Some Modern Beatitudes by Nadia Bolz Weber What if the beatitudes aren’t about a list of conditions we should try and meet to be blessed. What if these are not virtues we should aspire to but what if Jesus saying blessed are the meek is not instructive –what if it’s performative? …meaning the pronouncement of blessing is actually what confers the blessing itself. Maybe the Sermon on the Mount is all about Jesus’ seemingly lavish blessing of the world around him especially that which society doesn’t seem to have much time for, people in pain, people who work for peace instead of profit, people who exercise mercy instead of vengeance. So maybe Jesus is actually just blessing people, especially the people who never seem to receive blessings otherwise. I mean, come on, doesn’t that just sound like something Jesus would do? Extravagantly throwing around blessings as though they grew on trees? So for this All Saints Sunday, a time when we remember and celebrate the lives of those who have gone before us – those who Jesus would bless, I thought maybe it was time to have some beatitudes for this day, for this place, and these people. Because I like to imagine Jesus here standing among us saying… “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom…….