When Love is Our Presence: The Beatitudes for Today. 2/1/2026

Today’s reading from Micah gives us a little switcheroo….usually we hear humanity lament and be like: How Long, O God…..come on and get down here and do the thing…….But today, it’s God who is like: O my people, what have I done so that you don’t believe in me….in my vision…..don’t you remember how I have liberated you from oppression?

And then the people are like: Okay, God: tell us exactly what you want, what we gotta do, to make sure you are on our side….do we gotta give burnt offerings, sin offerings, give you our firstborn…..?”

And then, Beloved, if you listen carefully in the pauses, you can almost hear the Creator of the Skies and Stars Sigh…..deeply…..

So the prophet Micah steps in and says Come on, now people, you know what God wants from you: do justice, love mercy, walk humbly with God.

Because, Beloved, when we do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God, the heavens are opened and the Kingdom of God is revealed. Like Jesus said recently to the disciples (and to us): Turn around, change your lives, the kingdom of God is near.  In fact, Beloved, it is right here. All around.

In today’s well-known Gospel passage, commonly known as the Beatitudes from the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is talking to God’s people. Most likely there are hundreds gathered because since his ministry started with his baptism, Jesus has been going all throughout Galilee: healing every human sickness, curing humanity’s illnesses—not just physical ones, perhaps not even primarily physical ones, but the sicknesses of our heart, our minds, our spirits……making us whole from the inside out.  And the Beatitudes are not written in the imperative as commands; The Beatitudes are not: If you do this……then God will give you that. These verses are written in the indicative; Jesus is describing how things already are. How things are in the Kingdom of God,  the Kingdom of heaven which Jesus is proclaiming has come near. Is come near. After all, let’s remember that heaven is simply wherever God dwells.  And, if God is Love, then heaven is wherever Love is. Let me repeat, whenever you are seeing or experiencing Love enacted, that is heaven. Whether it’s a moment, a word, an action, a response, a reception, a decision, a choice, a pause. Love enacted is Heaven. The presence of Love is Heaven. Love in the flesh is heaven. The Kingdom drawn near.

So, let’s look at the Beatitudes again; you have them in your bulletin, but let’s put them in our context today. And remember, Jesus is looking up and out at people who have come to hear and see Jesus in order to be made new, to be made well and whole. Some of those folx have traveled longer and more intentionally with Jesus; we call them disciples. Some have come with hope and longing but also uncertainty, sitting a little further away, we might know them as seekers. Jesus knows them all as the Beloved. And here is what Jesus has to say to the Beloved:

• Blessed are you who are at the end of your rope; when Love is your center you can be assured that God is holding you tightly to keep you from falling off the cliff. Breathe deep.

• Blessed are those who see the killings in the streets of Minneapolis, the streets of Gaza, Ukraine, the Sudan. You whose hearts and spirits ache because of humanity’s inhumanity. When Love is your community, you will be comforted and restored—through presence, prayer, song, dance, silence, liturgy, meals, through fellowship and gathering. 

• Blessed are the gentle ones, the kind and forgiving ones, the prayerful ones, the ones who say “It’s okay dude; I’m not mad at you.”; for they walk in the ways of Love, they know how to live in right relationship with others and with God who is Love itself. 

• Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for the Way of Love; for you are Disciples and seekers. Doubters and questioners. You open yourself to the possibility that Love is the Way; another world is not only possible, but she is on her way. Even as the world depletes you, Love will bless you with renewal of heart, mind and spirit, filling your cup.

• Blessed are the ones who ask “Are you okay? as they extend their hand to help; the ones who care for others, putting others’ needs on equal footing with their own. Their caring for others becomes a healing and strengthening of themselves. This is how Love works

• Blessed are those who have Love as their focus, whose undivided attention and intention is Love; for they will see God — in every person, every neighbor, in every helper at every situation, in every bird and tree and flower, in every mirror and reflection.

• Blessed are the peacemakers, those who work for the wholeness and wellness of all of Creation, for this is what it means to live as God’s people.

• Blessed are those whose commitment to Love causes them to face injustice, to suffer persecution; those who are using cameras to capture injustice, those who are singing and chanting to demand we live another way, the way of Love; those who are setting aside comfort and time and money to proclaim that everyone, regardless of status, everyone deserves due process; for these ones are revealing God’s kingdom in the midst of empire.

• Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on Love’s account. Rejoice and be glad; your good trouble means heaven is applauding and you are in good company and the prize is that you know, you trust, you believe, Love is here and now for the taking, and you are Love’s message and prophetic witness.  Blessed are you for living the Kingdom, making Love known, with your very lives. Blessed are you.