The Happy and Wealthy and Fortunate
This was an interesting sermon to write. It is based on the Beatitudes, found in Matthew 5:1-11 . I knew I needed it to be about how Christ's Beatitudes speech was to do with flipping the established norms, and I even needed to attempt to get across the offensiveness of what Christ said ('Blessed are those who mourn'?!). 'Blessed' has become a religious word, but this is not how it was used originally; it was used of the wealthy and powerful - it carries connotations of luck, and happiness, and wealth. It is striking, then, that Christ's 'blessed' people are those who would never be considered as such. I spent some time re-investigating some of the characters involved in the speech. Three of the more interesting subjects were the 'poor in spirit', the 'meek' and those who hunger after 'righteousness'. Much that I found mentioned how the 'poor in spirit' were those who recognised their spiritual bankruptcy before God...