Opening the Door

But you know the Gospel opens the door and says everybody is welcomed and everybody is important. The New Testament reminds us that little group of scared believers—always in the minority—always seeming a little strange by most folks. Always looking into the plate glass window but no money to go inside. Paul knew this feeling when he first came into the fold and everybody in church turned their backs except Ananias who reached out and called him brother. And so later, much later this same man would write over and over:”We do not lose heart.”And some of those sitting there listening thought well, he has never been in my shoes. But that did not stop Paul for he told them: “we regard no one from a human point of view…” No one…no one. We are all blessed whether we know it or not.

Everybody

The common people kept following Jesus because he made them feel good about themselves. You know how it is when you are around somebody who accepts you helps you feel good about yourself They make you laugh and you find all your defensiveness just melts away. You are accepted and you know it. This is to be blessed.

But after all these years some of us still feel the sting of: “You’ll never amount to anything.” “You are just a woman.” Or a Democrat or a Republican. Or just a C student to never made the first team. Or queer. Or never had one of two or three of those little strings around you neck the night of your graduation.

Never mind. This gospel really is good news. For us all and nobody is left out. That’s what we call it the blessing. 

A Pastor named Dean Snyder told a story. He said that Norah came to stay for a few days at the emergency shelter on the first floor of his church. Her hair was colored like a rainbow. She wore tight plastic slacks, and a see-through blouse. She must have been no older than 16. Her parents had tried everything with her and finally threw their hands up and locked her out.

She chained-smoked, flirtatious, troublemaking—smart and stupid at the same time. Norah made sure she was the center of attention. Always.

One Saturday afternoon the preacher said he was alone in the kitchen when Norah came in and sat down across from him. She was quiet for a long time and finally she asked him a question: “I heard a priest say once that Jesus loved everybody even prostitutes Is that really true?”

Yes

He said he almost went into sermonette drive about how God loves the sinner but not the sin. But he didn’t say that. And to her question about Jesus loving everybody he said the only thing he told her was ,”Yes.” And Noah wept and wept.

It’s our story too. Jesus loves us all. And we are blessed whether we know it or not. We prodigals. We Elder Brothers. We Elder Sisters. Pass it on friends. Pass it on.

(This sermon was preached September 24, 2023 at the Mount Zion Presbyterian Church, SandySprings, SC.)

--RogerLovette / rogerlovette.blogspot.com