February 26, 2012
Blessed
- Genesis 9:8-17
- Rev Ruth Chadwick Moore
“Blessed – A Spiritual Encounter with Lent” is the title of the Lenten series we will be discussing for the next six weeks. We will do this in adult education classes at 10 am each Sunday and in Tuesday morning and Wednesday night discussion groups. The goal of this video led series is to discover for ourselves what it means to be a disciple and to follow Jesus Christ. Blessed is the title of the first theme of the study and it is obviously the title of this sermon. But what does that word mean? How do you use the word “blessed” in your life?
I know people who use the word “blessed” a lot – as in “I’m truly blessed” as a response to being asked how they are. I’m sure you know people who use the word “blessed” too. Celebrities use the word. Oprah Winfrey uses it all the time. My friends tell me they are “blessed.” The very first psalm in the bible begins with the word “blessed.” In the gospels the word is used at the beginning of Jesus’ “Sermon on the Mount” in Matthew and his “Sermon on the Plain” in Luke – these are the passages we refer to as the Beatitudes, and “beatitude” means blessed in Latin.
The words “bless” and “blessed” are used in the bible with reference to God and with reference to people. Psalm 103: “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me bless God’s holy name.” Luke 6:20: “ Blessed are you who are poor.” Or combining the two in Ephesians: “Blessed be the God and Parent of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing…”
The Greek word translated “blessed” was used in pagan literature to describe the highest state of happiness. In the first chapter of Genesis, the first book of our scriptures, God “blessed” the man and the woman at their creation. God also “blessed” the seventh day, the Sabbath, and hallowed it at the completion of creation.
And today we have two more stories of blessing – the story of Noah and Jesus’ baptism. In Genesis 9 God finds favor with Noah, speaks directly to him, is with him in the very real catastrophe of the flood, and then announces a new relationship of blessing between God and the earth. In Mark’s story God is pleased with Jesus, speaks directly to him, sends angels to care for him in the very real environment of risk and temptation in the wilderness, and through him, announces that the time of God’s new reign of blessing is here.
The story of Noah marks the dividing point between a past of despair and the promise of God’s caring presence. The story of Jesus is the dividing point between a world dominated by earthly kingdoms and the new reign or kingdom of God that is centered on forgiveness, renewal, love and peace. Both stories help us to see new relationships of blessing between God and God’s creation. Both stories help us hear words of blessing to Noah, to Jesus and to us.
What I love about the story of Noah is that in it we see a new and different kind of relationship beginning between God and God’s people. God is binding himself to humanity and indeed to the entire world in a new and different way. God is no longer only the creator; God is now also the protector and is committed to refraining from punishing humanity or destroying the world. That’s why the bow in the heavens, what we call a rainbow, is such an important symbol. Ancient people believed lightning was God punishing them and firing angry arrows from a mighty bow. So the rainbow serves as a reminder not only of the beauty of the earth after a rainstorm, but of God’s refusal to ever again take up the divine bow against humanity or the world. The rainbow becomes a symbol of blessing. And in the story of Noah we hear God’s great promise, “never again.” Never again will I try to destroy my creation. The chaos of the flood gives way to the order of the dry ground and to the great promise of “never again.” Chaos does not reign. God has made a solemn pledge and signed it with a rainbow. And then in baptism we have another sign of God’s promise – the sign of the cross.
In these two stories we are given a glimpse of a God who is sometimes hard to understand. But the God I see portrayed in these bible stories brings order out of chaos. With Noah God imposes order on the world. And order was so important in ancient times when chaos and catastrophe were just a second away from happening. God is not simply sitting back oblivious to the fate of humanity. Instead God is deeply invested in the fate of God’s creation. Along with power, justice, patience and love we see a God who is self-giving and is willing to enter into a relationship with us even though God knows we will keep making mistakes and we will keep sinning. This is of course the way it is in all genuine relationships. Think about how we love as parents or spouses or as best friends. Parents bound in love to their children make all kinds of sacrifices that would have been difficult to imagine prior to having children. I think about learning to cook so my family wouldn’t starve or learning to live with a man who likes to get up early when I would prefer to start my day mid-morning. But what’s different is applying that kind of love and care to God. But if we take seriously the covenant established here with Noah and later with Abraham, David and through baptism into Jesus’ death and resurrection – then we must recognize that God has indeed entered into a genuine relationship with humanity and is therefore now subject to the hope and disappointment, joy and grief that make up all relationships. The story of Noah marks the dividing point between the past of despair and the certain promise of God’s caring presence. This is the blessing for all of us.
But the covenant with Noah is a stopgap measure. Though creation is reprieved, God’s purpose for a unified and harmonious world remains in conflict with the way we live our lives. Lent recognizes this imbalance and gives us a means to seek restoration. These next six weeks give us the blessing of time to follow the paths of the Lord, which are steadfast love and faithfulness as our Psalm for today reminds us – for those who keep God’s covenant and his decrees, for those who repent, and for those who stop grasping for control. Even with the blessing God gives to Jesus at his baptism – “You are my son, the Beloved, with you I am well pleased,” even with this favor from God – Jesus immediately enters a wilderness world inhabited by Satan, wild beasts and angels. As I envision this, I see and hear danger but also promise. We will have wilderness experiences and be confronted by our own Satans in the next six weeks and for the rest of our lives. But these scriptures speak to me about the journey that I call the Lent, but that I also consider a path to a life of blessedness.
It’s a long journey of course, from our usual preoccupation with ourselves and with our tendency to view others in terms of how they can meet our own needs. How do we move instead to viewing others as those who deserve our respect and support because God has called them worthwhile? Everyone is worthwhile – those are the words we hear in our own baptisms. We are named and claimed and loved as beloved children of God. Every single one of us! That is what the waters of baptism symbolize for us, just like they did for Jesus.
Our story, our journey, our path may be a long one – one that begins in Lent, passes through the passion and the cross, and then ends up somewhere on the other side of the resurrection. But it’s a journey worth taking. And that is what the season of Lent is for me – a journey worth taking. And then as we take the journey we need to tell people about it. It’s a story worth telling because it’s our story. God has given us the promise of God’s constant and forever caring presence. God has come to us in the waters of baptism and names us as beloved children and then sends us out into the world to be blessings to others. Two promises and two signs. Never again – chaos does not reign says the sign of the rainbow. You are my beloved, my child, says the sign of the cross at baptism.
So what does the word blessed mean? For me to say that one is blessed is to say that God’s favor rests on that person. And God’s favor rests on all of us. The truth we proclaim week after week and year after year is Good News for everyone. God loves the world and all its inhabitants. That truth may not lead to economic prosperity, or to always getting your heart’s desire. It may not always lead to happiness. And it may involve some downpours, wilderness experiences and wild beasts. But when it is believed and lived out, when you know that God’s favor rests on you, it leads to deep satisfaction, to feeling at home in your own skin and to an abiding commitment to the well-being of the world. For me, blessedness is knowing that I am loved by God, and that I am cared for by God. Blessedness is knowing that I am a child of God and celebrating that identity. I am a beloved child and that is such a gift and such a blessing. There are other things that make me happy, but knowing I am loved by God is at the core of feeling blessed.
You are blessed. I am blessed. And we are sent to be a blessing to the world.
May it be so. Amen.
Resources:
"Blessed" Adult Lenten Study – Seraphim Communications
Feasting on the Word – Year B, Volume 2, First Sunday in Lent