Blessed Are the Merciful, For They Shall Receive Mercy
My Sermon from Last Sunday
I occasionally preach at my church. I love it. I love the preparation—diving into the Bible, studying deeply, going deep into philology. I love having the privilege to share some of my own thoughts on the text even as I do my best to exegete its meaning. I love slipping in a joke or two. I love blessing my fellow congregants. I do hate the stress of having to collect my thoughts into a coherent(ish) sermon though. If I found it in my studies, I want to share it with my audience—but doesn’t always make for good oration. I also hate that something usually goes horribly wrong with my house, or my dogs, or my finances the week leading up to my sermon.
But overall, the loves totally outweigh the hates of preaching and I am exceedingly grateful for the opportunities I’ve been given.
For those interested, I’ll share the link to my latest sermon below. It’s from our series on the Beatitudes—don’t know what those are? Don’t worry, I’ll explain. And here’s my outline for those who want to follow along and below it are some small group questions, you can ask them of yourself afterwards if you want:
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Just read your outline, so insightful. I'm actually teaching the beatitudes to a group of 6-10 year olds at the moment.
What a powerful framing to explain to them, not only what mercy is, but that we show mercy out of an understanding of the mercy that was shown to us. So often children's resources teach the beatitudes as transactional, which I am actively trying to correct in my ministry. This was such a helpful demonstration of how to work against the transactional approach and really understand the meaning of this beatitude. So excited to tell children about the mercy God has shown them and the grace that is on offer. Thanks for the timely post that got me started on my thinking and planning.