Sermon ~ Poor in Spirit? ~ 08/21/2011 ~ A Sermon on the Occasion of “Water from the Well Part II”

08/21/2011 ~ Proper 16 ~ 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time ~ 10th Sunday after Pentecost ~ Exodus 1:8-2:10; Psalm 124; Isaiah 51:1-6; Psalm 138; Romans 12:1-8; Matthew 16:13-20 ~ Used These Passages from Scripture: Call to Worship Based on Psalm 100; Ecclesiastes 3, selected verses, adapted (in the Ceremony of Shalom; Matthew 5:1-10, 13-16; Responsive Reading Based on Psalm 55 from the translation used in the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer; Responsive Reading Based on Psalm 149 [ILV]; A Reading from the Talmud ~ The Sunday Featuring Water from the Well II and the Music of Joseph Martin ~ Ceremony of Shalom for Eli Craig ~ Water from the Well II; a Union Service with the United Church of Christ, First Congregational of Norwich and the Sherburne United Church of Christ.

Poor in Spirit?

“Blessed are those who are poor in spirit: the Dominion of heaven is theirs.” — Matthew 5:3.


Mikhail Baryshnikov is a Soviet-born Russian-American dancer, choreographer, actor and, certainly, one of the great ballet artists of the 20th century. Baryshnikov was involved in the 1981 American Film Institute’s Life Achievement Award, a televised tribute to Fred Astaire.

The very first to speak on the broadcast, he said this (quote): “I have been invited to say something concerning how we dancers feel about Fred Astaire. It’s no secret: we hate him. (Slight pause.) He gives us complexes because he’s too perfect.” [1] (Slight pause.)

That’s probably how a lot of us feel about the Beatitudes, isn’t it? We hate them. How can you live up to that kind of perfection? (Slight pause.)

Well, I’ve got good news. We don’t have to be perfect. It’s not our job. And perfection is not what the Beatitudes are about.

As indicated earlier, after the Beatitudes comes a series of “you are” statements. These amplify and illuminate the Beatitudes. So, this is not simply a list of unattainable goals since the “you are” statements insist we are already blessed by God. (Slight pause.)

Baryshnikov and Astaire are graceful people. And being poor in spirit has to do with grace, not poverty. Indeed, one translation renders “Blessed are the poor in spirit” as “Blessed are the debonaire.”

And that’s the point. A person who is debonaire is one who moves through life with a sense of God. A person who moves through life with a sense of God is grace-filled. A grace-filled person is confident in the reality of God, confident the presence of God.

Those who are grace-filled have no need to claim or exhibit a robust ego because their identity rests in God, their security rests in God. So, the poverty of spirit addressed here stems from the humility one discovers through striving to grow into deeply knowing God. (Slight pause.)

There is also an ethical dimension to the beatitudes. Knowledge of God, you see, leads to action. And it is not individual action but communal action because, in the context of the Gospel, it is not the individual being pronounced as blessed. The community hears itself as blessed, sees itself as blessed.

And, since these pronouncements are made by Jesus, the community cannot remain passive. The Beatitudes, thereby, become and are a call to action. [2] (Slight pause.)

Now, we have gathered here today and we have celebrated music. Why? What’s the connection. What does song have to do with action? (Slight pause.) Everything.

Music, singing, is filled with its own sense of God given grace since it allows us to, physically, make a proclamation about grace and, thereby, a proclamation of the presence grace. As such, in the very act of singing, our assertion is that we rely on the grace of God and on the mercy of God.

Why? Music, when offered to God, is a recognition of the reality of God and a recognition of the presence of God. So, indeed blessed are the debonaire. Blessed are those who know grace by walking in the paths of God and doing the work of God and the will of God. Blessed are those who sing praise to God. Amen.

United Church of Christ, First Congregational, Norwich, New York
08/21/2011

A READING FROM THE TALMUD AND A BENEDICTION

The Torah is the first five books of the Bible. This is a reading from the Jewish commentary on the Torah, known as the Talmud.

After all creation was formed, God called the angels together and asked them what they thought of it. One of them said, “Something is lacking: the sound of praise to the Creator.” So God created music. And music was heard in the whisper of the wind, in the chirp of the birds, in the tympani of the thunder. But that was not enough, so God gave humanity the gift of song. And down through the ages this gift has blessed, comforted and inspired many souls. This gift is a part of the covenant; we have the blessings and wonder which the gift from God bestows on and in us; and God is pleased when a joyful noise is heard.

Hear now this blessing: let us walk in the Spirit, remembering that we are one in Christ, for, in the Dominion of God, the grace of true freedom is the inheritance of those who walk in the love of God.

And may we love God so much, that we love nothing else too much. May we be so in awe of God, that we are in awe of no one else and nothing else. Amen.

[1] http://www.reelclassics.com/Actors/Astaire/astaire-article3.htm

[2] The Interpreter’s Bible: The Electronic Edition. This is found in the section on this passage.