Upper Path Valley Presbyterian Church
02-21-2007
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Upper Path Valley Presbyterian Church02-21-2007 |
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Ash Wednesday February 21, 2007
Rev. Meagan Boozer
The Beatitudes #1:
The Promise of the
Matthew 5:1-3
When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
In 1989, the following interview occurred between journalist Edward W. Desmond of Time Magazine and Mother Teresa. The interview was called: A Pencil In the Hand Of God, and the descriptive introduction reads as follows:
Mother Teresa sees poverty as a kind
of richness -- and richness as impoverishment -- as she cares for the dying and unwanted of
What did you do this morning?
Pray.
When did you start?
Half past four.
And after prayer?
We try to pray through our work by doing it with Jesus, for Jesus, to Jesus. That helps us put our whole heart and soul into doing it. The dying, the crippled, the mentally ill, the unwanted, the unloved -- they are Jesus in disguise.
Humble as you are, it must be an extraordinary thing to be a vehicle of God's grace in the world.
But it is his work. I think God wants to show his greatness by using nothingness.
You feel you have no special qualities?
I don't think so. I don't claim anything of the work. It is his work. I am like a little pencil in his hand. That is all. He does the thinking. He does the writing. The pencil has nothing to do with it. The pencil has only to be allowed to be used. In human terms, the success of our work should not have happened, no?
What is God's greatest gift to you?
The poor people.
How are they a gift to you?
I have an opportunity to be 24 hours a day with Jesus.
What do you think of materialism in the West?
I don't know. I have so many things to think about. Take our congregation: we have very little, so we have nothing to be preoccupied with. The more you have, the more you are occupied, the less you give. But the less you have, the more free you are. Poverty for us is a freedom. It is not a mortification, a penance. It is joyful freedom. There is no television here, no this, no that. This is the only fan in the whole house. It doesn't matter how hot it is, and it is for the guests. But we are perfectly happy.
How do you find rich people then?
I find the rich much poorer. Sometimes they are more lonely inside. They are never satisfied. They always need something more. I don't say all of them are like that. Everybody is not the same. I find that poverty hard to remove. The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread.
There has been some criticism of the very severe regimen under which you and your sisters live.
We choose that. That is the difference between us and the poor. Because that will bring us closer to our poor people. How can we be truthful to them if we lead a different life? What language will I speak to them?
What is the most joyful place that you have ever visited?
Kalighat. When the people die in peace, in the love of God, it is a wonderful thing. To see our poor people happy together with their families, these are beautiful things. The joy of the poor people is so clean, so clear. The real poor know what is joy. The material is not the only thing that gives joy. Something greater than that, the deep sense of peace in the heart. They are content. That is the great difference between the rich and the poor.
People who work with you say you are unstoppable. You always get what you want.
That's right. All for Jesus.
What are your plans for the future?
I just take one day. Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not come. We have only today to love Jesus.
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
We would call Mother Teresa & those who worked alongside her “poor in things.” But after listening to her heart in those responses, we must also call her “poor in spirit.”
What? We call Mother Teresa, “poor in spirit?” Yes – because being poor in spirit means to put no pride or value in your own spirit, but to put all your pride and all your value in the Spirit of Christ who lives & works within you.
To be poor in spirit is a good thing. It is a reward from God to those who truly desire it. It is a recognition of our utter dependence on God, a humble posture before God and others, a total openness to God – and nothing else.
This comes as the opposite of what we are taught and shown by the world today. We are taught that success = recognition for us, applause, and tangible rewards.
Jesus says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit (those who seek no recognition of themselves, who do not promote themselves, who do not talk about themselves except to testify of God’s work in a way that brings attention and glory to God) blessed are the poor in spirit” for they trust 100% in God’s goodness because they know that their own goodness or the goodness of others is nothing apart from Christ himself. The poor in spirit know they are completely SAFE in God, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
This kingdom is out in the future – but it is also immediately present. It is dawning right now, like a beautiful sunrise, but if we wait 5 more minutes, or 5 more days, or 500 more years, it will be dawning then, just as beautifully as it is dawning today. The kingdom is real. It is as visible to the poor in spirit as the face of Jesus.
Listen please to these words of reflection from Frederick Buechner about the Kingdom of heaven:
If we only had eyes to see and ears to hear and wits to understand, we would know that the Kingdom of God in the sense of holiness, goodness, beauty is as close as breathing and is crying out to be born both within ourselves and within the world; we would know that the Kingdom of God is what we all of us hunger for above all other things even when we don’t know its name or realize that it is what we’re starving to death for. The
Jesus said, “I am the vine. You are the branches. Those who abide (live, dwell) in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.”
So, how do we get to be poor in spirit? It takes effort. It is a mindset. Now think of what it means to have a mindset. A mind-set. You know how concrete is fluid and moveable at first – but once it dries, it is set. If your mind is not set on being completely dependent on God for everything, giving God all the glory in your life immediately without having to think about it, then you need to work on breaking your current mindset, and setting your mind anew. Is it easy? No. But, it is achievable – or why would Jesus put it out there for us as a blessed way to live?
Here’s an example: When someone tells you you’re doing a good thing, instead of simply saying “thank you” back to them, in order to establish a mind set on the perfect goodness of Christ working in you, you respond by saying, “Without the Lord I surely couldn’t have done it.” As you begin to respond by giving the Lord all the glory and attention, more and more you begin to mean it. You begin to really know it as truth. You begin to be completely convinced that apart from Christ you really can do nothing. Nothing.
Blessed are the poor in spirit, .
Amen.