John A. Stroman

“Gray hair is a crown of glory; it is attained along the path of righteousness. Gray hair is a crown of splendor; it is attained in the way of righteousness” Proverbs 16:31. While this might hold true in certain areas of the Ancient Near East, try telling this to an upper middle-aged person in America who has “aged out” of their job in an organization, or no longer has a “made for TV” face. A daily look in the mirror reminds people that the body grows old, as does the mind.

Teresa stood reading the new sign outside of the church.

“Nice sign,” Kevin said from beside her. “Where did they come up with those sayings?”

She turned to him. “They’re words of Jesus from the Bible called the Beatitudes.”

“Huh.” He squinted at the sign. “Usually I like what he has to say about love and all of that. These are just confusing. If I’m mourning or poor in spirit, how does that make me blessed?”

Object:  A jar of honey. I used a 16-ounce jar, but if you use another size just do the math to change the number of bees that would have been needed to create that much honey. It takes at least 12 bees to produce 1 teaspoon of honey. Sometimes I have given the children a taste of the sweet honey at the end of the message, but that depends on whether any of your children might have allergies to honey or have problems with that much sugar.

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Call to Worship:
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus told the people how they could be blessed by God and experience God's kingdom. In our worship today let us explore the Sermon on the Mount.

Invitation to Confession:
Jesus, sometimes I'm full of pride instead of being poor in spirit.
Lord, have mercy.
Jesus, sometimes I'm overbearing and pushy, instead of being meek.
Christ, have mercy.
Jesus, sometimes I'm not exactly pure in heart.
Lord, have mercy.

Reading:

Who may dwell on your holy hill?
-- Psalm 15:1

Bradley wanted to be good for nothing. His mother was. That was sufficient for him. This is how it came about. Bradley was a little boy. One morning he came to breakfast and laid a note on his mother's plate. The note said: "Mother owes Bradley, for running errands, $.25; for being good, $.10; for taking music lessons, $.15; extras, $.05; total, $.55." At lunch time Bradley found some change on his plate that totaled $.55. He was excited and pleased that his initiative had worked so well. There was also a note with the money, which he picked up and read.

We Christians should be very careful about putting a limit on serious questions concerning human and godly existence, for we are the beneficiaries of those who have put serious questions up against the mysteries of life. The young Albert Einstein asked the compelling question of what things would be like if seen from the perspective of the speed of light. Charles Darwin wanted to know why there were so many different species of life.

Our text says that Jesus "went up to the mountain" and, oh, what a beautiful mountain it is! The Mount of the Beatitudes is not all that high, but in Galilee it is the equivalent of Mount Everest. Stretched out below is the most fertile agricultural land in Israel, intricately laid out next to the jeweled sea, that breathtaking, blue prism reflecting the hot beauty of the Middle Eastern sun.