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Good morning. 
How are we this morning? 

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We're hanging in. 
There were doing, all right. 

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February is almost over moving 
into March. 

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You feel it? 
Yeah. 

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Little bit kind of mixed reviews
anyways. 

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If we have a met - Rashaad one 
of the pastor's here, and so, 

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I'm joyed to be here with you 
today and just pray that God's 

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speaks to us and speaks to you 
wherever you are every at this 

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morning, however, you coming in.
In and that he would meet you 

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and show. 
You is love. 

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So, let me pray for us as we 
start, father, we thank you that

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this is the day that you've made
and we have life and we have 

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breath. 
And we choose this data here 

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what you have for us and use our
breath. 

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And her words to give you, 
thanks for life. 

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And we anticipate what you do 
through your word today. 

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It's alive. 
Active and you were changes 

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people. 
And so we ask that you would 

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would change us today as we 
encounter your word by your 

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spirit in Jesus name, amen. 
Amen. 

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I've been anticipating this 
passage for a while, not because

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it's exciting, but because it's 
pertinent and I feel this 

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passage is is relevant for us. 
In this moment that we find 

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ourselves here. 
Not only in Boston, But just in 

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the world collectively and 
individually and I think I've 

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preached a lot of sermons over a
lot of years and there's one 

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thing that most people can agree
on that, don't give me any 

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pushback about is that being a 
human and experiencing loss of 

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stuff. 
And I feel like that's a 

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universal truth, that no matter 
what stream of you come from a, 

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what part of the world you come 
from, you agree, that loss is 

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stuff. 
That loss can be devastating 

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that having losing something 
that's meaningful to you. 

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Whether it's a person or a 
season or something larger is 

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sometimes hard to put into 
words. 

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It's hard to get our hearts in 
our heads around. 

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C.s. 
Lewis says that Losing a loved 

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one is like, an amputation. 
In other words you can you can 

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survive it but a part of you is 
gone. 

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And we're never quite the same 
afterwards, grief and mourning, 

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change us. 
Because it doesn't leave us. 

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Psychiatrists Elizabeth 
Kubler-Ross says, this the 

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reality is that you will grieve 
forever. 

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You will not get over the loss 
of a loved one. 

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You will learn to live with it. 
You will heal and you were build

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yourself around the loss. 
You have suffered, you will be 

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whole again, but you will never 
be the same nor. 

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Should you be the same or nor 
would you want to? 

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I know this is no, I'm sorry, 
not very heavy. 

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I you sort of jokes, I know this
is heavy and I've been feeling 

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the weight of this topic all 
week and I can and it makes me 

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reflect on my own upbringing and
I remember since I was young as 

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I reflect that I've always 
experienced some type of loss. 

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Whether it was my great 
grandparents, or my 

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grandparents, or my parents, 
getting a divorce at a young 

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age, I experienced loss and then
My teenage years, I lost a close

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friend and I'm going to hold it 
together. 

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And the older that I get, I've 
continued to experience loss and

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see people that I love not just 
people, I love season that I 

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love friends that I have loved 
cities that I have loved kind of

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go away. 
And for the for the most part, 

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my default setting that I was 
raised and discipled and is you 

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got to keep going Dory. 
You get this guy to keep 

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swimming keeps swimming, keeps 
swimming keeps swimming and like

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really what I was taught to swim
away from the pain and go 

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towards. 
What feels good because That's 

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bad. 
And that's good. 

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And you don't want to go over 
there and so I'm like I just got

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to keep swimming. 
I have to experience these 

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things like a young age and I'm 
the oldest of all my siblings. 

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So I gotta hold it together and 
I gotta keep going anyone 

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resonate with that. 
Yeah and so you have to keep 

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going because it's because to 
dwell on loss. 

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Feels like a death in itself. 
And in our world, there's no 

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time for that. 
But the only way to really deal 

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with the death and loss just to 
let it stop you in your tracks. 

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It's a let it stop you and to 
sit in it. 

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Part of the Jewish mourning 
process, they have what they 

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call a Shiva were after the 
funeral, all the family and 

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friends, they come over and they
sit with those who have lost and

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they just sit and they sit in 
the pain and community and 

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they're not trying to force it 
to go away, but they are 

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respecting the loss and what 
their friends and family members

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are going through. 
So, I want you to remember the 

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context here in Matthew 5. 
And what Jesus is saying, Jesus 

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making an announcement about his
kingdom, about God's kingdom 

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that's coming and he understands
who he's talking to. 

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They've been through a lot. 
They're under an oppressive 

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Roman system. 
They were debating. 

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Should we give to Caesar 
shouldn't because this is an 

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unjust system and this is not 
what God has promised us. 

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They are under what's becoming 
an oppressive Of religious Rule 

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and Luke 20 Jesus talking about 
the religious leaders and they 

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how they like to take the place 
of honor and he says in verse 27

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that they devour widows houses. 
In for a show, make lengthy 

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prayers. 
And he's saying this, these are 

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the leaders who are leading the 
religious communities to give 

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the Roman Community oppressing, 
you have the Jewish religious 

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community oppressing and taking 
advantage of people. 

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And so, there's a lot to be 
mourned. 

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There's a lot to be more and 
especially when you expect more 

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from God, there's a lot to be 
more and especially when they're

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expecting more from God's 
leaders, things aren't as they 

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should be. 
And so right now, I just what I 

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want you to do, and you probably
have already started this. 

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I want you to get create a 
circle, not a physical Circle, 

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metaphorical Circle. 
And this begin to gather all 

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your disappointments. 
I want you to think about all 

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the, your timeline, all the 
things, where people have 

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ghosted you or people have left,
you a people have walked away. 

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Were you had a season in that 
you didn't get to reconcile with

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where you've lost someone close 
and I wanted to collectively put

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it in that Circle. 
And then I want you to hear, did

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you? 
But Jesus says blessed are those

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who mourn answer the two 
questions. 

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I want us to reflect on together
as what does it mean to mourn? 

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And the second question is how 
we mourn. 

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The things we've lost Seasons 
dreams. 

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People loved ones, Justice. 
One definition for morning is 

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inner attitude of lamenting. 
Too, well, to beat the breast to

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cry out to rent, to be, well, to
lament to grieve. 

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One commentator, assist the the 
word more and is in the Greek is

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referred to as loud wailing. 
This Greek word is the strongest

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term for morning in the Greek 
language. 

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Morning, I believe devastates 
else honest on a soul level and 

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I believe it moves into our 
hearts. 

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And I believe that it moves into
our physical body From the 

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definition alone of what it 
means to mourn. 

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And to, well, to the examples 
that you see in scripture were 

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job as Lost David as lost and 
you see the losses and you see 

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the reaction of morning. 
It's, it's something that 

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literally can't be contained. 
Yet often here in the west were 

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taught to contain it. 
I think there's a lot here in 

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this passage for us as the 
church in the west to learn from

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to glean from. 
I will share with with our 

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prayer group this week. 
We're talking about this passage

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and I was saying and I've been a
professional Christian for the 

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last twenty. 
First years of my life went to a

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lot of great churches and 
educational institutions and a 

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lot of great conferences and 
I've heard a lot of great books 

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and I've learned very little 
about what it means to mourn. 

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What it means to lament and how 
to do it, how to lean into it. 

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I've learned more about mourning
and lamenting as being a black 

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American. 
I remember in high school. 

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Yes. 
Went to high school in the 90s 

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people and the Rodney King 
verdict came out and I just 

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lived outside of Los Angeles and
that was my first time I 

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experienced a communal morning. 
Where we just we didn't 

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understand it was too great. 
How can this, how could this 

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happen? 
We have video and then I didn't 

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know that I was morning but 
quickly moved to anger. and for 

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some people with moved into into
their physical bodies, and how 

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they reacted to people Morning 
is important. 

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Morning is part of what it means
to be. 

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Human, is part of the human 
experience. 

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And there's two distinctions and
how morning is being used here. 

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One is, it's the loss over a 
loved one. 

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Another is grief over sin in the
effects of sin in the world and 

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in our personal lives. 
And so the most frequent 

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occasions and moments of morning
that we see through scripture 

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Our National calamities after a 
national calamity, me and death.

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And so calamities are our 
catastrophes. 

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We can we can begin to name them
as people who are who have been 

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on this Earth, less than 100 
years. 

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We I mean, there was the 
Holocaust Medgar Evers MLK 

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assassination Katrina. 
Covid. 

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George Floyd, Syria and turkey, 
the list goes on and on we have 

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these Collective moments were 
like that's not how things are 

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supposed to be. 
We have this Collective moments 

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of morning and go, man, this is 
actually too heavy for my heart 

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to handle. 
And then death. 

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I feel this is the one that kind
of Bullseye hits us all in the 

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heart. 
It's is actually a topic of 

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avoided most of my life. 
Some of you guys know this that 

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for the first time in my life, I
experienced Bible level morning,

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four years ago when I moved 
here, my brother unexpectedly 

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died. 
And I had to face it. 

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And then most of my life, I've 
been able to avert being 

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face-to-face with something that
care about deeply that's gone. 

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And for the first time I was in 
a moment where I had to face it,

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had to literally be in the room 
and I thought I had an idea of 

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what it meant to lose something.
I thought I had idea what it 

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meant tomorrow and I thought I 
knew what it meant to comfort, 

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someone who went through 
something till I actually went 

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through it myself. 
I was cut open and in that 

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moment even though I know I have
an understanding of scripture, 

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There's some passages that you 
haven't been challenged to trust

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God on until it actually happens
in your life. 

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And like I said, I believe in 
the resurrection until the 

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moment where the one of the 
things that I love most is gone.

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And at that moment, I think God,
I really want to believe that 

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the resurrection is real. 
I actually needed to be real 

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because the weight of what I'm 
experience is too. 

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Heavy to handle I cannot sustain
the weight of my sorrow. 

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If we choose to brush over these
things and these moments and 

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move on to fast to avoid pain or
insulate our hearts, it can 

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actually atrophy our hearts It 
can actually stunt our growth 

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process to feel pain is to be 
human. it's what makes it 

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extremely difficult to be human 
and as what God beautifully uses

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to draw us to himself, Some of 
my, some of my favorite movies 

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are the ones that make me cry, 
like, ugly cry. 

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Like, like Pursuit of Happiness,
you know, like, we're just, like

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OG like gut-level, man. 
You got me home and please, no, 

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don't look at me. 
I watch that on a plane with 

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some youth pastors. 
And I was like, oh my God, don't

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look at me. 
No, I'm good, though. 

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Some of my favorite movies, but 
only can wash them once or twice

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in my life. 
Because the there's certain 

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things that just that feel too 
heavy to handle. 

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And I think for many of us, we 
want to, we Shield off the pain 

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of the world around us because 
we don't want to become undone. 

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And I think when Jesus saying 
blessed are those who mourn and 

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there's a place that what you 
get when you confront your 

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mortality, and you confront the 
losses, in the things that are 

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broken in the world and what you
actually need and longing for 

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where that meets and you become 
undone. 

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I think that's often times in 
our world especially in our 

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culture. 
Like, I don't want to cry, I 

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don't want to do the right 
because because you know, if if 

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you open the blinds a little 
bit, you not going to be able to

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close them. 
You don't know what's going to 

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come out and you really 
concerned about what other 

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people going to think. 
And God is saying that place of 

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being undone is actually the 
place where I meet you. 

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You with me? 
So there was there was mourning 

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customs and these Customs were 
weeping, ashes guard had morning

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garments that they a sack cloth 
and Ashes and they would rip 

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their garments lamp to lament 
was a morning. 

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Custom. 
There wasn't a phrase, that 

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said, Don't Cry. 
There wasn't a phrase that says,

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hey, tuck that back in because 
tears are powerful. 

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And the early Church Desert 
fathers believed in what they 

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called The Gift of Tears. 
And explain this way, it's a 

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phenomenon mentioned in 
spiritual writer since the early

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since very early in the church 
and it refers to an intense 

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personal experience of God that 
overflows and abundant tears, it

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is the Overflow of a spiritual 
experience in an emotional 

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physiological expression that 
creates a deep comfort in one's 

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soul and deep encouragement for 
the person who receives the gift

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as well as sometimes for others 
who happen to witness it. 

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It. 
One of the most powerful scenes 

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and phrases in the Bible is 
Jesus wept. 

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Whether you're a Christian or a 
non-Christian or agnostic, you 

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that verse means something. 
It's quoted often because people

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want to know that that God can 
feel their pain. 

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Jesus mourned with his friends. 
There are their heartbreak 

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touched his heart, the 
limitation of their perspective 

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on what God can do. 
Hurt his heart tears, enable us 

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to touch to get in touch with 
our deepest feelings, they help 

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us express our grief at endings 
and the loss of those who are 

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precious to us Grief helps us 
locate the pain. 

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It helps us name it. and it's a 
gift to be able to feel to 

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remember to empathize to form 
our hearts, our worship and our 

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intercession Some Chara says 
this the American Church avoids 

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Lament The Power of lament is 
minimized and underlying 

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Narrative of suffering that 
requires lament is loss. 

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But absence, does it make the 
heart grow fonder, absence makes

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the heart. 
Forget the absence of lament in 

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the Liturgy of the American 
Church results in the loss of 

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memory. 
We forget the necessity of 

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lamenting over suffering in 
pain, we forget the reality of 

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suffering. 
Suffering and pain. 

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Blessed are those who mourn? 
Blessed are those who mourn is 

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not that morning is fun. 
It's not that anyone wakes up 

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and they set goals of like, what
can I mourn today? 

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Who wants to mourn? 
I don't want to mourn. 

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I want to be happy, but there is
a blessing and those who mourn 

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because the reality of the world
is stings or broken. 

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And happiness isn't avoiding the
acknowledgement of pain and 

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suffering. 
It's going through it. 

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It's going through the pain and 
the suffering hand-in-hand with 

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God and coming out the other 
side though. 

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He slay me, I will praise Him 
Jesus more than anyone who's 

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ever walked to Earth knows about
sadness, loss and grief. 

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Isaiah talks about Jesus and 
Isaiah 53, and he says, he was 

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despised and rejected, Man of 
Sorrows acquainted. 

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With the deepest grieved, we 
turned our backs on him and look

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the other way he was this. 
Spies then we did not care. 

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Jesus. 
Came to his own and his own 

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rejected him, they did not 
receive them. 

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Jesus comes to Jerusalem on Palm
Sunday on the triumphal entry 

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and he laments and he's weeping,
and he's mourning over the 

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condition of Jerusalem and he's 
like, man, if you would have 

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known the moment, if you would 
have known, what I wanted to do 

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with you right now, how I wanted
to gather you up, but you would 

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not let me. one of the hardest 
things as a parent or being 

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someone in a relationship is 
seeing the other person, 

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struggle to trust you and see 
the other person's stuck in the 

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pattern of making poor decisions
and not let anyone in And God is

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saying when you leaving into 
your morning, when you lean into

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your pain, when you lean in, to 
the things that are difficult. 

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That's when you actually get me 
because when you lean into it, 

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you're letting me in when you 
don't lean into it, you're 

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hiding it in bearing and he 
said, you can't touch this. 

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Jesus is saying in this 
announcement, blessed are those 

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who mourn? 
He's staying at your hardest and

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worst moments of your life is 
where God wants to meet you. 

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Is where God wants to draw 
closer. 

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If you'll have him, Some 34 
says, the Lord is close to the 

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Brokenhearted and saves those 
who are crushed in spirit. 

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So in a world of Sorrow, a 
people full of grief and 

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mourning. 
God says, you are not excluded 

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from my presence. 
There are people that are full 

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of mourning and grief and sorrow
and injustice. 

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God says, you were actually in 
Prime position to encounter me 

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and encounter my kingdom. 
Whether you mourning over the 

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loss of a loved one. 
Are you lamenting the state of 

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the world or your own soul? 
There is a balm in Gilead. 

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Isaiah says, in Isaiah, 61, 
we're talks about Jesus coming 

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in the spirit of the Lord is 
upon. 

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It says this to proclaim the 
year of the Lord's favor, and 

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the day of Vengeance for God. 
But listen to this to comfort 

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all who mourn. 
To provide for those who grieve 

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in Zion to bestow on them. 
It crown of beauty instead of 

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Ashes, the oil of Joy, instead 
of mourning, in a Garment of 

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00:21:53,600 --> 00:21:58,900
Praise, instead of a spirit of 
Despair, God shares in your 

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heartbreak, and says, I'm the 
Healer of your heart. 

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And I give in exchange for 
morning, I give comfort and in 

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exchange for your ashes. 
I make it beautiful in exchange 

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00:22:10,600 --> 00:22:13,200
for your morning. 
I bring enjoy joy and exchange 

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00:22:13,200 --> 00:22:16,300
for your despair. 
I've written songs of praise and

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00:22:16,300 --> 00:22:20,500
put them on your mouth. 
Jesus said that we would have 

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heartache that we'd have trouble
in the world but he said, take 

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courage, I have overcome the 
world Jesus was grieved in the 

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garden to the point of blood, 
but he went through it. 

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He went through it and he took 
on the grave and sin and death 

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that we might have hope. 
So that we don't grieve as the 

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world Grieves that we don't 
grieve. 

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As those who don't have. 
The hope that the darkest and 

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heaviest thing that we can go 
through, the it can, the gospel 

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00:22:50,500 --> 00:22:55,300
can handle, it can shoulder, it 
can give you hope in the place 

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00:22:55,300 --> 00:22:59,100
of Despair can give you Joy. 
In the place of grima can give 

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00:22:59,100 --> 00:23:01,900
you comfort in the place of 
loss. 

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Blessed are those who mourn for 
they will be? 

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00:23:05,100 --> 00:23:08,300
Comforted God does not leave us 
alone in our morning. 

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If you get anything, God does 
not leave you alone in your 

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00:23:13,900 --> 00:23:14,800
morning. 
What does he do? 

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He promises his presence. and if
you ever been to a place where 

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people are grieving and 
Mourning, What's better than 

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words? 
But the Embrace of a loved one. 

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That covers all the words and 
all the phrases and it 

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00:23:32,700 --> 00:23:37,800
transcends the moment. 
And the God of all creation of 

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00:23:37,800 --> 00:23:41,700
the universe says at your lowest
point of grieving and loss and 

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morning, I bring in my comfort. 
They don't leave you alone. 

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I draw near with you. 
When I sit Shiva with you. 

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Henry. 
Now on says this, when we 

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honestly ask ourselves, which 
person in our lives means the 

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most to us. 
We often find that it is those 

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who instead of giving advice 
solution or cures have chosen 

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rather to share our pain and 
touch our rooms with the warm 

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00:24:08,100 --> 00:24:11,200
and tender hand, the friend who 
can be silent with us in a 

352
00:24:11,200 --> 00:24:15,500
moment of Despair or confusion, 
who can stay with us in an hour 

353
00:24:15,500 --> 00:24:19,400
of grief and bereavement who can
tolerate not knowing not curing,

354
00:24:19,400 --> 00:24:22,200
not healing and face with us, 
the reality of our 

355
00:24:22,200 --> 00:24:25,900
powerlessness. 
That is a friend who cares. 

356
00:24:28,500 --> 00:24:31,200
It's a beautiful thing that we 
were called in to as the church.

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00:24:32,600 --> 00:24:33,900
We go God, why would you do 
that? 

358
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I don't understand. 
And he uses the pain, the losses

359
00:24:36,700 --> 00:24:40,300
in our life that we might be 
those people who can go and sit 

360
00:24:40,300 --> 00:24:42,300
with other people and go ahead, 
know what you're going through. 

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That transcends word is 
time-space. 

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Ethnicity social brackets. 
Paul says, I'm second 

363
00:24:52,200 --> 00:24:54,300
Corinthians 1. 
He says this praise be to the 

364
00:24:54,300 --> 00:24:57,300
God and father of our Lord, 
Jesus Christ, the father of 

365
00:24:57,300 --> 00:25:02,400
compassion, and the God of All 
Comfort, who comforts Us in all 

366
00:25:02,400 --> 00:25:04,900
our troubles that we can 
comfort. 

367
00:25:04,900 --> 00:25:08,700
Those in any trouble with the 
Comfort we ourselves receive 

368
00:25:08,700 --> 00:25:13,700
from God. 
He's the God of All Comfort. 

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00:25:15,000 --> 00:25:19,900
The spirit of God, the paraclete
the comforter is with us now in 

370
00:25:19,900 --> 00:25:23,500
the God of All Comfort says, I 
will wipe away every tear from 

371
00:25:23,500 --> 00:25:26,500
your eyes, because the renewal 
of all things is coming 

372
00:25:26,500 --> 00:25:29,800
everything that you put in that 
Circle, I'm renewing at the 

373
00:25:29,800 --> 00:25:31,900
resurrection. 
I said I'm going to heal them. 

374
00:25:31,900 --> 00:25:34,100
I'm gonna fix that. 
I'm going to restore that. 

375
00:25:34,100 --> 00:25:36,000
There's going to come a moment 
where you going to meet me and 

376
00:25:36,000 --> 00:25:38,500
I'm in tears. 
Won't be necessary. 

377
00:25:40,800 --> 00:25:42,600
That's the hope that we point 
to. 

378
00:25:45,100 --> 00:25:48,200
My last Point morning is 
temporary. 

379
00:25:50,600 --> 00:25:54,400
Weeping may last for the night, 
but joy comes in the morning. 

380
00:25:56,800 --> 00:26:00,000
Cornel West is this to live is 
to wrestle with despair. 

381
00:26:00,200 --> 00:26:03,300
Yet, never allowed despair to 
have the last word. 

382
00:26:06,400 --> 00:26:09,600
Revelation 16 17 said, look, 
he's coming with the clouds and 

383
00:26:09,600 --> 00:26:12,100
every eye will see him, even 
those who pierced him and all 

384
00:26:12,100 --> 00:26:14,700
the peoples on the earth will 
mourn because of him. 

385
00:26:14,700 --> 00:26:16,800
So, shall it? 
Be amen. 

386
00:26:18,900 --> 00:26:21,200
So, if you've been in the world 
of grief, just, no Comfort. 

387
00:26:21,200 --> 00:26:25,900
Awaits you, in the arms of the 
father of comfort as alluded. 

388
00:26:25,900 --> 00:26:29,400
You know, that Jesus promises to
restore all things in that. 

389
00:26:29,400 --> 00:26:33,500
The god of comfort will meet, 
you know, that there's moments 

390
00:26:33,500 --> 00:26:35,800
where you feel like you're in. 
Dark. 

391
00:26:35,800 --> 00:26:40,100
But just lean into God and he 
will restore you and rescue you 

392
00:26:40,100 --> 00:26:46,000
and strengthen your heart 
because he Comforts those who 

393
00:26:46,000 --> 00:26:50,400
mourn. 
Blessed are those who mourn for 

394
00:26:50,400 --> 00:26:55,100
they will be comforted. 
So, whatever you need today, I 

395
00:26:55,108 --> 00:26:57,300
believe God wants to strengthen 
your heart. 

396
00:26:58,100 --> 00:27:01,500
I believe the comfort is here to
remind you, that, you are gods, 

397
00:27:01,600 --> 00:27:04,900
that you are his children that 
you were his daughter, that you 

398
00:27:04,900 --> 00:27:09,000
were his son, and that he sees 
everything. 

399
00:27:11,000 --> 00:27:15,600
And what he wants to do, what he
does best is bring comfort and 

400
00:27:15,600 --> 00:27:18,900
hope. 
Amen, let me pray for us. 

401
00:27:11,000 --> 00:27:15,600
And what he wants to do, what he
does best is bring comfort and 

402
00:27:15,600 --> 00:27:18,900
hope. 
Amen, let me pray for us.