In my congregation, we hold a weekly time of meditation and prayer on Tuesday mornings at 8:30 am.  [If you are in my area, please come and join us].  This past week we did the Order for Morning Praise and Prayer, which is found on page 876 in the United Methodist Hymnal.  For the scripture, I read the Beatitudes found in Matthew 5:3-12.

I was looking for a translation that would provoke people to think about these Beatitudes in a new way.  I am not a fan of the Common English’s version, which translates them as “Happy are those…”  I think Happy doesn’t really get the gravitas of the Greek word ‘makarios.’  Yes, it can be translated as happy from the Greek but happy seems so weak of a word when we look at what Jesus says.

Then I realized that blessed is becoming that way too.  Blessed is simply another way of saying “look how good I have it.” #blessed is seen all over social media as a way to point to great vacations, new cars, or other things of this world.  We don’t see many people standing in between the police and protesters attempting to be peacemakers saying #blessed.  We don’t pass a homeless man on the side of the road holding up a cardboard sign reading #blessed.

Read The Message’s version of the Beatitudes and then post something on social media that reflects these ways of being #blessed.  God’s view of being blessed is upside down compared to what the world thinks it means.






“You’re blessed when you get your inside world—your mind and heart—………*

[You can read all of the verse for the Beatitudes by CLICKING HERE for the Message Translation and HERE for the Common English.




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