Greenbelt pt 7 (the be-attitudes)

Categories: uncategorized

Date: 31 August 2006 17:29:21

So here we are at the final installment of the Greenbelt 2006 review.

For this we reach a seminar given by Dave Andrews on the subject of the Be-Attitudes which are:
"Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn
for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God,
Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called children of God.
Blessed are those who are percescuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 5 vs 1- 10 (Not sure translation as this was taken from the sheet that Dave Andrews gave out at the seminar).

Andrews explained how he and others are looking for a new reformation based around taking Jesus word as or more seriously than Moses in terms of how we should interact and react to stuff. The wecan.be website explains this in detail and thinking behind this, but basically the idea is that we cannot expect others to change in order for the world to be better place, the initial change needs to come from us.

Andrews says the key to this will be the beattitudes. It was is a simple idea, but an extremely challenging one - for a start we will need to start re-reading the beattitudes and seeing how they combine both the hope of a realised and future escatology, rather than just seeing them as a heavenly metaphor. They are words that come from a God who, in earthly form, understood the harsh realities of putting these statements into action.

I can't fully articulate all of it, but I can understand by focusing on the second one, in a different way to Andrews was but in a way which illustrates his point. At the moment I am in mourning, fact & whilst on one level it feels as if God has gone on holiday, if He was ever there I have infact been blessed over the last 2 and a bit weeks by the intensity of community love and support I and my family have received. Now that is not denying my pain and the fact that I would swap all the positive stuff just to get my mum back but it is acknowledging in the mist of the absolutely darkness there have been circles of people there for us in amazing ways and I have experienced a depth of community that can only come out of situations like loss or disaster.

If I can keep a hold on the fact I am not an island and am infact part of an amazing set of communities and seek to give to others in the way they have given to me recently it should change my life and mean that I remain blessed by the experience if that makes sense.

This is a long term commitment which will require working at, but I think it is the most special thing I got from Greenbelt this year.