I preached this on Sunday, January 20th, 2008, at the
Cedarcrest Community of Christ Congregation in Marysville, WA
Matthew 5:1-12:
Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them saying:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
These are The Beatitudes. The Beatitudes are eight blessings that Jesus proclaimed at the opening of his Sermon on the Mount! There are at the heart of the teachings of Jesus Christ. They were presented as a charge to the downtrodden and oppressed to turn upside down the political and social world of the Roman Empire of Caesar Augustus and of the Jewish religious elite of Judea and Jerusalem. A charge that still speaks to us today as we are called to stand up against the political and social regimes that do harm in this world. Essentially, the Beatitudes should be viewed as the foundation for a church likes ours that is dedicated to the Pursuit of Peace.
So, if these are the foundation for a church dedicated to Peace then what is Peace? We have to understand of course that the Hebrew word for peace is shalom and that shalom doesn’t necessarily represent our definition of peace. In the study book “The Sermon on the Mount: Foundations for an International Peace Church”, Community of Christ Apostle Andrew Bolton shares with us that “shalom is a much richer word than “peace””. There is a lot more depth and meaning to the word Shalom. Bolton goes on to say that “In English peace tends to mean the absence of war. Shalom, on the other hand, means wholeness, completeness, perfection.”. We talk a lot about Zion in our faith movement. Zion is essentially Shalom. In Doctrine & Covenants 163:3a we were counseled that “The hope of Zion is realized when the vision of Christ is embodied in communities of generosity, justice, and peacefulness.”. This sounds very similar to the Beatitudes to me.
Now, today our worship theme is Hunger and Thirst for Justice. Throughout the church we also celebrate today as Racial Justice Day. When the current worship schedule for our congregation was first being looked at and who would preside and preach on what Sundays during this trimester there was a typo. Instead of Racial Justice Day, Radical Justice Day was printed. Personally, I liked that. It kind of stuck with me. So, today at Cedarcrest we are also recognizing it as Radical Justice Day.
The year was 1994. The setting was Woodrow Wilson High School in Long Beach, California, classroom 203 in post-L.A. riot era. The real life main character, a Caucasian teacher by the name of Erin Gruwell. It was the fall and Erin was embarking on her first year of teaching. She was to teach what was known as the “at risk” students, the “unteachable” students. Now enters the supporting cast: A freshman classroom with a mix of African-American, Latino, Cambodian, Vietnamese, and Caucasian students. Most of these students were in gangs. Most of them knew someone in Juvenile Hall. Some of them had actually been in juvenile hall. They had friends and family who had been killed because of gang rivalry. Some of them even witnessing there loved ones being killed. They were poor. Forgotten by the world. They didn’t care about school. They didn’t want to learn. And here comes in this bubbly, new teacher full of excitement and joy, ready to teach. Obviously, the students were not responsive. Students took bets on how long she would last.
Then one day in this racially heated classroom a fellow student draws a caricature of one of the black students. It depicted this student with big lips. Mrs. Gruwell had had enough. She went into teaching this class with excitement, ready to change the world one child at a time and now she was angry, frustrated, and saddened by what she was witnessing. Thus, it was time to give the students a history lesson. She compared the caricature of the black student to those made of Jews with big noses during the Holocaust. She asked how many of the students had been shot at. Most of them raised their hands and went on to show her their scars. She was now getting the history lesson.
She gave them journals to write in as an assignment. Told them she would only read them if they gave her permission. All the students allowed her to read them. Her eyes were open to the pain and suffering that these students were experiencing. When Erin went to get books for her students or requesting to take them on a field trip she was denied due to lack of funding. She was told by school administrators that she had to use the condensed version of the stories she wanted her students to read because they would loose the books or given them back in worse shape than issued them. So, Erin got a second job working at a retail store. Then, a third job working at a hotel on the weekends. She did this so she could buy books for her students and take them on field trips.
The students took notice. Realizing that she actually cared for them. They started to integrate with each other through the learning and understanding of those that came before them. Changes started to happen. Transformation started to take place. She was able to get the students to rethink who they were and who they could become. The students, once separated by race, were becoming a family. They gave themselves a name, the Freedom Writers, paying homage to the Civil Rights activists, the Freedom Riders.
They took their journal writings and published them. So others could learn and grow from their experiences. She ended up being their teacher for all of there high school years. She even followed some of her students to college to teach them there. Because of her love and dedication many of these children were the first to only graduate high school but college as well. She fought against the system and she won. They made a movie based on this story, appropriately called “The Freedom Writers”.
Often times when we think of our Peace & Justice heroes we think of Martin Luther King Jr, Mother Theresa, Gandhi, Jesus, and others. They are all stalwarts of the Peace & Justice movement. I don’t want to discredit what they have done. Though, when I consider one of my personal heroes, I think Erin Gruwell. She is an example of how an ordinary citizen can do extraordinary things. Her actions of love became the way of peace that classroom 203 needed.
I would relate the Beatitudes to the counsel given to us in Doctrine & Covenants 161:3a “Open your hearts and feel the yearnings of your brothers and sisters who are lonely, despised, fearful, neglected, unloved. Reach out in understanding, clasp their hands, and invite all to share in the blessings of community created in the name of the One who suffered on behalf of all.”. The kids in classroom 203 were the lonely, despised, fearful, neglected, unloved that we are called to reach out to. The ones that society and institutions tell us to forget. That they aren’t worth our time. They ARE worth our time.
The song we listened to before my sermon is called “Where is the Love?”. I know a good number of you probably had a hard time understanding the words of that song but the words said were powerful. I will read to you part of one of the verses:
But if you only have love for your own race
then you only leave space to discriminate
And to discriminate only generates hate
And when you hate then you’re bound to get irate
Madness is what you demonstrate
And that’s exactly how anger works and operates
Man, you gotta have love just to set it straight
Take control of your mind and meditate
Let your soul gravitate to the love
And then :
Father, Father, Father help us
Send some guidance from above
‘Cause people got me, got me questionin’
Where is the love?
Where is the love? We are the Love. You can’t talk about Peace & Justice and not connect it with love. Remember the first and second Commandments? “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” and then “Love your neighbor as yourself”. These commandments are the way to peace. The blessings shared in the Beatitudes are the way to Peace.
Martin Luther King Jr. stated “I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.”. I believe this would be a good description of true Shalom. Of Zion.
On this Racial Justice Sunday. This Radical Justice Sunday. I am calling you to be peacemakers. We are called to be the Erin Gruwell’s of the world. We are called to be the Gandhi’s of the World. We are called to be the Martin Luther King Jr’s of the world. We are called to proclaim Jesus Christ and promote communities of joy, hope, love, and peace. We are called to live out our Christian faith and be that living example of how God’s love can change the world.
