Thursday, February 07, 2008

The Beatitudes (Sophomore Standard Version)

My sophomore Bible classes began working on the Beatitudes today. The nine statements of Jesus at the outset of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew's chapter five are familiar to Christians but are often foreign to the way we act. How are we supposed to rejoice and mourn concurrently? Who feels good about being mistreated? Philip Yancey translated these teachings as Lucky Are The Unlucky. Our class periods centered around our own translations of these contradictory, to the non-believer, words of truth from the lips of the Savior. Each student was assigned the task of recreating the Beatitudes in ways that made sense to them in twenty-first century Houston, Texas. What follows is a sampling of the theology of my seventh period Gospels class:
"Blessed are the ugly, for they will be in God's beauty pageant." Elijah

"Blessed are you who are homeless, for God's kingdom is your residence." Cameron

"Blessed are those who are lost, for God will be their trail to follow." Alex
"Blessed are you who can't sing, because in God's eyes, your voice is beautiful." Stephanie

"Blessed are the clumsy, because in heaven, you will have poise." Lauren
"Blessed are you who pray, for God has set out two roads for you." Taylor
"Blessed are you who are blind, because God wants you to see heaven in your heart." Bella

"Blessed are you who can't afford nice shoes, because God has a special pair just for you." Donald
"Blessed are you who are different, for you will be equal in heaven." Rajul
"Blessed are you who are looked down on, for God made you in His image." Greg
"Blessed are you who can't get enough sleep, because in heaven you can rest." Emily
"Blessed are you who have been shown injustice, because in heaven, God is always right." Andy

"Blessed are you who have been beaten, for God has only gentle hands." Brittany

"Blessed are those who are small, for there is always room for them in heaven." Kevin

"Blessed are you who are crippled, because in heaven, you will jump for joy." Trey
"Blessed are those who carry heavy loads, for God will give them a gravity-free back pack to carry them." Kylee
"Blessed are you who have nothing, for you have nothing to lose." Jim
And their teacher said, "Amen."

Applicable quote of the day:
"We have grasped the mystery of the atom and rejected the Sermon on the Mount."
General Omar Bradley
God bless,
Steve
Luke 18:1

http://www.hawleybooks.com/
E-mail me at steve@hawleybooks.com

2 comments:

hallmark said...

These Houston, Texas beatitudes are wonderful. They have to go into your next book. I especially like "Blessed are you who are looked down on, for God made you in His image". The play on the word looked compared

hallmark said...

These Houston, Texas beatitudes are wonderful. They have to go into your next book. I especially like "Blessed are you who are looked down on, for God made you in His image". The play on the word "looked" compared to "in His image", tells a whole story.
1) People see God when they look at Godly people.
2) People that look down on Christians are despising Him.
3) Being in a humble circumstance doesn't change a persons value because they are still made in the image of God.

And there are probably several more threads that could be followed. Many of these are very good, but this one really jumped out at me.