I am thinking about the Word of God. I am thinking about “how” it got here to us…to you…to me…today.

For sure it has been one “incredible-and-unbelievable” journey.

Consider this: Jesus spoke these words 2,000 years ago on a mountain-side. He was addressing a multitude of different people. They were of every race, class, color and condition, the poor, the sick, the maimed, the rich who were standing or sitting on the slopes and even some folks at the foot of the mountain itself. Some were listening intently hanging on to his every word. Others were quietly conversing with their companions or looking away in other directions, some were paying no attention, at all.

The pronouncements seemingly poured out of him. There was no script, no note cards, no tele-prompter and nothing written on his fore-arms…at least as far as we know…

These tid-bits of wisdom echoed from that rocky crag across the open air venue and have been passed down from generation to generation to generation.

At some point they were hand-written on brittle parchment scrolls and rolled up for safe keeping in un-archived caves.

Later the letters would be etched into animal hides – where they smelled with the pungent smell of “fresh new leather.”

They would be painstakingly handwritten and copied over the centuries.

At a given time – the syllables would have been bound in heavy books and stored away for protection in monasteries and in the great cathedrals of our world. Hidden away in church basements and libraries…

Sometimes the words were burned and the books tossed recklessly on the piles of forbidden writings.

The words themselves were also savored and loved, embraced and translated many, many times over…into the vernacular (or the language of the people!)

They have been passed out in small tracts on street corners and in shopping malls and have been tossed and thrown fluttering with the winds…and on the air currents.

They have been gingerly placed under window washer blades on parked vehicles. And they have been trampled underfoot by hurried pedestrians.

Sometimes they can be found printed on onion skin paper and at other times, they are covered with plastic like a book marker…holding back pages.

You can find them in the drawers of hotel rooms…

And now today – on your computer, laptop, I-pad and even on your smart-phone…

They are called the beatitudes. The “word” beatitude – means “blessed,” “happy,” or “fortunate.”

Holy messages chanted by little children in the hopes of getting a gold star in Sunday School.

They are debated and argued, argued and debated. They have been whispered and shouted, copied and hidden.

They have “moved people” for thousands of years…and now they travel their way to the likes of us.

They are timeless – somehow – beyond time…some have called them a “blue print for happiness.”

How odd these words must have seemed at first hearing…a real attention grabber.

Everyone wants to be blessed or fortunate or happy. We strive for and long for – individual happiness. It is important for us.

Many pursue money, position and power as a means to securing their happiness.

Others see physical exercise as the key to a pleasant life. Some find it in relationships…some find it in solitude.

Others seek more spiritual goals in prayer and yoga and in meditation as being the road to future blessedness.

In each and every case, the pursuit of happiness has a cost attached to it.

What will people sacrifice for happiness? What are YOU willing to do for true happiness or blessedness?

For Matthew, happiness meant being “blessed.” The cost was reputation and the danger of persecution. The reward was the Kingdom of God.

This weekend we celebrate the Blessed Saints in Light…all those who have gone on before us…and those among us still.

And at the same time, we celebrate some of the YOUNGER SAINTS in our midst…this weekend — the word today has journeyed across the millennia and across untold worlds and miles to reach today to Aveaya, Maya, Savannah, Kaleb, Lillie, Hannah and Kylee…and a whole host of others!

What will you do – with THE WORD that has been passed along to you? Amen.