Too Blessed To Be Stressed!! (?)

Psalm 69:1-3,13-16 (NRSVUE)

Matthew 5:1-12 (MSG)

True confession: shopping is sometimes a recreational activity for me. Especially on vacation, I am a sucker for a good shop of tchotchkes – you know, all that sitty-around stuff for the perfectly appointed home, workspace, bathroom, etc.  Lately inspirational quotes have taken off in the marketplace like wildfire and some quaint little shops have WALLS of plaques, mugs, figurines, napkins…emblazoned with words of “encouragement.”

 

Perhaps you have seen this one – Too blessed to be stressed…

 

Anyone? Maybe you even own something with this on it?  I do! I have it on a tea towel in my kitchen.

 

But…. Is there really a relationship between “blessedness” and how much stress we will encounter in our lives?

 

Or perhaps more specifically is there a continuum with BLESSED at one end and STRESSED at the other?

And our goal is to be striving in the blessed direction?

 

OK.

Let’s be clear about something – we’re not here in this series about bumper sticker wit to generate shame. We’re not here to scold folks who say these things. 

 

We are here to build awareness, understanding and wisdom, right? Because when we build up our awareness, understanding and wisdom, we can be more precise in the things we say to ourselves and others about God.

 

Today’s gospel text is familiar – the beatitudes - but today you heard it from Eugene Peterson’s translation, The Message, which may sound a little different to your ears. And in so many ways, it would seem that this text pretty directly challenges the notion that it is ideal to be “too blessed to be stressed.”

 

I want to point out a few nuances here. First, this translation places real emphasis on who is on the hillside with Jesus when he shares a teaching about who is blessed and what it really means to be blessed. He wasn’t offering this teaching to thousands who might gather to hear him. In Matthew’s gospel, this is a teaching offered to the inner circle, to the most committed, the ones who have signed up for the work.

 

So as Jesus shares the shocking news about blessedness, he’s doing it with those who will be sent out to share core values and teachings in the future. 

 

The word “blessed” in his teaching is not about deeming something particularly “holy,” and neither is it about being “happy.”  In this context, blessedness is really assigning positive fortune to a state of life. So it is a little jarring to hear that we are in a fortunate state of life when we are poor in spirit or mourning or longing for God…even when it feels like we can’t quite satisfy the longing.

 

In some ways, we can see this teaching among the disciples as a product launch – Jesus is laying out a vision and definition of the Kin-dom of Heaven, God’s preferred future for everyone. He’s beginning the work of speaking the Kin-dom into being. He’s beginning the work of helping people understand and aspire to this Kin-dom which is so very different than the power structures of the world around them.

 

And maybe that language about what the Kin-dom of Heaven is – God’s preferred future for God’s people – is a key to our getting real about the notion that we could possibly be too blessed to be stressed…

 

Because if God’s preferred future blesses the meek and the mourning, I wonder why we might spend time longing for or preferencing stress-free existence rather than recognizing the blessedness that is with us in all the hard things.

 

To be clear, I don’t think that we need to go searching after stress, but really…isn’t the world we live in full of plenty of stressful things WITHOUT seeking them out? Illness, economic struggles, a lack of affordable housing and childcare, the trials of aging, the trials of getting along with people.

 

Perhaps it is important for us to remember that we can’t and don’t control all of our circumstances. We will experience hard things and stress in this whacky world we live in. We will endure stressful situations. 

 

And maybe we can choose how to see those stressful situations. Not as punishment, not as a reflection of a lack of blessing, but as part of the human condition. Perhaps we can learn to hold lightly to our reaction to the inevitable hard things we face – not brushing them away, but acknowledging them, feeling our feelings. 

 

And remembering the God who is with us always – a blessing amidst the stress.

 

Blessed amidst the stress.

 

Today, we are sharing some special moments in worship. We gather at the table. We say goodbye to more co-journeyers. I’ve thought a lot about what it means to show up to those things leaning into being blessed amidst the stress. There is no requirement to lay all the craziness of life aside as we come to the table. There is no requirement to wear our blessedness like a badge of honor, like it somehow qualifies us for this special meal. We just need to show up to the meal.

 

As we say goodbye to fellow travelers on the journey, there is no need to bury the things we feel. Those changing circumstances can bum us out. And still God is with us. Still we can see ourselves (maybe) as fortunate for having the feelings – because it means we have cared. We have loved.

 

My prayer is that we will hold onto blessing, God’s nearness to us, as a constant condition, one that we can show up to no matter how stressed we are.

 

Because we are truly blessed amidst the stress.

May it be so.

Amen.