Gifts, Beatitudes, Fruits, and Happiness

I have been following some pastoral advice and meditating on The Beatitudes for the past few weeks.  I read Living the Beatitudes Today by Dodd and Heaven in Our Hands by Groeschel.  And, I actually read the Beatitudes in Matthew 5 a few times.

Immersed in today’s goal oriented American culture, it is easy to read these verses as a sort of self improvement plan or a way to categorize ourselves.  If we want to be blessed, we need to become poor in spirit.  If we want to be shown mercy, we need to become merciful.  If we want to be recognized as children of God, we had better be making some peace.  Probably none will raise their hands for persecution.  Now, all who want to be blessed go to Table A.  Those who want to be shown mercy go to Table B. Etc.  There will be trained discussion leaders at each table.  

But it seems to me that the Beatitudes are more a description of the Church, it and its members being the recipients of the gifts of the Holy Spirit and yielding, as is natural, the fruits of the Holy Spirit.  Jesus was perhaps just stating facts rather than issuing challenges.  The gifts of course are free and there for the receiving.  And, if we receive them, we are changed and we are blessed and others are blessed through us and we are closer to the Kingdom of God and all those other good things, not perfect, but moving in that direction. 

So, maybe we need to relax and enjoy and receive the gifts and let the blessings flow through and just give up on the self-improvement activities as means of getting closer to God.    

It is probably worth pointing out some issues around interpretation and understanding of the Beatitudes.  One is that little word that for 400 years or so was translated into English usually as "blessed" but, in newer translations as "happy."  There is no point in reinventing the wheel here, so take a look at this posting for a good explanation of how "happy" just doesn't carry the weight of the original Greek or Hebrew.  As a long time pastor I once knew liked to say, "Happiness depends on happenings."  The Peace of God, "blessedness," does not.  

It is also worth noting that the beatitudes in St. Luke's Sermon on the Plain are simpler, shorter, and fewer than those in St. Matthew's Sermon on the Mount.  One could even say they are different.  And, St. Luke's version includes those four troublesome woes immediately after the beatitudes.  Bible scholars have various explanations for these differences, all of which depend on our understanding and acceptance of the simple fact that nobody from CNN or Fox news was following Jesus around recording every step he took and every word he said for distribution on YouTube.  We also have to understand that the Gospel writers had different slants on the true teachings of Jesus depending on their audiences and situations.  And it helps to understand that Jesus knew Holy Scripture (Our Old Testament) intimately and that his message is often an expansion or continuation of it.  So, the answer to which version of The Beatitudes is correct is, of course, both of them.  And not only that, we can beneficially meditate as well on the twenty beatitudes found in the Psalms.  Click on these summaries for high resolution versions.

Gifts, Beatitudes, Fruits, and Happiness

I have been following some pastoral advice and meditating on The Beatitudes for the past few weeks.  I read Living the Beatitudes Today by Dodd and Heaven in Our Hands by Groeschel.  And, I actually read the Beatitudes in Matthew 5 a few times.

Immersed in today’s goal oriented American culture, it is easy to read these verses as a sort of self improvement plan or a way to categorize ourselves.  If we want to be blessed, we need to become poor in spirit.  If we want to be shown mercy, we need to become merciful.  If we want to be recognized as children of God, we had better be making some peace.  Probably none will raise their hands for persecution.  Now, all who want to be blessed go to Table A.  Those who want to be shown mercy go to Table B. Etc.  There will be trained discussion leaders at each table.  

But it seems to me that the Beatitudes are more a description of the Church, it and its members being the recipients of the gifts of the Holy Spirit and yielding, as is natural, the fruits of the Holy Spirit.  Jesus was perhaps just stating facts rather than issuing challenges.  The gifts of course are free and there for the receiving.  And, if we receive them, we are changed and we are blessed and others are blessed through us and we are closer to the Kingdom of God and all those other good things, not perfect, but moving in that direction. 

So, maybe we need to relax and enjoy and receive the gifts and let the blessings flow through and just give up on the self-improvement activities as means of getting closer to God.    

It is probably worth pointing out some issues around interpretation and understanding of the Beatitudes.  One is that little word that for 400 years or so was translated into English usually as "blessed" but, in newer translations as "happy."  There is no point in reinventing the wheel here, so take a look at this posting for a good explanation of how "happy" just doesn't carry the weight of the original Greek or Hebrew.  As a long time pastor I once knew liked to say, "Happiness depends on happenings."  The Peace of God, "blessedness," does not.  

It is also worth noting that the beatitudes in St. Luke's Sermon on the Plain are simpler, shorter, and fewer than those in St. Matthew's Sermon on the Mount.  One could even say they are different.  And, St. Luke's version includes those four troublesome woes immediately after the beatitudes.  Bible scholars have various explanations for these differences, all of which depend on our understanding and acceptance of the simple fact that nobody from CNN or Fox news was following Jesus around recording every step he took and every word he said for distribution on YouTube.  We also have to understand that the Gospel writers had different slants on the true teachings of Jesus depending on their audiences and situations.  And it helps to understand that Jesus knew Holy Scripture (Our Old Testament) intimately and that his message is often an expansion or continuation of it.  So, the answer to which version of The Beatitudes is correct is, of course, both of them.  And not only that, we can beneficially meditate as well on the twenty beatitudes found in the Psalms.  Click on these summaries for high resolution versions.

Love Means Having To Say I Am Sorry

As a recent Catholic convert, I’ve been thinking a lot about confession lately. It has been almost a year since being confirmed at St. Peter’s in Columbia, SC, and Catholic faithful “go to confession” at least once per year. I did it just prior to the confirmation, dumping on the priest a bunch of shameful stuff I have done over the decades, and that was about a year ago.

 Of course all Christians believe in confession. How could we do otherwise, given 1 John 1:9 – “If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” For most of my life I understood confessing my sins to mean simply bowing my head in prayer and saying something like, “I did _______, and I am sorry. Please forgive me.” I’m not going to even suggest that God never heard or honored those confessions, but there is some challenging scripture that seems to suggest a bit more complexity about confession.

 There is that instruction in James 5:16 – “Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed.” There is often an interesting connection between healing and forgiveness in the New Testament. So, it became reasonable to me that we need to say those confessions out loud and within hearing distance of somebody else. And maybe we also need to pray for each other about those things confessed. But I don’t really know if this is a command or a law or just a bit of “fatherly” advice offered by James to his readers.

 And there is the “Our Father” in which we pray, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us,” additional evidence of the importance of person to person interaction as a part of confession, and indication that we should not only let others hear our confession but that we should hear theirs and forgive them as well. It is not clear to me whether that “as” means “while” or “in the same way” or “to the same extent?” In the Matthew version of the “Our Father,” Jesus offers some additional explanation in Matthew 6:14-15 - “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” There is no emphasis on confession here, or even any request for forgiveness, but I suppose they are assumed. I believe that “trespass” is a synonym for “sin.”

 Finally, there are those instances in Matthew 16:19 and John 20:23 in which Jesus gives Peter and the Disciples authority to forgive sins. I guess that, before becoming Catholic, I always just assumed that meant we all have some limited authority to forgive sins, and we do, of course, or would not have been instructed to do so, but I’m thinking this authority he gave them, the so-called Office of the Keys, is a bit different. Even if so, I might have once argued that it applied only to those who received the authority directly from Jesus. But now that doesn’t make sense to me. I have come to believe that Jesus founded His church and left somebody in charge with the authority and responsibility to hear confessions and forgive sins and teach and interpret and perform other specific duties and to ordain successors and that that authority and responsibility continue today.

 So, I am getting ready, and of course a big part of the confession process is the time spent praying and reflecting on one’s own life with the objective of determining what needs to be confessed. Overt and undeniable sins of commission, lying, adultery, theft, etc., would come to the top of the list. Hopefully, I don’t have many of those, but I have to be concerned also about the more subtle failures, the places I have fallen short, the things I ought to have done but didn’t. And it is easy, especially in a hedonistic culture that encourages self-esteem, to deceive myself, to convince myself I am a pretty good guy. In Leviticus 11:45, God tells the people, “You shall be holy, for I am holy,” and Peter quotes and repeats that charge to the early Church in 1 Peter 1:16. The gap between that and where I find myself is pretty wide. Thank God for the opportunity for confession, for forgiveness, for reconciliation, for penance, and for continuing conversion.

Love Means Having To Say I Am Sorry

As a recent Catholic convert, I’ve been thinking a lot about confession lately. It has been almost a year since being confirmed at St. Peter’s in Columbia, SC, and Catholic faithful “go to confession” at least once per year. I did it just prior to the confirmation, dumping on the priest a bunch of shameful stuff I have done over the decades, and that was about a year ago.

 Of course all Christians believe in confession. How could we do otherwise, given 1 John 1:9 – “If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” For most of my life I understood confessing my sins to mean simply bowing my head in prayer and saying something like, “I did _______, and I am sorry. Please forgive me.” I’m not going to even suggest that God never heard or honored those confessions, but there is some challenging scripture that seems to suggest a bit more complexity about confession.

 There is that instruction in James 5:16 – “Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed.” There is often an interesting connection between healing and forgiveness in the New Testament. So, it became reasonable to me that we need to say those confessions out loud and within hearing distance of somebody else. And maybe we also need to pray for each other about those things confessed. But I don’t really know if this is a command or a law or just a bit of “fatherly” advice offered by James to his readers.

 And there is the “Our Father” in which we pray, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us,” additional evidence of the importance of person to person interaction as a part of confession, and indication that we should not only let others hear our confession but that we should hear theirs and forgive them as well. It is not clear to me whether that “as” means “while” or “in the same way” or “to the same extent?” In the Matthew version of the “Our Father,” Jesus offers some additional explanation in Matthew 6:14-15 - “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” There is no emphasis on confession here, or even any request for forgiveness, but I suppose they are assumed. I believe that “trespass” is a synonym for “sin.”

 Finally, there are those instances in Matthew 16:19 and John 20:23 in which Jesus gives Peter and the Disciples authority to forgive sins. I guess that, before becoming Catholic, I always just assumed that meant we all have some limited authority to forgive sins, and we do, of course, or would not have been instructed to do so, but I’m thinking this authority he gave them, the so-called Office of the Keys, is a bit different. Even if so, I might have once argued that it applied only to those who received the authority directly from Jesus. But now that doesn’t make sense to me. I have come to believe that Jesus founded His church and left somebody in charge with the authority and responsibility to hear confessions and forgive sins and teach and interpret and perform other specific duties and to ordain successors and that that authority and responsibility continue today.

 So, I am getting ready, and of course a big part of the confession process is the time spent praying and reflecting on one’s own life with the objective of determining what needs to be confessed. Overt and undeniable sins of commission, lying, adultery, theft, etc., would come to the top of the list. Hopefully, I don’t have many of those, but I have to be concerned also about the more subtle failures, the places I have fallen short, the things I ought to have done but didn’t. And it is easy, especially in a hedonistic culture that encourages self-esteem, to deceive myself, to convince myself I am a pretty good guy. In Leviticus 11:45, God tells the people, “You shall be holy, for I am holy,” and Peter quotes and repeats that charge to the early Church in 1 Peter 1:16. The gap between that and where I find myself is pretty wide. Thank God for the opportunity for confession, for forgiveness, for reconciliation, for penance, and for continuing conversion.

A Holy Week Meditation

134 All sacred Scripture is but one book, and this one book is Christ, "because all divine Scripture speaks of Christ, and all divine Scripture is fulfilled in Christ" - The Catholic Catechism

The diagram below started with one I published earlier, Chaos to Church.  I had some feedback and suggestions on that one, and one thing led to another, and this is the current status.  A work in progress I would say, but an attempt to outline what The Church means by the Gospel or Good News of Jesus Christ.  I'm not going to try to explain  because the whole idea is that such an exhibit should be pretty much self-explanatory.  And, the less I say, the fewer errors I make.  As usual, I  welcome any feedback, comments, criticisms, or suggestions.

To get a readable version, just click on the diagram.

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A Holy Week Meditation

134 All sacred Scripture is but one book, and this one book is Christ, "because all divine Scripture speaks of Christ, and all divine Scripture is fulfilled in Christ" - The Catholic Catechism

The diagram below started with one I published earlier, Chaos to Church.  I had some feedback and suggestions on that one, and one thing led to another, and this is the current status.  A work in progress I would say, but an attempt to outline what The Church means by the Gospel or Good News of Jesus Christ.  I'm not going to try to explain  because the whole idea is that such an exhibit should be pretty much self-explanatory.  And, the less I say, the fewer errors I make.  As usual, I  welcome any feedback, comments, criticisms, or suggestions.

To get a readable version, just click on the diagram.

Tweet

Follow @dkw2020

Chaos to Church

Below is a diagram which I developed a few years back after first hearing the term "henotheism" in a theology course at Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary and after some discussion of ecclesiology at that same institution.  Who else but me is going to try to express in a simple diagram on a single sheet of paper, with an even dozen Bible verses, the theological history of the Christian church?  Well, I did try to do that, for a confirmation class I believe, and just thought of the diagram a few days ago.  I know this will look crazy to many Christians and to almost all of other faiths, but I think this is a standard Christian understanding of the theological story the Bible tells.  Of course the rest of the story, as Paul Harvey might have said, is that The Church seems to some to have descended into chaos in the most recent few centuries, thus completing the circle.

And of course The Church has always had and still has its share of problems, often exhibiting shameful and very unchristian behavior.  But Jesus didn't promise that it would be perfect; only that, "the Gates of Hell will not prevail against it."  I am interested in any feedback this little exercise might generate.  You will probably have to click on the chart to get a readable version.