November 10, 2014 Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted.

Today we had a chapel that tried to unpack this beatitude in Matthew 5:4.  There has been recent loss in the community which made the gathering more relevant but also more raw.  The promise of comfort is found in these words from Mathew, a promise that may take time to work its way into our lives.  In looking at this beatitude we broke it into chunks.  In examining the first word, blessed, we come to know that to be blessed by God means to experience His favour and His matchless grace.  We are in a constant experience of God’s grace to us.  We then talked about how we are conditioned to this through our mourning.  Time was spent talking about what we mourn and what that looks like in our lives.  We mourn and grieve when we lose something or someone who is important to us.  We suffer loss, like the loss of a loved one, and we mourn that fact.  We also mourn the brokenness in our world around us.   We mourn the effects of poverty, disease, crime, famine and evil deeds.  We long for the restoration of this world.  We grieve these reminders of our separation from God, the separation that includes our own sinfulness.  We mourn our own sin and cry out for healing and for the Holy Spirit to make us a new creation.  So what does this mean for our students and shining their light? Our students can shine their lights by comforting those who mourn due to loss.  They can extend a listening ear, pray for those who are mourning, or provide a hug if needed.  We can come alongside and mourn with them and walk this journey side by side.  When the brokenness of our world breaks our hearts then we can find ways to be agents of healing and hope.  We can actively work towards restoring broken situations.  And when we mourn our sin we ask for forgiveness, search God’s word for his commands and keep in step with the Spirit as we allow God to work in us and through us as faithful servants.