Grace of God – Five Short Words

A few years ago, at the Greenbelt Festival, I came across a group called the Nine Beats Collective

who were running some sessions based around the ancient wisdom of nine sayings of Jesus.

These sayings of Jesus all start with the word blessed – blessed are you when …

So I went to the sessions, and I bought a little book – The Ninefold Path – that contained some reflections and spiritual exercises, but it stayed on my bookshelf – that is until this week.

I had actually been thinking about the book last week sometime, and on Monday I decided to have a look at in my daily prayer time. So I took the book, along with my Bible and my notebook and sat down to read. First, I looked to see what my daily reading from the Bible was, and could hardly believe it when I saw that it was those exact same sayings of Jesus from Matthew’s Gospel!

I just love it when that happens. Call it synchronicity if you like. It’s when God says something through the daily events of life. It happens a lot actually if you look out for it.

That encouraged me to take The Ninefold Path book and look at it seriously. So this week, I have been focusing on Beatitude no. 1 – Blessed are the poor in Spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Essentially this is saying that the most important thing that God is looking for in us is a willingness to let go of the idea that it’s all about our own efforts. All that God has for us is gift. We simply have to see our poverty and need, and receive.

So each day this week, among other things, I’ve been asking myself:

What am I thankful for today ?

What do I need today ?

One of the the things I love about these sayings of Jesus is that they are so accessible. You don’t need to be a religious (as in Churchy) person to benefit from them. You don’t need a degree in theology. You don’t even need to have much in the way of believing in God actually, just an openness to learn and receive. There’s wisdom here to help anyone in daily life.

You’re blessed when you’ve come to the end of your own resources. With less of you there is more of God and his way of living.

Today’s question – What could be different about church ?

I came across a verse today in psalm 68 – I’m reading the New Revised Standard Version

verse 9:

Rain in abundance, O God, you showered abroad;
you restored your heritage when it languished;

I’m taking God’s heritage here as the Church of God. And in this country and in so many secular, Post Christendon societies, the Church of God has lost its edge.

So the hope held out here is that God will restore the Church.

Rain in abundance: this reminds us that this restoration will be a work of God. We do not send the rain, this is not something that we can control.

You showered abroad: I realise that translations vary enormously, but the word that came to me today through this phrase was another hope – that God’s renewal would be widespread.

In the latter half of the 20th century, there was a widespread renewal in worship, with greater openness to the work of the Holy Spirit.

What I am praying for is a greater openness now to the Holy Spirit breaking down the walls of the church to spread God’s goodness and grace.

There’s a story in the Gospel about the woman who brought a jar of precious perfume to Jesus – she broke it open and poured it over Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

What I pray for is for the world to filled with the gracious works of the Holy Spirit through God’s church. Of course those works of love and grace are not absent now, but we long for more.

Tag: Grace of God

Nine Beats

Work Of Love And Grace