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Beatitudes Now
Posted by Wallace+
When preparing to preach on the Beatitudes (from Luke) this last Sunday, I came across the following lyrics, from "The Preacher & the Slave." A parody of "In the Sweet By and By," the song was written almost a century ago as a challenge to the Church, that we hear and respond to Jesus' call to face into present realities, and that we not take the easy way out by making the Gospel all about the hereafter, in effect passing the buck to God.
Indeed, the Gospel is much less about some future experience, and much more about the here and now, the present moment, and those whom God puts in our path:
Long-haired preachers come out every night,
Try to tell you what's wrong and what's right;
But when asked how 'bout something to eat
They will answer in voices so sweet
Chorus
You will eat, by and by,
In that glorious land above the sky;
Work and pray, live on hay,
You'll get pie in the sky when you die...
As Jesus says elsewhere, "As you have done unto the least of these..."
Amen, amen.
Listen to the Song
Source: Union Songs, a selection by Mark Gregory
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