Beatitudes Part 2-Blessed are those who morn 1/30/11

Sermon 1-30-11 beatitudes pt 2

Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted

Have comforters come up at end of the service & gather to hug others
To grieve to mourn to be filled with sorrow

Mourning-
process, sack cloth and ashes, black clothes, veils, withdrawl
The underlying emotions

Everyone can relate to this---
Everyone has suffered
Or will

Everyone will mourn in their life
The loss of a pet
The loss of a parent
God forbid, the loss of those before their time
I don’t understand life

You cannot choose the cards that you are dealt, you can only choose how you will play them.

What you should never say to others who are grieving

What to do/say at a funeral
No pat answers


The New York Times, December 7, 1999.
- - To a man whose elderly mother died: Oh, well, 79.
- To a 60-year-old recent widow: Don't worry. You're young and attractive; you'll find someone else.
- To a woman whose husband died of lung cancer: You have to meet this man. His wife also died of lung cancer.
- To a man whose 26-year-old daughter died of AIDS: If she hadn't been that way, God wouldn't have struck her dead with AIDS, and It was just a purification thing.
- To a woman who suffered a miscarriage: It is probably for the best.
- To a woman whose 25-year-old son was killed: At least you have four other children.

Things that I have personally heard – not helpful
It must have been their time
Everything happens for a reason
God doesn’t put more on us than we can take
It was gods will

Having said that, here are some things that I say to you now:

Engage in The ministry of presence

God takes a hand whenever he can find it
- The pastor takes someones hand to pray for them
- the hand of a doctor to relieve the pain,
- the hand of a mother to guide a child.
- The hand of any of us to comfort to a neighbor.
- they're all hands touched by his Spirit, and his Spirit's everywhere lookin' for hands to use.

Do not doubt the value of your presence, of your touch

The comfort that we deliver – Food - kindness

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted

We must deal with it, Experience it, releasing it
But you have to feel it to heal it. You have to go through the wilderness. -Nadya Labi, The Grief Brigade, Time, May 17, 1999.

Talk to friends
Talk to God

At some point we must Accept the hurt – make friends with the pain
Serenity prayer
God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference
At some point you must release yourself from grief or you will not ever be yourself for those around you. You will not ever be present for them. You in fact have chosen to live in the past, to be fixed in time of the pain

Sow in tears, reap in joy
5 Those who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy.
6 Those who go out weeping, carrying seed to sow,
will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with them.

psalm [126] ... 'Those that sow in tears will reap shouting with joy. Weeping as he goes, he carries the seed bag -- and returns with shouts of joy.

See the seeds of tomorrow
How lucky I am, how grateful I am
For the life of my father – for the joy of kowing him
Very tough circumstances?
Hellen keller, cant speak, hear or see, yet finds the joy of life

Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved.

Everything has its wonders, even darkness and silence, and I learn whatever state I am in, therin to be content

Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it.

You can be in pain and suffer, or you can be in pain and not suffer
The hammer on my thumb….
Jesus - Let your will be done for me
Father forgive them

Tiger, boy, cliff, piece of fruit
There is always a fruit, because God is with us

A man was walking across a field when he heard a rustling in the tall grass beside him, and turned to see the hungry eyes of a large tiger staring at him. The man began to run, fear giving him greater speed and stamina than he knew he possessed. But always, just behind him, he could hear the easy breathing of the hungry tiger. Finally, the man stopped, not because his strength had failed but because he had come to the edge of a high cliff and could go no further. "I can let the tiger eat me, or take my life in my own hands and jump." The man turned and saw the tiger slowly walking toward him, licking its mouth in anticipation. Resolved to take his own life, the man stepped to the edge of the cliff and bent his legs to jump, when he suddenly noticed a thick vine growing out of the side of the cliff, several feet from the top. Carefully, he let himself drop down the cliff face, catching hold of the vine as he slid past, and thanked God when it was strong enough to support his weight. Hanging now, the man looked up and saw the tiger's eyes peering over the edge of the cliff. It roared down at him, then began to pace back and forth along the top of the cliff. For the first time, the man looked at the vine that had saved his life. It was thick enough for him to wrap his legs around, resting his arms, and long enough that he might be able to let himself far enough down to jump safely to the ground below. And the moment he had this thought was the same moment that he saw the second tiger, pacing back and forth at the foot of the cliff, licking its mouth, and looking hungrily up at him. Well, thought the man, if my strength and the strength of the vine are great enough, perhaps I can outwait the tigers. Surely, they'll go someplace else to eat when they're hungry enough. And the man prepared to settle in for a long wait. His preparations halted quickly, however, when he heard a scurrying, scratching sound close to his own face. Glancing upwards, he saw two mice, one white and one black, emerge from a small hole in the cliff. They made their way swiftly to the base of the vine, and began to gnaw through it with their small sharp teeth. There was nothing else he could do, a tiger above, a tiger below, and the vine that kept him from their jaws about to break. The man was closing his eyes to begin his prayers, when he noticed, a little to his right, a tiny patch of red color on the face of the cliff. He reached toward it precariously, pulled, and brought his hand back beneath his eyes. There, in his palm, was a luscious, red strawberry. The man swiftly pressed the strawberry between his lips, onto his tongue, and hanging between those still visible tigers, he enjoyed the finest , juiciest, sweetest meal of his life.

It hurts because we loved it, or them

The comfort that God delivers
when we are mad at god about something
he accepts this
he stands with us
jesus wept

John 11:35-36
35 Jesus wept.
36 Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”

compassion – over and over again

let us pray
Have comforters come up at end of the service & gather to hug others