Beatitudes in action

Sometimes it seems we are so familiar with the Bible, and particular passages in the Bible that we let them flow over us, like a warm shower. One comment I read this week suggested we are no longer afraid of God, afraid of Jesus or afraid of the Holy Spirit, therefore we no longer read the Bible in fear and trembling. We are not challenged and changed by the words we read.   The Beatitudes with all their Blesseds, seems so nice, so innocent.  But they are not. The  beatitudes are not so sweet and simple as they first sound.

"Blessed are the poor in spirit,”

[1]This can be economically poor, as in exploited, or poor in spirit. The poor in spirit are humble, they know they don’t have all the answers, so look to God for guidance. When we become self-righteous and think we have all the answers, then we think we no longer need God.  These poor in spirit, theirs is the Kingdom of God.

Blessed are those who mourn

That is those who are grieving the loss of someone they loved. But it is more than that, this also refers to those who mourn their sins, who repent, and those who mourn over the injustice of the world. These are the ones who are comforted.

Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth

Meek didn’t mean submissive and docile, meek refers to those who are economically and socially powerless. The meek, the ones without land, will inherit the earth.

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness

Not those who demand their rights, but those who hunger and thirst for right relationship with God, and that means living in right relationship with all of God’s creation.

Blessed are the merciful

This is not about forgiveness, but about releasing from bondage. An alternative translation is Blessed are those who reach out to others with compassion and relieve their needs."

Blessed are the pure in heart

This was a time when religious piety and purity had outward signs, the length of the tassels on ones garment, the time spent in public prayer etc. Here Jesus is saying it is those who are pure in heart, not those who show outward signs of purity, that will see God. 

Blessed are the peacemakers

Often when we see inequality we think the way to solve it is through force and violence. Here we are told that unity with God and each other only comes through peace.

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake and

Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.

These final 2 remind us that working for change, working against injustice and oppression is not popular, standing with the outcast will not win us friends. But standing with the oppressed, the outcast and the exploited is where we meet God, where we are blessed by God.

Alan is going to show some faces on the screen, do you know any of these people?[2]

1.                  NSW Young Australian of the Year 2011 Tara Winkler  Orphan rescuerOn a holiday to South East Asia in 2004, Tara was deeply moved by the suffering of children she encountered at a run-down orphanage. She began fundraising and made several trips back to Cambodia. In 2007, she discovered the children were being subjected to neglect and abuse. Tara now employs local staff to care for 41 orphans, some as young as two. Its community development and outreach projects are supporting poor families in the Battambang region so that their children do not need residential care. Tara has begun developing enterprises that will enable CCT to support itself. In conjunction with a major hospital in Phnom Penh, she also has plans to develop a medical facility. Tara now speaks fluent Khmer and against huge odds is changing the lives of some of Cambodia’s most vulnerable children

2.                   VIC Senior Australian of the Year 2011 Leslie Erdi OAM  Generous entrepreneurLeslie Erdi counts himself lucky to have escaped a firing squad line-up in Nazi occupied Hungary. This harrowing experience has instilled in him a strong work ethic and a desire to make a difference. He has been involved in the creation of a $1 million centre for youth arts which allows young people to work with professional artists to develop their careers. He is also responsible for revitalising Melbourne’s Sandridge Bridge which pays homage to the contribution of immigrants in Australia. He has made major contributions to the Diabetic Institute, Leukaemia Foundation, Melbourne University Research and the Jewish National Fund. Les believes that success is not based on wealth but on your treatment and respect of others.

3.                  VIC Young Australian of the Year 2011 Angela Barker  Young care advocateLife for Anj Barker changed forever when she was brutally bashed by her ex-boyfriend. She suffered severe brain injury and spent three gruelling years in hospital, rehab and a nursing home before being able to return home, still needing full time care. Anj describes the two-and-a-half years spent housed in a nursing home as ‘hell’. As a teenager living among the very elderly, she felt angry, sad and trapped. She campaigns to stop young people ending up in nursing homes for the elderly and for the introduction of a national no fault insurance scheme, so that people with acquired brain injury can have an equal opportunity to regain an active and productive life.

4.                  QLD Australia's Local Hero 2011 Dr Don Bowley  Rural doctorFor the last 14 years Dr Don Bowley has been working as a doctor with the Mount Isa Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS), caring for people in an area larger than the country of England. Living in an isolated area and facing accidents and illness generates a great deal of anxiety. Even with the RFDS, help can be two hours away, but Don is always on the end of the phone, calmly offering advice, understanding and reassurance. Don believes it is a great privilege and honour to get to know people’s stories and look after them in good times and bad.

5.                  TAS Senior Australian of the Year 2011 Mary Parsissons  Lifeline volunteer Mary Parsissons worked as a midwife and child health nurse for 48 years until retiring in 2008. However, working in a low socio-economic area with one of the highest rates of cot death in Australia, Mary felt she needed more counselling skills. So 25 years ago she trained to become a Lifeline counsellor. She volunteered on the phones for many years and then joined the Board of Lifeline Tasmania. She was President for six years, then served on the national Board for 14 years, and was the Australian representative for Lifeline International for nine years, providing training and advice to a number of Pacific countries during her tenure to help them establish their own telephone counselling services.

6.                   TAS Australia's Local Hero 2011 Ian Edwards  Police officer As a member of the Tasmania Police Early Intervention & Youth Action Unit, Senior Constable Ian Edwards has helped transform his local community of Shorewell Park. Prior to 2008 the community had a number of challenges to face. A large number of its residents are in long-term unemployment and low school attendance was common in children of all ages, coupled with a high rate of anti-social behaviour. . Through sheer hard work and conviction, Ian has created a safe and accepting environment that today attracts up to 200 children, with 50 on a regular basis. Positive friendships between the children are encouraged to develop alongside constructive relationships with police and youth and family service providers. As it receives no official funding, Kommunity Kids relies on donations from the community and Ian and his fellow police officers have dug into their own pockets to keep the program alive. Under Ian’s guidance the program has been successful in creating trust between troubled children, their parents and the police

7.                  NT Senior Australian of the Year 2011 Barry Abbott  Caring cattleman Barry Abbott is an Arrente stockman who has had remarkable success rehabilitating young male trouble makers and substance abusers of the outback. Barry established the Ilpurla Aboriginal Association a treatment outstation in a remote south-west corner of Central Australia in the seventies, and estimates that he has looked after about 300 boys over the years, some for as long as 12 months at a time. Drug abuse and petrol sniffing in particular are the main reasons young men end up at Barry’s station. A stockman by trade, Barry gives the boys the opportunity to become part of a working cattle station. They start work at day break and learn new skills like saddlery, vehicle and stock maintenance and break in horses. He instils in them a strong work ethic, discipline and a sense of pride and self-worth. Unlike other treatment centres, Barry accepts boys from anywhere, usually at the request of the Alice Springs courts, some arriving at his station still handcuffed. Barry is one of the hard men - uncompromising in his demands - but he also takes on the hard cases, the ones considered to be hopeless; boys who the doctors say could die at any time, and proves them wrong.

8.                  ACT Australia's Local Hero 2011 Alan Jessop  Salvation Army champion Alan Jessop has collected for the Salvation Army, watching the city evolve and change around him.. There are not many prepared to sit for hours collecting but Alan is inspired by the Salvation Army’s good work in the region which includes a drug and rehabilitation program, a welfare centre and community churches. Alan continues to collect three days a week for the charity he is so passionate about, only missing the odd day for a medical appointment. At the age of 80, Alan has no intention of stopping his charity work.

9.                  Australian of the Year 2011 Simon McKeon  Social EntrepreneurWhile enjoying a successful corporate career, Simon decided he didn’t want to put off serious engagement with the community sector until his most productive years were behind him. So in 1994 he transitioned into a part-time role as Executive Chairman of Macquarie Group’s Melbourne office, enabling him to support a range of causes and organisations, including joining the board of World Vision Australia. His association with World Vision International continues and he is involved with the Global Poverty Project and Red Dust Role Models, which works with remote Indigenous communities.

10.             Australia's Local Hero 2011 Donald Ritchie OAM  Suicide prevention advocate.
Each day, Don keeps an active eye out for people who might need help. For years he has been coaxing people away from the cliffside by inviting them back to his home for a chat over a cup of tea. In this way, Don has saved more than 160 lives. In a situation where most would turn a blind eye, Don has taken action.

While these people may or may not be religious, I think they show some of the qualities we have read in the Beatitudes. People who have looked at the world through the eyes of others, or the eyes of God. People who have seen poverty and oppression and mourned it, and done something to alleviate it; people who have looked at their community relationships and obligations rather then just their career and financial relationships. People who have sensed a need and trained and worked to meet that need. These are examples of people who mourn, people who are merciful and people who hunger and thirst for righteousness.  

Read this passage and listen for the truth of it.

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[1] I have taken much of the information on the Beatitudes from the paper:  The Beatitudes: A Call to Social Justice by Paul Raushenbush

[2] Information about Australian of the Year nominees is from  www.australianoftheyear.org.au