| By Esther C. Baird, as written for the Silver Bay Spiritual Life Center, Silver Bay, NY. To subscribe to the mailing please email: pastoralrespite@silverbay.org Good Morning, Well it’s officially Fall. For many of us that means we aren’t at Lake George, (even though it’s arguably the most beautiful time to be there,) but rather we are back to our ‘real lives’. Back to work, back to school, back to the regular routines that make up the nine months of the year most of us do not get to be at Silver Bay. Perhaps you’ll get to visit for a winter workday or a retreat, or a respite program. But most of us are now in wait mode till next summer – – so let’s wait together! There are 8 Beatitudes – – teachings of Jesus – – in the gospel of Matthew chapter 5. This year we’ll take a look at one each month and consider what it means for our lives. When we run out of Beatitudes, summer will have returned! The Beatitudes are the first set of instructions Jesus gave his followers in what is called, The Sermon on the Mount. Jesus gave this sermon at the start of his ministry, and it sets the tone for everything that follows, both in how he lived his life, and how he calls us to live ours. The Beatitudes are a set of statements that help us understand what Jesus is looking for in his followers, what being a part of the Kingdom of Heaven (or sometimes Jesus called it the Kingdom of God) is all about. They are instructions on how to belong in this kingdom, while also acknowledging that we must live and exist in this world that is so different than the kingdom Jesus described. Maybe you can understand, because whether you are new to Silver Bay or an old timer who’s been coming for decades, you know that Silver Bay is a special place with its own rhythms, way of living, and a special sort of peace. We ‘get’ certain things. For example, you might smile when you hear someone order ice cream with Crazy Charlie sauce, or you’re excited about something called the ‘shortest fourth in the north,’ and you take pride in having your name in the Sailing Book – – meaning you passed Dave’s sailing test. (Extra points if you’ve never had to be towed back in a strong wind!) We know how to belong at Silver Bay. When we are back home, and longing for the lake, it’s a small taste of what it should be like to long for the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus described a kingdom that promised true joy, peace and fulfillment – but it was so different than what success and power looked like in the world both then and now. To really understand the Beatitudes we need to know two things. First, Jesus was teaching and living in Roman occupied Israel in the first century AD. Israel was not independent, their kings were just puppet rulers, and the people lived under the shadow of Rome and of Caesar. Teaching about another kingdom was just plain risky. Who did Jesus think he was!? Well, as it turns out, he thought he was the long awaited Messiah who the prophets of the Old Testament had foretold for thousands of years. He thought he was the Son of God come in a fully human body. He thought he was sent to find people who wanted to live in a better kingdom, a new kingdom, a kingdom where everything that was so broken would one day be restored. He thought all of those things because they were true. The second thing to know about the Beatitudes is that they each start with the word ‘blessed’. That’s a word that has come to mean anything and everything in our current culture. Some uses are good, but many are downright wishy washy, so we need to make sure we know what it meant in the ancient near east when Jesus taught. ‘Blessed,’ in this context, didn’t just mean being happy or having things go well in the moment, like when you get a good parking spot at the mall, or have a nice family dinner, or get a raise at work. Rather it meant a deeper sort of peace and contentment that lasted despite hardships, or bad things, or challenging lives. It meant feeling this sense of blessedness when your tire was flat, when you got the cancer diagnosis, when your children were rude, or your boss demeaned you. It meant a sort of joy that existed at a deep soul level and could not be shaken by situational events. Blessedness meant a peace outside and beyond every day life. But if this underlying peace that came from something beyond us, where did it come from? How could anyone belong to this kingdom? Jesus taught that this underlying peace came from the king of this kingdom, it came from him. The Beatitudes were instructions that meant belonging started with following Jesus. Each month we’ll take a look at one of the Beatitudes and consider what it means and how it helps us understand this kingdom that Jesus was inviting people to. It was his kingdom then and it’s still his kingdom now. And just like we know the ins and outs of belonging at Silver Bay, I hope you will join me in contemplating some of the ins and outs of what it means to belong to the kingdom of heaven. Until then, I love to hear from readers so feel free to send me an email or even a favorite Silver Bay story that you think might tie into the Beatitudes! -Esther Baird, esther.baird@gmail.com About Esther C. Baird: Esther C. Baird is a columnist and the author of two Biblical Studies books, Exodus to Advent: God’s Christmas plan for you and for me and, Echoes of I AM: life’s big questions answered in God’s great name. She worked in church leadership and ministry for over a decade and has her M.Div from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. Esther is a 5th generation Lake George summer resident, with a family camp two coves north of Silver Bay. For more of her work please visit: www.estherbaird.com |
| Reading Along Sometimes reading the Bible in a variety of translations helps us get at the deeper meaning. While you may own a Bible at home, you can also use websites like www.biblegateway.com to look up Matthew 5 and read the Beatitudes in many different versions. Some translations such as the English Standard Version (ESV) or Revised Standard Version (RSV) are focused on bringing the Bible to you as faithfully as possible to the original language it was written in. Others such as the New International Version (NIV) or even the Message (MSG) are focused on making the meaning of the text come across in plain English that’s easier to understand. By reading a variety of translations you may find one that helps you read the Bible in a way the you understand best! |
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Our family have never been to lake George but it’s on our list now. When you seek God’s peace and want to feel His presence, there is nothing grander than His work. Looking forward to it.