February 2, 2003
By Jack Price

So, you want to be happy! Is that why you’re here? Happiness is the elusive god of our culture. We sing in popular song: “I want to be happy, but I won’t be happy ‘til I make you happy, too;” and “If you want to be happy for the rest of your life never make a pretty woman your wife….” You may know the rest of that one. We seek happiness in work and in leisure, in possessions or achievements, as the goal of relationships or in our religious faith. As if in a house of mirrors, we seek happiness and it eludes us. The more we seek it, the more it seems to hide.

The pages of scripture are like a mirror, reflecting the depth of the human spirit. In its words we can see ourselves: know who we are and what we need to do. This reflective identity is perhaps most clear in the eight statements we call the Beatitudes from Matthew’s Gospel – eight statements about happiness. Each begins with the promise of blessing. To bless and to be blessed means to be deeply happy, deep rooted satisfaction, happiness.

The “poor in spirit” are deeply happy because they know that God accepts them for themselves. As a result what they do always matches up with what they say. What they do and say reflects who they are. They are deeply happy because people accept them for who they are, not for any image or “borrowed self” they put on. Be like the “poor in spirit” because they know that God accepts them for who they are.

“Those who mourn” are deeply happy because they understand the pain of the world and are not afraid to acknowledge it, to embrace it, and to express it. To live is to know loss and grief, to feel the pain of change, and to experience the reality of death in small increments throughout the days of our living. Yet, those who truly mourn the injustice of this world know only genuine grieving allows genuine healing. Those who mourn know the lessons of the changing seasons, the natural cycle, that moves from birth to death to renewal. Be like those who mourn because they live in the reality that life in God’s presence is always being renewed.

“The meek” are deeply happy because they know the trappings of fame and success are fleeting and superficial and do not aspire to them. They do not seek power because such power is temporary. They seek to know themselves yet never practice their piety before others in order to be praised and admired. Father Richard Rohr of Enneagram fame writes,

Gospel people don’t need to hang on to anything. For them, the ego is out of the way. They’ll make a difference in the world precisely because they don’t need to. They don’t need to be first, they don’t need to be important, they don’t need to be number one. They don’t need to be rich, secure, popular, so they can do what God has told them to do. They can be obedient, God can move through them with power. That’s why spirituality is always about letting go. (Radical Grace)

Be like the meek who know that God who sees within accepts them.

“Those who hunger and thirst after righteousness” are deeply happy. They are passionate in pursuing justice without being blind to their own injustices, passionate about pursuing the intent more than the letter of the law. They seek healing in all its fullness and are passionate in pursuing justice in society and between people. In every profession, those who hunger and thirst for what is right work beyond the rules and the norms and discover deep happiness in bringing about justice and healing for all people. Be like them because the God of justice blesses them.

The merciful are deeply happy because they are always ready to forgive. They always work to bring people together, always seeking reconciliation. Compassion is their daily bread, blessed through them and multiplied to feed starving multitude. Be merciful.

Those who are pure in heart are deeply happy because they are translucent to God. They who have no hidden agenda or deceptive motives clearly reveal their God. Their thoughts are as honest as their actions and their commitment to what is wholesome and just is absolute and complete. Be one of the pure in heart for they can see God!

Peacemakers are truly happy because their first task is to bring peace in their own spirit. They work to lower anxiety and bring about healing between people and within their own lives. They are not peaceful people but purveyors of shalom,God’s peace, first in their own hearts and then peace with those whose lives theirs touch. Be a peacemaker, a child of God.

Even those who suffer because of the integrity with which they live are deeply happy. They do not seek to be martyrs, but will not sacrifice what they know is right to play it safe by going along. They live with integrity, even in difficult times and situations. Their lives are an indictment of those who live without integrity. Jesus did not seek death but lived the light of heaven so much that those who lived in the darkness of this world grew to hate him violently. Be like them who suffer for the cause of justice and mercy are blessed to be like Jesus.

Seek happiness in the mirror of these Beatitudes and you will find in these words the face of Jesus looking back at you through the eyes of your own soul. You will find yourself and know the deep happiness of being God’s friend. You will be blessed.

Culture tells us that happiness lies along the pathway of self-promotion, of being strong, of being the best, of being liked, of being approved– that happiness is a goal. Happiness is not a worthy goal, not a worthy god. Happiness is the result of doing a worthy task well. The Beatitudes reflect “right-side-up” realities of life in God’s universe – perspectives that only seem topsy-turvy to most of us. The Beatitudes of Matthew’s Gospel reflect the deep happiness of being connected to God as the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for justice, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, and the persecuted.

Happiness is an elusive goal. It really does mean different things to different people. In the musical You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, “Happiness is three kinds of ice cream, finding your skate key, telling the time.” Near the end of the New Testament book of Acts, the apostle Paul offers this advice about happiness: “In all this I have given you an example that by such work we must support the weak, remembering the words of the Lord Jesus, for he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ” Canadian theologian Dr. Earl V. Pierce called this “the supreme beatitude.” Giving produces more deep happiness than receiving. The writer of Acts says that Paul says Jesus said these words, though they are not found in the canonical gospels. Their source, other than in Acts, is lost to us, but this “comparative beatitude” makes sense as something Jesus might have said. “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”

Giving means conveying gifts or greetings, affection or advice to another, or even to your self. Crossroads’ Peace, Justice, and Missions Work Group gives on behalf of this congregation. Over the past six months, they have given over $8,000 to help support education and service ministry beyond the community of Crossroads Church. Giving is movement from here to there or from there to here.

Well what about receiving? It is likewise movement of gifts, greetings, affection, and advice from here to there or from there to here from another and perhaps even from one’s self. The gifts of money, time, energy, and commitment we receive from each other we give back to each other in the form of worship, care, spiritual guidance, intercession, healing, and missions.

In Acts, Paul is happy because he was self-sufficient in terms of his physical and financial needs while among the Ephesian Christians. He worked at his craft so that no one has had to support him in his ministry. Being able to work and support yourself, to be responsible for your own welfare, can be source of deep happiness; more so than being dependent on the charity of others. It is along these lines that this “supreme beatitude” has particular meaning for us today.

It does make sense to understand religious faith in terms of dependence. We are dependent on God’s grace for salvation. We rely our communities of faith for guidance in our search for life’s meaning and for support in life’s crises. That is true! Christianity encourages such dependence.

We receive from God forgiveness and redemption, spiritual gifts, and the call of discipleship. We receive from our parents and sisters and brothers in Christ love and support, guidance and accountability, opportunity and challenge. It is a blessing to receive! We joyfully receive all God gives us and all those around give us. Giving and receiving are in reciprocal relationship – two sides of the same coin. With all we receive, can giving really be “more blessed”?

Paul seemed to be talking about “giving” in terms of being in a position to be able to give ministry without needing to receive financial or other living assistance. In other words, being in a position to give means taking responsibility for your own welfare and your own choices, perhaps even taking responsibility for your own happiness. In his book The Prophet , Kahlil Gibran writes

There are those who give little of the much they have – and they give it for recognition and their hidden desire makes their gifts unwholesome.
And there are those who have little and give it all. These are the believers in life and bounty of life, and their coffer is never empty.
There are those who give with joy, and that joy is their reward. And there are who give with pain and that pain is their baptism.
And there are those who give and know not pain in giving, nor do they seek joy, nor give with mindfulness of virtue; they give as in yonder valley the myrtle breathes its fragrance into space. Through the hand of such as these God speaks, and from behind their eyes [God] smiles upon the earth.
Deep happiness results when you give yourself time to grow, room to reflect, and courage to listen to your own voice. Writes Henry David Thoreau,
In proportion as our inward life fails, we go more constantly and desperately to the post office. You may depend on it, that the poor fellow who walks away with the greatest number of letters proud of his extensive correspondence has not heard from himself this long while.
Give those you love you own growth as a person, seeking to be more your true self, as God created you, and less the self borrowed from fear or weariness or the need to be in control.

Give your faith community, your work, and your world your unique self – the perspective and imagination that represent your particular gift to life. Give God back the self you have been created to be. Acknowledge your dependence on the Creator yet love God with a free will and an open heart. In such giving there is ultimate blessing, to reflect the face of God, to see life through the eyes of God, to convey the voice of God. Truly, this is the supreme beatitude, the supreme happiness, to give as Christ gives, as the life force flows in us and through us.

The movie Antwone Fisher tells the story of a child abandoned by his parents who was raised in a cruel foster home. As a young adult, full of anger, he finds help. Then he find his family and himself. With more excuses than most of us for self-pity and dependence, Fisher perseveres and grows and loves. As a result, he finds himself feeling pretty happy.

So, if you want to be happy, don’t go looking to be happy. Receive the unexpected gifts of the Beatitudes. Trust the Spirit of God living in your heart. Seek the blessedness of giving as those “who give as the myrtle breathes its fragrance into space. [And] through the hand of such as you, God will speak, and from behind your eyes [God will] smile upon the earth.