“Blessed are the poor in spirit.”
Have you ever noticed when we come to Church
that everyone pretty much sits in the same seat every week?
Right? Yeah. Pretty much.
Every now and then, you might switch around
but we are pretty much set in that exact seat.
If somebody else sits in it,
they kind of walk up and there is this awkward silence!
Oh, we laugh, we do it at Church
but we also do it at the kitchen table and the family room.
Mom and Dad have got their seats. Right?
And if you sit in that seat
they come in, give you the eye
and you have to move over.
We are creatures of habit. Right?
And that works for us.
Because we tend to do what we do over and over and over again.
And it is helpful to a certain extent
but it also can inhibit us from experiences.
For example, if I took all of you on the right of the side and said,
“Okay, you guys are all going to move over here to the left.
You all on the right are moving to the left.”
I know, there would be chaos right.
But it is actually a different perspective,
looking at the Church from over there
than it is looking from over here.
If you’ve never sat over here and you’ve always sat there,
maybe you should try it because it is different.
It is very different if you sit up front;
ahem, ahem, ahem;
just saying for those you have the cushion-backed seats.
And you get used to it, and that is where you go.
The reason why I say the discomfort of moving
from where you normally sit, like changing seats,
also changes your perspective.
When we change our perspective, we see things differently;
and we see things in a new way.
And in that change of perspective,
hopefully there is an opportunity to grow
and to change as individuals.
In today’s gospel, Jesus is asking us to change seats.
He is asking us to come out of the comfort in our regular lives
and to change seats with the poor in spirit;
and to understand what it is like to be poor.
He is asking us to change seats and to sit with those who mourn
so that we can comfort them;
he is asking us to sit with those who are meek and humble
so we can see what it is like to be in that position;
and to sit with those who hunger and thirst for righteousness
because maybe their rights are being stomped on;
and to sit with those who are persecuted in some way
maybe because of their skin color, their gender,
or maybe because they are gay or lesbian;
or one of the many other challenges they face.
Maybe they feel persecuted because of other things
and when we sit with them and experience life
from their perspective then we are changed.
We are changed not them.
Our eyes are opened to see things differently.
When we change seats, it is us that changes
not the person whose seat we change into.
And that is the whole purpose of these beatitudes: to change us;
it is to change our attitude that is why we call them the beatitudes;
to change our attitude,
change our way of being,
to change our seat.
Jesus tells us that, but he also models it.
You understand that? Right?
Because Jesus changed his seat for our seat.
He came from heaven to earth;
he came from the divine to the human.
He took on poverty and he was with the poor.
He just didn’t say it. He did it.
He didn’t just talk about those who mourn and suffer,
he sat with them and comforted them.
He didn’t just tell others to sit with those
who are hungering and thirsting for righteousness,
he ministered to them himself and he even dined with them.
That gave their suffering some dignity, some consolation.
It is great we are coming to Church.
This is part of our life.
But we know, sitting in a different chair, a different seat,
might challenge us to look at things slightly differently
because we are meant to leave here changed.
We are meant to go back a different way.
We are not meant to receive and then go back
and do what we have always done
because we are going to get what we always got
if we do what we have always done.
We are meant to do something different.
We are meant to change our mind, our heart.
And that is what this liturgy every Sunday is always about;
it is to receive Christ,
to become Christ;
to become what we receive.
In a sense, we are meant to change our seats;
to come back a completely different, different way.
Today, maybe you don’t necessarily change your seat at home;
or change your seat in the car as you go home;
or I’m not necessarily saying you cheer
for Philadelphia versus San Francisco 49er’s;
that might be a little too much;
let’s not go too far;
maybe do that another day.
I am saying that we take seriously the change of heart
to which we are called;
that we are meant to sit and change our seat
and accompany those who are poor;
those who are meek;
those who are mourning;
those who are hungering and thirsting for righteousness;
those who are pure of heart;
those who are merciful
and those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness.
We change our seats so we can change our hearts.
