Most Recent Sermon / Calendar of Events / Activities

Fourth Sunday in Epiphany
January 30, 2005 Sermon by Rev. Peggy E. Tuttle, Interim Rector

Brenda was a divorced mother. She filled her life caring for two young children, Zack and Jesse. She wasn’t interested in finding another husband. Her mother was concerned about her lack of a social life and insisted she go line dancing one night. There she could be with other adults her own age, laugh a little and just have some fun. The place was packed with people in their Wranglers and cowboy boots, and country music was blaring. It was, at first, a little overwhelming. But the more she twirled and stomped along with everyone else, the more she got into it. She had to admit, line dancing was the most fun she'd had in a long time. So she went back. Her parents were more than happy to watch Zack and Jesse while she was out having fun.

One night in October she noticed this tall guy with feathered-back hair. He looked young despite his scruffy attempt at a beard. He had on a plain, button-down shirt with baggy jeans and sneakers.

He was the center of a group of friends. A few times she caught him glancing back at her. Then, one night, there was a barn dance. Everyone gathered in a big circle, changing partners every eight beats or so. Right when the song ended, she was standing in front of this guy.

"Want to keep dancing?" he asked. And dance they did.

They danced together till closing time. He introduced himself as Kurtis as he walked her out to her car. It seemed he didn’t want to say goodnight, but she didn’t want to lead him on, so she told him that was a divorced mother of two, thinking that would certainly scare him off.

He shrugged and said, "Hey, thanks for the dances."

The next morning there was a knock at the door. Still in her bathrobe, she answered it with Jesse in her arms. There stood Kurtis with a rose in his hand, smiling sheepishly. "How did you find me?" she asked.

He mentioned a mutual friend who'd told him where she lived. "I'd like to meet your kids," he said.

He walked into the living room. Right away Zachary crawled over and grabbed his hand. Kurtis barely paid attention to her because he was down on his knees playing with Zack. Soon the two of them were wrestling around and giggling.

Their early dating consisted of line dancing, which didn’t cost much money, as Kurtis was a college student and she was in nursing school. Neither of them had much money. They really got to know each other over popcorn and movies in her parents’ living room.
They talked a lot about faith. That and family.

So what happened to Brenda and Kurtis? Well, they became Mr & Mrs. Kurtis Warner and he went on to quarterback the St. Louis Rams in Super Bowl 34.

Brenda’s two children from a former marriage were a daughter, who was cute as a bug, and a son, who was confined to a wheelchair. He was born a paraplegic, with Downs Syndrome. However, this unusual circumstance did not seem to faze Kurtis. He adopted both children and since then they have added two more kids.

Currently it looks like Warner could be more popular this off-season than he was a year ago. In addition to the Bears, another potential suitor is the Lions.

This story of Kurt and Brenda Warner lives out all our lessons for today. The prophet Micah says, “…what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.”

From the Psalmist, “Take delight in the Lord, and he shall give you your heart’s desire.”

Paul writes to the Church in Corinth, “But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are, so that no one might boast in the presence of God.

It has long been a standard in our society to love less those who are different, to deny equality to those who diverse, to hold back those who are dissimilar, to ignore those who are unusual.

Not so with Brenda and Kurtis.

And he opened his mouth and taught them. “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” “Blessed are those who are so behind in their work that they can never catch up. Blessed are those who are unemployed…God bless those who are undergoing marital distress…How fortunate those who have a terminal illness…”

It’s a strange sermon. The congregation does a double take: “What is this? Blessed are the unemployed, the poor, the sick?” In our society if you’re unemployed, people treat you like the condition is contagious. In the American way if you work hard, keep your nose to the grindstone, you’ll never have trouble on the job. You are unemployed? Well, you must have done something wrong or you wouldn’t be in this fix.”

“Excuse me,” says Jesus. “I wasn’t speaking about the American Way. I was preaching about the Kingdom of God, way.”

Blessed are the poor in Spirit …those who mourn…the meek…the hungry…the persecuted. The Kingdom of heaven is theirs.”

Theirs.

So, if your studies are going well, you’re up on your organic chemistry, just received your acceptance to your first choice university, if you know all your clients or patients by first name, if you drink but only in moderation, spend time with your family, are loved by someone dearly but safely, and can recite the Nicene Creed by heart and believe it, are certain of the Christian thing to do in Afghanistan and Iraq, and know where you’ll be this time next year—you can leave now. This sermon, Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, or mine here in this church is not for you.

Please leave quietly for Jesus says, quite simply, that God’s kingdom is only for the “poor in spirit.”

Who are the poor in spirit? Luke’s Beatitudes has Jesus say simply “Blessed are the poor” (Lk 6:20-21). With all our talk today about the poor, Luke’s Beatitudes are much in vogue. Matthew expands Luke’s “poor” to “poor in spirit.” Some have charged Matthew with “spiritualizing” Luke’s Beatitudes.

“He didn’t really mean the physically, materially poor,” says the social conservative, “he meant the spiritually poor, he meant poor in a manner of speaking.”

Forget it. Matthew is deepening Luke’s Beatitudes rather than filling them with religious hot air. To be poor is to be “poor in spirit.” Matthew means poor in the sense of the Hebrew anawin—those who are not only poor but crushed, utterly empty as a result of their poverty.

There may be such a thing as the blissfully poor in Spirit. I know someone who believes that all religion is bunk. He is blissfully devoid of religious spirit and could care less.

Matthew, in speaking of the “poor in spirit” is talking about the grieving nonbeliever, those who are empty, spiritually speaking. “You shall be comforted.” How?
Because Jesus here blesses you.

Jesus here tells the poor, the empty, the mournful of spirit, “I’m on your side. I bless you.”

The Greek word for “poor” comes from the verb that means “to cower, to cringe”—we’re talking about the abysmally poor, those who are at the end of their rope. How does Alcoholics Anonymous put it? “We were powerless over our lives . . . . we had to reach out to some power greater than our own.” For such people, at the end of their rope, God isn’t some sort of intellectual problem. God is their only hope.

In blessing the “poor in spirit,” Jesus says that for all such “failures,” for everyone who hasn’t got it all together, spiritually speaking, God is there for them.

Unfortunately for many of us today, Jesus does not say, “Blessed are the rich in spirit.” Here is a great paradox. To be a person of God is to be a person of spirit. WE are here at church on a Sunday like this one literally to be “inspired,” filled with the spirit. A lot of people didn’t’ get out of bed and come to church today. You did that. Belief is no small accomplishment. If you can get out of bed on a cold Sunday in February, there’s no telling what you might accomplish, spiritually speaking!

And yet Jesus here blesses the spiritually empty, inept, the spiritual failures. What else could “poor in spirit” mean but that?

Here is a great gospel mystery: Jesus blesses those who aren’t good at being spiritual, those who know their sin and feel it. Only those who know what it’s like to be dispirited get spirit. It is only the poor to whom God can afford to lavish riches.

Remember, when Jesus was criticized for the disreputable company he kept. He said, “If you are well—full, saved, certain, content—you don’t need a doctor. I’ve come only for the sick. I’ve come to invite sinners.”

Let’s be candid, no false modesty here. Most of us are successful, religiously speaking. We are here today because we’re fairly good at singing to God, praying and believing.
But if, even amid all this fullness, and beauty, and belief, this Sunday finds you empty, wanting, unsteady, silently hurting, poor in spirit, then I’ve got some good news for you.

Jesus blesses you. Hold out your empty hands as you come to the Lord’s Table. Jesus has blessings awaiting you here.

Dare I learn as a preacher to bless even your inadequacy? I’m in the business of helping people find sure answers, certain solutions, firm faith, credible creeds, and spiritual competency. I want to inspire you.

Yet I shall bless you. God bless you troubled souls, questioning minds, insatiable skeptics, fallers from grace, stumblers in the dark, moral bunglers, failures at faith, inept believers. God bless you, poor in spirit. Jesus has promised you the kingdom.

God’s table is all yours.