Matthew 5.3-12
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Ten Versions
Given everything
Blessed are you who are depleted, who have nothing,
for God will give you everything.
Blessed are you who are broken-hearted,
for in through those cracks seeps God.
Blessed are you who have no power in this world,
for God has power in you.
Blessed are you who despair of justice ever coming,
for justice will come.
Blessed are you who offer grace,
for you will live in grace.
Blessed are you who live by love alone,
for you will meet God.
Blessed are you who bring about healing,
for the name of God will shine in you.
Blessed are you when the world is against you,
for God is for you, so deeply for you.
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My whole world
Blessed are you who don’t have it:
I give you my whole world.
Blessed are you who are broken:
I hold you close.
Blessed you who are gentle:
my love in you will conquer the world.
Blessed are you who yearn deeply for more:
here it is.
Blessed are you who practice mercy:
my mercy flows through you.
Blessed are you who love no matter what:
you will always know my presence.
Blessed are you who do not pass hurt on to others:
beloved child, that’s when you are most like me.
Blessed are you whom the world scorns:
I am right there with you.
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In God’s hands
Blessed are you who are empty handed;
you are in God’s hands.
Blessed are you who are brokenhearted;
your broken heart is God’s.
Blessed are you who are powerless;
love’s power will never fail you.
Blessed are you who wish you were closer to God;
your wishing is God in you.
Blessed are you who are kind;
the universe will be kind to your soul.
Blessed are you who seek Oneness;
you are One.
Blessed are you who stand with the poor
that is where God is standing.
Blessed are you who are wounded
when you stand for justice;
you are embraced, you are enfolded,
you stand among the great.
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God lives in you
Blessed are you when you feel you have nothing to offer,
for God lives in you.
Blessed are you who grieve for this world,
for you shall be comforted.
Blessed you who are gentle in the face of brutality,
for the universe welcomes you.
Blessed are you who long for a culture of peace
for you shall be satisfied.
Blessed are you who seek healing, not revenge,
for you shall be healed.
Blessed are you who desire only blessing for all,
for you shall see God.
Blessed are you who work for the healing of the world,
for you shall be called children of God.
Blessed are you who meet opposition
in working for peace and justice,
for yours is the realm of heaven.
Blessed are you when people dismiss and defame you.
Rejoice, and be glad:
great is your reward in the heart of all things,
for in just this way
they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
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True power
Blessed are you who are powerless
for love is a true power.
Blessed are you who are depressed,
for the Beloved holds you.
Blessed are you who are scorned,
for God preserves your dignity.
Blessed are you who weep for justice
for God will establish it.
Blessed are you who love in the face of hate,
for you are vessels of God.
Blessed are you who look for God in unlikely places,
for you will see God.
Blessed are you who are a healing presence,
for you shall be healed.
Blessed are you when people try to silence you;
you are in the company of saints and prophets.
Blessed are you no matter what,
for grace will never be denied you—never
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God in them
Blessed are the lives that are all messed up,
for God is in them.
Blessed are the losers
for they are receivers.
Blessed are the gentle,
for they have the power of God.
Blessed are those who do not believe,
for God believes in them.
Blessed are those who appear worthless,
for they are not.
Blessed are the ugly,
for they will be called Beautiful.
Blessed are the wounded,
for God’s miracles unfold in them.
Blessed are those who are judged and condemned,
for they are not judged or condemned.
Blessed are you when you have nothing to say,
for you are a love note from God.
Blessed are you when you fail,
for God does not fail you,
nor fail in you,
but shines with glory and delight.
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Given more
Blessed are they who have been robbed of everything,
for they will be given more.
Blessed are they who are heartbroken,
for it is they who know joy.
Blessed are they who are silenced,
for God is among them.
Blessed are they who stand alone,
for they are not alone.
Blessed are the queer,
for theirs is the image of God.
Blessed are they who listen,
for they shall hear God.
Blessed are they who love without judging,
for they are children of God.
Blessed are the truth-tellers,
for their voices shall ring out forever.
Blessed are they who long for justice and cry out,
for they shall prevail until the end of time.
Blessed are you when people revile you
and persecute you and say
all manner of evil against you,
for so people project their inner demons
on all who are vulnerable.
Do not return their hatred,
but meet them with love,
for love alone changes the world.
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In the Realm of God
Treasured are they who aren’t good enough.
They live in the Realm of God.
Happy are those who know deep sorrow,
for they know deep joy.
Lucky are those who are powerless,
for the world will be given to them.
Beloved are they who hunger and thirst
for God alone shall fill their lives.
Blessed are they who are gentle,
for they will always have a soft place to land.
Gifted are they who are transparent to love,
for they will see God in every moment.
Treasured are they who bring reconciliation.
They are children of God.
Warmly embraced are those who suffer in order to love.
They live in the heart of God.
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Belonging in God
Blessed are they who don’t fit in,
for they shall find belonging in God.
Blessed are they who have lost much
for they shall be given joy.
Blessed are those who have been silenced
for God sings in harmony with them.
Blessed are they who have been shamed
for their glory shines like the noonday sun.
Blessed are they who stand firm
for God will be their firmness.
Blessed are the truthful,
for they are light in the darkness.
Blessed are they who wonder
for they shall be called wonderful.
Blessed are they who are afraid
and yet choose love
for theirs is the dominion of God.
Blessed are you when the path is frightful
and you know all manner of fear
and you choose love anyway.
Blessed are you, and blessed is your place
in the heart of all things.
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I give you myself
Blessed are you who don’t have it:
I give you myself.
Blessed are you who are broken:
I hold you close.
Blessed you who are gentle:
my love in you will conquer the world.
Blessed are you who yearn deeply for more:
here it is.
Blessed are you who practice mercy:
my mercy flows through you.
Blessed are you who love no matter what:
you will always know my presence.
Blessed are you who do not pass hurt on to others:
beloved child, that’s when you are most like me.
Blessed are you whom the world scorns:
I am right there with you.
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Meditations
Praying the Beatitudes
You comfort me and snuggle me at first,
your blessings like a warm embrace,
a womb of sorts,
assurance of your peace and consolation
in poverty and mourning,
in hunger and powerlessness.
And then you stand me up
and put a hand on my back,
expecting purity of heart,
still hungering for justice.
And you usher me out the door
to be merciful among the unmerciful,
a peacemaker amidst violence,
knowing it gets worse,
accepting persecution.
This is what it is, this birthing,
to do justice, love mercy
and walk humbly with you,
out of the softness into the street,
all the while trusting you
and thanking you for your blessing,
your blessing,
your blessing.
Blessed
When you have nothing
then God fills your life.
When you are powerless
here is nothing but the infinite power of God.
When you are stripped naked
you are clothed in the glory God gave you.
It is in darkness and chaos
that God creates.
When you are on the cross,
you are where God saves;
when you are in the grave,
you are where God raises us up.
When you are weak and discouraged,
alone and hurting,
in that lowest place,
you are in the very place where Christ comes:
you are accompanied;
you are blessed.
What we most fear is all we desire:
to lose everything,
falling in love until all we have is love
and the Beloved.
Empty your life
and all will be God.
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All but you
God, I let go of all but you.
Help me let go of all but you.
I trust your grace alone,
not wealth, power or happiness,
to give me life, to hold me with love,
to bless me.
I let go of all but you.
Help me let go of all but you.
Give me grace to trust you,
deeply, freely, wholly.
Give me eyes to see your blessing
that stands like a rock
in the winds of circumstance,
that pours like sunlight
no matter my deserving.
I let go of all but you.
Help me let go of all but you.
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I will stand
Beloved, by your grace
I willingly accept my poverty of spirit;
for you bless me with your Realm of love.
I honestly mourn,
for you bless me with your comfort.
I will be gentle,
for you bless me with the gift of the earth.
I continue to hunger and thirst for you,
for you fill me with yourself.
I will show mercy,
for you shower me with mercy.
I seek to be pure in heart,
that I may see you.
I will be your peacemaker,
for I am your child.
I will accept persecution
for you bless me with your Realm of grace.
I gladly accept that justice and peacemaking
attract persecution and resistance,
for so people treat all those
who do justice, who love kindness,
who walk humbly with you.
In my poverty I will stand unbowed,
for in your grace you bless me.
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Unburdened
Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are they
who are not burdened by the past,
who do not posses a future,
who do not carry either
the riches of this world around with them,
nor the riches of a world they wish for,
impoverished of all that they want,
and even of wanting,
but who simply receive the present moment
as it is
as a gift.
of their own making,
but in the realm of heaven,
a world granted purely by God.
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Poor in Spirit
Eternal God,
humbly confess my riches,
illusory as they are,
to which I cling:
that I am right,
that I am acceptable, or ought to be,
that I have reason to be beloved,
or to be abandoned.
I have hoarded worthiness
and unworthiness.
I have kept account.
I am sorry, and I renounce
my whole account,
and all to which I cling.
I repent of the wealth
of what I think and what I fear
and what I want.
O I am truly poor; I have nothing
but this one breath, and its release,
and my openness to you.
Bereft as air, I await
the song of your grace
to fill me, bless me, redeem me.
Keep me free,
and sustain my blessed poverty,
an open hand,
reaching out in this present moment,
to your open hand.
Amen
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Blessed
Your blessing does not come from this world,
it comes from God.
It is not even visible, but is within:
the Heart of All Things embracing your Heart.
You are free to believe this. What stops you?
Your Blessedness has nothing to do
with whether you are happy or sad, rich or poor.
It is your belovedness.
It is a gift, not a wage.
It is a mystery. It is not a result.
Suffering and difficulty
may happen to you like weather.
You may wear comfort or success
like a garment.
But your Blessedness is who you are.
You can’t prove it.
Don’t measure anything.
Don’t look for God’s love to come
in the form of something else.
Simply trust that you are Blessed.
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Blessed are you
Blessed are you, children of Aleppo, Ferguson, Standing Rock,
prisoners, immigrants and bullied queers,
blessed are you, welfare mothers, discouraged rednecks,
depressed teens, bipolar and suicidal,
blessed are you, unarmed young black men,
women bearing memories of abuse.
Blessed are you who are discouraged or afraid or doubting,
and you, the forgotten who are no one at all,
you are blessed because God blesses you.
Don’t let your circumstances tell you otherwise.
Blessed are you, for God gives the Realm to you;
gives it readily to all whose hands are empty;
not to the powerful—they’ve already gained what they sought.
Those whose hands are full can’t receive.
Blessed are you, for you are God’s saints,
made beloved by God’s love, not ours,
made holy by God’s grace, not your accomplishments,
made sacred by your being, not your experience.
Blessed are you, and woe to us who do not see it
and bow down in humble amazement.
Woe to us who do not empty our hands
and receive the infinite gift.