I am very excited to be with you on Sunday, February 1st! It is a double blessing, because at the 8:00 a.m. service we will worship and partake in Communion together with my home church in Samara, Russia. I miss Pastor Natalia, Stas, and so many others in that congregation, so this gathering will feel like a reunion of sorts.
The text Pastor Todd has chosen for us to hear and for me to preach on is none other than the opening portion of the Sermon on the Mount—the Beatitudes. Perhaps you have these words framed in your study or living room, or saved as a favorite screen image. They are beautiful and deeply inspirational words that Jesus proclaimed two thousand years ago.
As Matthew records them, the Beatitudes echo the poetic rhythm of the Hebrew Bible, especially the Psalms: “Blessed are those…” The term “blessed” carries the resonance of the Hebrew word (’ashrē—“blessed” or “happy”), found throughout the Psalms and Wisdom literature. For example, “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth” (v. 5) corresponds to Psalm 37, and “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God” (v. 8) echoes Psalm 24.
These are poetic words meant to engage our imagination—to stir something within us and to call us toward a way of life. Yet we would miss something important if we treated them as merely inspirational.
Scholars often note that because the Beatitudes open the Sermon on the Mount, they function almost as a summary of the entire sermon. The Sermon on the Mount paints a portrait of those who follow Jesus—the One who came to proclaim and embody the reign of God. The sermon shapes the identity of a community that seeks first the Kingdom of God. The Beatitudes, then, do not simply inspire; they shape and form the very identity of Christ’s followers.
So as we prepare to wrestle together with these beautiful words of Jesus this weekend—and with what they mean for us as followers of Christ in the twenty-first century, in Samara, Russia, and Cincinnati, Ohio—and as we gather around the Communion table with our siblings from Samara, may God’s grace and mercy meet us anew, forming us more deeply into the people God calls us to be.
Grace and peace,
Rev. Katya Brodbeck