This week children across America are getting little Valentines ready for their fellow students.
It's a bit of a hassle at my house because one of my children doesn't want to write Valentines to all 21 fellow students and says "Dad I only want to give out a half dozen Valentines, to the people I play with and really like."
My child speaks for us all when we, in our own ways, favor the people we like, who are like us, and whom we want to impress. We too want to pay less attention to those with whom we have little in common, we don't particularly like, and maybe even find a little bit weird.
I remember hearing a bit of parenting advice from a Christian leader who asked his school-aged kids to do just two things: 1) to always stand up to bullies, and 2) to always make friends with those who have few or no friends.
When we think about it, we suspect that’s what God does. We suspect God looks out for those whom others overlook. And when we're asked to be like God, that means we do the same thing.
This is at the heart of the message of the beatitudes we will hear on Sunday.
Jesus will call the the hungry, the mourning, and the unpopular “blessed," and he will warn those who know only what it's like to be rich, well-fed, and popular, that their eyes need to be opened to the suffering of the world and to their responsibility to help alleviate it.
In other words blessed are those who participate in the brokenness of the world and woe to those who ignore it.
Like everyone, I struggle in the morning when I wake up - to either enjoy the beauty of this amazing world, or to buckle down and get to work fixing it. It's a delicate balance. And I think we know from experience that our default setting is the former - we favor the easy road: of comfort, security, and safety - over uncomfortably putting ourselves out there, giving of ourselves for the benefit of others - and truly participating in the healing of the world.
Friends, what does it mean for you and me to look a bit more at the poor, the hungry, the mourning, and those in genuine need?
How is God calling us to give of our abundance - to those who have less?
It may be something as little as sending a Valentine.
