Well, good morning, church.
Would you turn with me to the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 5?
That is page 759 in the Pew Bible, Matthew, chapter 5.
This summer, we are beginning a series in Jesus' Sermon on the Mount.
The Sermon on the Mount is probably one of the best-known passages in the New Testament,
and probably one of the most practical as well.
But, you know, it's also, the Sermon on the Mount is also one of the most revolutionary.
In fact, any serious reading of the Sermon on the Mount, you discover right away how countercultural it is,
no matter what culture you live in.
And yet, as we'll see in the coming weeks, Jesus' teaching in the Sermon on the Mount
is the answer to one of the deepest questions of human experience.
The question of, what does it mean to truly flourish?
How do I live a life worth living?
Here is Jesus' answer in this great collection of teaching that we call the Sermon on the Mount.
Now, I mean, if we're on so much of our religious life, right, it feels empty.
And so often, the church looks just like the world with little substance.
But when we come to the Sermon on the Mount, it's like we stand on the shore of a great ocean,
and it beckons us to come and to raise our sails and to explore the uncharted seas of what it means to be genuinely human,
genuinely alive.
And we see that the seas won't always be easy waters.
They will challenge us.
At times, they'll threaten to capsize us.
Much of what we thought our lives should be and do will have to be jettisoned, thrown overboard.
But the one who beckons us on this journey is a captain who knows the waters of existence better than any,
for he created them.
And the winds and the waves obey his voice.
So we're going to dive in to the Sermon on the Mount together.
And we're going to do so very slowly.
As you might know, the Sermon begins with a series of eight or nine, depending on how you count them,
Beatitudes.
That is a series of pronouncements of blessing.
And this summer, we're just going to take one of those Beatitudes at a time,
one a week for the rest of the summer.
But we're going to begin by reading the whole kind of opening passage of the Sermon,
Matthew 5, 1 through 12.
We're going to read these Beatitudes, as they're called,
and then I'll pray, and then we'll explore them together.
So let me read.
Matthew 5, 1 through 12.
Seeing the crowds, Jesus went up on the mountain.
When he sat down, his disciples came to him.
He opened his mouth and taught them, saying,
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when others revile you or persecute you,
and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.
Now rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven.
For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
All right, let's pray together.
Father in heaven, how we long to find depth in our shallow world.
By your spirit, help us to hear your word,
and become the sort of people you've redeemed us to be,
through your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.
In his name we pray.
Amen.
So today what we're going to do is a bit of an introduction to this section of the Sermon on the Mount,
this opening section we call the Beatitudes.
And I want to do something pretty simple this morning.
You'll notice that each verse in verses 1 through 10 has the same structure.
First there's a pronouncement, blessed.
Then there's a quality or a characteristic, right?
The one we'll look at today, poor in spirit.
And then there's sort of a reason or a promise,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
So simply then this morning, what I want to do is just walk through each of those three elements.
What does Jesus mean by blessed?
What does Jesus mean by poor in spirit?
What does he mean by the kingdom of heaven?
And I think if we kind of do that basic work this week,
it will equip us in the coming weeks to grapple more with this section of Scripture we call the Beatitudes
and to be able to really hear in these opening verses of the Sermon on the Mount
what Jesus is really saying.
Because honestly, most of us, on our initial reading of the Beatitudes,
we miss Jesus' point.
We actually miss what he's saying.
And to see that, we need to consider the first thing.
What does Jesus mean by blessed?
Now, if you're wondering why we call these verses the Beatitudes,
it's because in the Latin translation of the Bible,
the word blessed is the Latin word beatus, or in the plural, beati.
So these verses have come to be called in the West the Beatitudes.
But what does blessed mean?
Blessing is kind of a funny word, isn't it?
And we don't really use it all that much anymore.
Except when someone sneezes, right?
We say, bless you.
But why do we even say that, right?
What does that even mean?
Or I'm told that in the South, when someone says, bless your heart, right?
Like, but that's apparently not a compliment, I guess, right?
So this word blessed has sort of become like an empty word for us.
But it was not an empty word in the first century.
However, what we don't immediately see in our English translations of the Bible
is that in the Greek, and especially in the Hebrew,
there are two words that we translate into English as blessed.
One of those words in Hebrew that, of course,
formed the background for the New Testament,
one of those Old Testament words for blessed in Hebrew
is the word barach, right?
And that word is the word for God blessing us, right?
God showing his favor to us, making his face shine upon us,
God accepting us.
But there's a second word that we translate blessed in the Old Testament,
and that word is ashray.
And ashray is sort of the word that we find, for instance,
in the opening verse of Psalm 1,
where you remember how Psalm 1 starts,
blessed is the man,
blessed is the human being who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked
or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of scoffers,
but is delighted in the law of the Lord.
But with that second word, with that Hebrew word we translate blessed in Psalm 1,
ashray, here's the thing.
That word doesn't primarily refer to God blessing us or favoring us.
That word is not a statement that this person has now received divine approval
or reward or favor.
Rather, it means actually something like,
this person is truly flourishing.
It's as if someone comes to you and says,
do you want to know who's living life as it's meant to be lived?
Do you want to know who's living the good life,
the fully flourishing life?
It's this person.
They've found it.
Blessed is the one.
But the problem is, for most of us,
blessed doesn't carry that second sense.
I actually like how the New Living Translation translates Psalm 1.
It says,
Oh, the joys of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, etc., etc.,
but who delight in the law of the Lord.
Oh, the joys of that person.
They know real human flourishing.
That's a life worth living.
Do you see the difference between those two words?
Barak is a statement that God favors you.
You've won his approval.
You've received his favor.
Asherah is different.
It's a statement that you're engaged in a life worth living,
a full and flourishing life.
Now, here's the point.
When Jesus begins his sermon with,
Blessed are,
which of those two did he mean?
At first, we think, right,
he must be talking about God's favor, right?
We're reading the Bible, after all, right?
This is how you get God's blessing, we think.
You try to be poor in spirit.
You try to be a peacemaker.
Then it seems God will approve of you.
He'll reward you.
Blessed are those people who do those things.
But that's actually not what Jesus means.
Because when you open up the Greek translation of the Old Testament,
you'll find that the same word that Jesus uses here in Matthew 5,
makarios, makarioi,
is actually used in Psalm 1.
And in all the other places where the Old Testament is saying,
look, here's the one who's truly living.
They've found it.
There's the life worth living.
Oh, the joys of that one.
Now, what does all this mean?
It means that when Jesus opens a sermon on the mount,
he's not saying,
here's how you were in God's favor.
Rather, he's answering one of the oldest
and one of the most important questions human beings have ever asked.
How do I live a life of true, lasting worth?
What's the shape of real human flourishing?
You know, that's what the Greek philosophical tradition
was striving towards and reaching towards for hundreds of years.
Going all the way back to Aristotle with his Nicomachean ethics,
trying to develop, what does it mean to live the good life?
And that's what the Jewish wisdom tradition in the Old Testament
and in through the intercanonical period
had been speaking to for even longer.
And maybe you've wondered the same thing.
What does it mean to really live?
How do I find lasting happiness?
You know, some translators have even tried to render
Jesus' saying here in the Beatitudes,
it's just that,
happy are those who are poor in spirit,
happy are those who mourn, etc., etc.
But you know, that word happy doesn't really get at the sense.
Happy doesn't sort of have the depth
of what we're searching for or what Jesus means.
Because we don't just want to be happy, right?
We want something deeper.
We want to thrive.
We want to flourish.
But the trouble is,
we've lost our way.
Think of all the ways we try to secure a life worth living,
a flourishing life.
I think first we sort of try to find it in possessions or in accolades, right?
If I amass enough stuff or accolades or professional awards or achievements,
then I'll know what it means to flourish.
Then I'll know what it means to live a life that's satisfying to the soul.
But you know, you don't have to read about human experience
or examine your own heart long enough to realize that doesn't work.
Right?
But the reality is,
a lot of Christians have kind of lost their way too.
We sort of baptize that same thinking,
but in sort of spiritual or religious terms.
We think performance or producing numbers
or making a big impact is what the Christian life is really all about.
But look at the trouble such thinking has caused.
Even in our own day,
even in the last five, ten years,
how many prominent leaders
in the church world have fallen in disgrace,
even though externally,
their ministries had big numbers
and so-called influence.
You see, in the ancient world,
they knew something that we've forgotten.
They knew that the key to a truly flourishing life
wasn't found in amassing wealth or success,
and it wasn't found in being competent
in external performances.
They knew that the key to a fully flourishing life
wasn't found in your possessions or your performance,
but in your character.
Not in what you had,
not in what you did,
but in who you were.
You see, they knew that it wasn't simply about
following the right rules,
but about developing into a certain kind of person,
a person with depth of what they called virtue.
That was the path of flourishing.
And at a certain level,
we get this, don't we?
You know, consider the athlete,
maybe a basketball player,
who trains for hours every day,
the same skills,
the same exercises,
or think about the jazz musician
who plays the same scales every day.
Why do they do that?
They do that not so they can simply
do the drills or run the scales,
but so that in the moment,
in the moment of the game,
in the moment of the concert,
when something new is called for,
they can then meet the challenge.
They've so internalized
and become so accustomed to their game
or to their instrument,
they've developed such virtue,
such being,
that in the moment,
they can do something beautiful
and satisfying
and wise.
Even if that moment
was totally unexpected,
totally unique.
You see, the same is true
more broadly
of our humanity, right?
Of course we need to know the rules.
We need to know what's right and wrong,
and we need to know
what those rules are
and what we should follow.
We need to do the drills.
We need to run the scales.
Yes, but deeper than that,
we need to become
the kind of people,
people of virtue,
people of character,
who will be able to act
faithfully and wisely
in every new situation
that arises,
when there maybe isn't a rule
that tells us exactly what to do.
So when Jesus says,
blessed are,
he's not saying,
here's how you can earn God's favor.
He's saying,
here's the path
of genuine flourishing.
Here's the sort of person
who lives life
as it's meant to be lived,
and he's inviting us into it.
He's opening the door
and saying,
come inside.
Come inside
and find a life worth living.
Open your sails to the wind
and brave the ocean.
Here are the deep virtues.
Here's the deep character
of a human person
fully alive.
And that brings us
to the second part
of our verse.
Because once Jesus starts
enumerating those virtues,
we're met with a surprise.
We're struck
by what he says.
You see,
if the Beatitudes
are an invitation
to the virtues,
the character qualities
of a human person
truly alive,
truly flourishing,
at first they seem
totally upside down.
Blessed are
the poor in spirit.
Wait, what?
The poor in spirit?
They're the flourishing ones?
How can that be?
Doesn't common sense
tell us that the rich
in spirit have found
the life worth living?
Not the poor.
Who wants to be poor?
Sure.
So what does Jesus mean
by poor in spirit?
Now some people think
that Matthew here
is sort of watering down
a similar saying of Jesus
that we find
in Luke chapter 6.
In Luke chapter 6,
Jesus says,
just,
blessed are the poor.
Not the poor in spirit,
just the poor.
So this sort of theory goes,
and you might run across this,
this sort of theory goes
that Matthew didn't like
that sort of socially radical
Jesus of Luke 6.
So, you know,
who pronounces blessing
on the economically poor,
so he sort of softened
and spiritualized Jesus' saying
by adding poor in spirit.
But you know,
that theory,
that theory cannot be right.
Because Jesus is saying
both in Luke 6
and in Matthew 5
have their background,
again,
in the Old Testament scriptures.
Who are the poor
in the Old Testament?
Yes,
on the one hand,
the poor were those
who lacked material
and economic resources.
And we find in the Old Testament
that God's heart
is near to those who are poor.
He is their great defender.
He rises them up,
raises them up
from the ash heap
as we heard earlier
in our psalm reading.
But also in the Old Testament,
in passage after passage,
we also see that
at a deeper level,
at the most profound level,
the poor are those
who know they need God.
I sought the Lord,
Psalm 34 says,
and he answered me
and delivered me
from all my fears.
Those who look to him
are radiant
and their faces
shall never be ashamed.
This poor man cried
and the Lord heard him
and saved him
out of all his troubles.
This poor man cried.
We could produce many passages
like this one
where we see that the poor
is a description
in the Old Testament
of those who know desperately
that they need God.
Whether it's their lack
of external resources
or it's their lack
of internal resources,
they know they don't have enough.
They know they need God.
You see, we don't need
to drive a wedge
between Luke 6 and Matthew 5.
On the one hand,
a lack of external resources
can drive someone
to a deep dependence on God.
But so can a lack
of internal resources
when you realize
that your moral performance
or your emotional resilience
or your intellectual prowess
can't save you
and can't keep you
and can't satisfy you.
When those internal resources
give way
and you realize
you need God
and God alone
in utter dependence,
then you are poor in spirit.
And then Jesus says,
you're blessed.
When you've stopped
relying on yourself
and brought empty hands
to God,
then you've begun
to discover
a life truly worth living.
You see,
to be poor in spirit
doesn't mean
that you constantly
beat up on yourself.
It doesn't mean
that you sort of wallow
in self-deprecation.
It doesn't mean
you can never graciously
accept a compliment.
You know,
those are all forms
of false, actually,
spiritual poverty.
No,
genuine spiritual poverty
is discovering
the freedom.
The freedom
from having to be
constantly managing
your interior accounts.
Am I smart enough?
Well, I better invest in this.
I better start reading that.
Am I relationally connected enough?
Am I liked or admired enough?
Well, I better start
connecting with this person,
being nicer to that person.
I better not let people
see my faults and failures.
Am I morally good enough?
I better do more good things,
try harder,
do better.
We're constantly managing
our self-centered
spiritual portfolio
to see if we can get
the spiritual riches
to accrue.
But it's a constant exercise
in anxiety
and pressure
that never gives up.
We frenetically
try to make ourselves
spiritually rich,
but we find ourselves
consumed more and more
when we're less at peace
and we're less at ease
and we're less able
to enjoy the life
that's right in front of us.
And we find that
we're not flourishing,
but we're floundering.
It's not blessing
we experience,
but whoa.
On the other hand,
genuine spiritual poverty
to admit that we need God,
to admit that we have
nothing apart from
what God gives,
that is freedom.
And if you've ever been
around someone
who's genuinely poor
in spirit,
if you've ever been
around someone
who isn't trying
to constantly manage
their spiritual portfolio,
but lives in the freedom
of having nothing to lose
and nothing to prove
because they know
that God is all they need,
if you've been around
someone like that,
then you know
how freeing it is.
It's freeing
just to be around
that kind of person.
Their presence is calming
because they're not
in the rat race anymore.
They're not constantly
measuring up
their investments
against yours
to see how they stack up.
For a moment,
the competition
and the comparison
that exists
in so many
of our earthly relationships
seems to pause
for a moment.
And we can just
meet one another
as human beings
and to relish
in the gift
of each other,
to receive each other,
and show genuine love
toward each other.
Blessed are the poor
in spirit.
Blessed are those
who have stopped
trying to amass
their own spiritual wealth
and have come
empty-handed to God
as their all in all.
And that brings us
to the third part
of the beatitude.
Blessed are the poor
in spirit,
for theirs
is the kingdom of heaven.
Now, what is
the kingdom of heaven?
What is the kingdom
of heaven?
Well, the kingdom of heaven
is sort of a phrase
that's unique
to Matthew's gospel,
but it's his way
of referring
to the kingdom of God.
Heaven there
is sort of a reverential
way of Matthew
to speak of God,
where God dwells
in fullness.
Heaven.
So if Matthew here
is talking about
the kingdom of God,
the kingdom of heaven,
then we find that
all of the gospel writers
speak of the kingdom
of God.
So Jesus is saying
that the poor
in spirit,
they are the ones,
they are the ones
who participate
in God's kingdom,
in God's reign.
And we know
that this reign
of God,
for the prophets
in the Old Testament,
they looked ahead
to a time
when that reign
would begin.
But we know now,
living on this side
of the incarnation
and cross
and resurrection,
that the reign
of God
isn't just
a future reality,
but God's reign
of righteousness,
God's reign
of peace,
God's reign
of restoration
has been inaugurated,
has been begun,
has been launched
into the world
in Jesus' own
person and work.
Remember Jesus' words
from earlier
in Matthew's gospel,
repent,
for the kingdom
of heaven is at hand.
In other words,
Jesus says,
the reign of God
is beginning
right now
through me.
Now, of course,
we await a day
when this kingdom
of God
will be consummated
and there will be
no more tears
and no more evil
and God will make
all things new.
We studied a lot
about this summer
in the book of Revelation,
didn't we?
But this restoring
reign of God
is on the move
even now.
When Christ
ascended into heaven
and sat at the right
hand of the Father
and sent down
his spirit,
the kingdom of God
was, again,
it was flung
upon the world.
And who will participate
in this reign?
Who will be the ones?
The poor in spirit.
You see,
when God looks
at the world,
when God looks
for those
who will join
his work
in the world,
he's not looking
for the wealthy.
He's not looking
for the people
who think
they're spiritually
loaded and well-off.
He's not looking
for the people
who think that,
wow, God sure is lucky
to have me on his team
because I bring a lot
to the table.
No.
Friends,
he's looking
for the poor.
He's looking
for those who know
that everything
they have
is grace
and his grace
is enough.
of course,
God can use
your talents
and gifts
for his kingdom.
But the poor
in spirit realize
that these gifts
are just that.
They're gifts
given to you,
not earned.
And such gifts
are best used
to glorify
the giver.
Hudson Taylor,
the missionary,
was once scheduled
to speak at a large
Presbyterian Church
in Melbourne, Australia
and the moderator
of the service
introduced the missionary,
introduced Hudson Taylor
in these eloquent
and glowing terms.
He told the large congregation
that Taylor,
told them all
that Hudson Taylor
had accomplished
in China
and he sort of
presented Taylor
as our illustrious guest.
And Hudson Taylor
stood quietly
for a moment
and then opened
his message
by saying,
dear friends,
I'm a little servant
of an illustrious master.
That's a good picture
of what it means
to be poor in spirit.
But of course,
all this raises
a crucial question,
doesn't it?
If the poor in spirit
are the truly flourishing ones,
if they are the ones
who participate
in God's reign,
the question is,
how do we become
poor in spirit?
You know,
anyone who simply
tried to,
you know,
proverbially sell off
their self-made
spiritual wealth,
if you try to sell
that off,
you realize
how hard it is.
You realize
how easy
we slip
into a conversation
some good deed
we've done,
right,
to look good.
You realize
how unconsciously
we begin to look
down our nose
at someone
who isn't quite
as accomplished
or as successful
as we are.
You realize
how anxious
we still get
when we see
the success
of a friend
or a colleague
wondering if
will measure up.
There's something
in our fallen
human hearts
that clings
tightly
to our self-made
spiritual wealth.
The truth is
we can't simply
make ourselves
poor in spirit.
But what we cannot
do for ourselves,
God can do
through the gospel.
On the one hand,
simply encountering
God as he reveals
himself in scripture,
that begins
the process.
I remember the story,
I think it was
Teddy Roosevelt,
you know,
Teddy Roosevelt
is a great outdoorsman
and he would take
his guests outside.
This is probably
apocryphal,
but I'm going to
share it anyway
because it's a good
illustration.
Whenever he was
with friends,
he would take them
outside and he would
have them look out
at the stars
or whatever they
were looking at
and then he would
say,
okay,
I think we're
small enough now,
let's go to bed.
Right?
When we come
to an encounter
with God
as he reveals
himself,
not just in nature
but in scripture,
that begins
the humbling process.
John Flavel
once said,
they that know
God will be
humble
and they that
know themselves
cannot be proud.
But you know,
there's a deeper
level.
Why?
Why do we cling
so tightly
to our self-made
spiritual wealth?
Why are we so
afraid to open
our hands
and become
poor in spirit?
Because we're
afraid.
We're afraid
that without
those spiritual
riches
that we've made
for ourselves,
we're afraid
that we'd be
nothing,
that we'd be
cast off,
that we'd be
destitute.
And you see,
only Jesus
can meet us
in that place.
because at the
foot of the
cross,
we see,
on the one
hand,
we see our
total spiritual
bankruptcy.
We are so
destitute.
Our good deeds
are so
counterproductive
to the kingdom
of God
that Christ
had to be
crucified
for our sins.
but also
at the cross,
our deepest
fears are
meant.
You see,
at the cross,
we're not
left as
beggars
because he
did all
this for
us.
Do you
remember the
song we sang?
Two wonders
here I
confess,
my worth
and my
unworthiness.
Paul put it
this way in
2 Corinthians
8-9,
you know
the grace
of our
Lord Jesus
Christ,
that though
he was
rich,
yet for
your sake
he became
poor,
so that
you by
his poverty
might become
rich.
When you
see that
Christ became
poor for
you,
that he
gave up
the riches
of heaven
and emptied
himself and
became poor
and a
servant,
when you
see that
he did
that for
you,
then you
have the
real
treasure,
the real
riches.
Then you
have the
kind of
riches that
enable you
to sell
off all
of your
self-centered
investments
and become
truly poor
in spirit.
In other
words,
when you
get Christ's
righteousness
credited to
your account
through faith
in him,
you can
discard your
self-righteousness
and then you
can know the
blessedness of
genuine
spiritual
poverty.
But you
know,
for those
of us
who are
in Christ
and we've
begun to
experience that,
how do we
grow?
How do we
grow in
this virtue
of spiritual
poverty?
What sort
of practices
might help
us more
and more
to become
this sort
of people
that Jesus
has redeemed
us to be
and that he's
making us
to be by
his spirit?
Well,
there's lots
of things we
could say
here and
we're going
to get into
a lot of
them as
we proceed
through the
Sermon on
the Mount.
But perhaps
this morning
we might
just mention
the practice
of what I
would call
being more
intentional about
being on the
receiving end.
In our pride,
we like to be
the ones who
give, right?
And of course,
generosity is
important,
but if we are
always the
giver,
then we are
always the one
in control to a
certain extent.
We're always
the one with
something to
give.
Instead,
we need to
practice being
on the
receiving end.
Practice being
empty and
getting something
from someone
else.
Receive a
compliment and
simply say,
thank you.
Receive the
help of a
church member.
Receive the
counsel of a
friend or a
small group
member.
Put yourself
in the place
where you
need to
receive.
Of course,
sometimes it's
actually hardship
or trials or
suffering that
will put us in
that place,
won't it?
Friend,
thank God for
those times,
even if they
are difficult.
Not for the
suffering itself,
but because that
in those times
when suffering
forces us to
receive from
others,
we're learning
more and
more the
virtue of
spiritual
poverty.
We're
learning more
and more
what it
means to
be truly
blessed.
But you
know,
perhaps one
of the
greatest ways
that we can
put ourselves
on the
receiving end
is at the
Lord's table.
When we come
to the Lord's
supper,
right,
we are all
on the
receiving end.
We come
hungry and
needy,
admitting our
spiritual poverty.
And in the
bread,
in the cup,
we receive these
signs telling us
that Christ and
Christ alone
can feed us,
and He has,
and He will
continue to do
so.
And you know,
it's at the
table,
it's at the
Lord's supper
where we
experience our
greatest solidarity
with one
another.
Because at the
table,
right,
whether we are
materially wealthy
or materially poor,
we all come as
spiritually bankrupt
in need of God's
provision.
And if we can
practice that
kind of solidarity
here with one
another at the
table,
where we are
truly one
before the
Lord,
if we can do
that practice
here,
if we can learn
what that means,
then we can go
into the world
and start to
practice other
forms of
solidarity,
working,
living,
listening
alongside of
those whom
the world
would consider
marginal or
unimportant or
poor.
You see,
the first step
of practicing
solidarity with
the poor,
to echo God's
heart,
the first step
is to start it
right here as
we come to
the Lord's
table.
It all starts
here,
receiving these
signs of the
gospel,
because here
we're all
receivers,
each one of
us.
And you know,
as we celebrate
the Lord's
Supper,
we hear Jesus'
words in this
first beatitude,
not just as an
invitation,
not just as a
challenge,
but at the
table we hear
these words as
an assurance.
Jesus hands us
the bread and
the cup,
we receive them,
and we hear
Jesus say,
blessed are the
poor in spirit,
for theirs is the
kingdom of heaven.
Let's pray.
Father, as we
come to the table
now, we ask for
your grace.
Would the bread
and the cup make
real to us again
the great self-
emptying of Christ?
Christ.
Help us to see
Christ as the
one who modeled
perfect poverty
of spirit,
but not just as a
moral exemplar,
as a Savior,
his body broken,
his blood shed
for the forgiveness
of our sins.
At this table,
would we have a
fresh realization
of our spiritual
poverty?
Would we be able
to say again,
nothing in my hand
I bring,
simply to the
cross I cling.
Naked, we come
to you for dress.
Helpless, we look
to you for grace.
Foul, we fly
to the fountain.
Wash us,
Savior.
Wash us,
we pray.
Thank you for
washing us.
Fill us with your
spirit as we take
this meal together.
In Christ's name,
Amen.