Revelation 7:2-8, 9-17; 1 John 3:1-3; Matthew 5:1-12

Today is bittersweet. Bitter, because some of us will be remembering someone we love who died recently, and we are still grieving. Yet sweet, because that loved one was also loved by God, redeemed by Jesus, and lives in that place Jesus went ahead to prepare. We grieve, as Paul says, but not “as others do who have no hope” (1 Thessalonians 4:13). We also hear the words of Jesus in the Beatitudes, where Jesus blesses people not usually considered blessed: the poor in spirit, the mourning, the meek, peacemakers, the persecuted. The broken circumstances of your life do not define you entirely; Jesus defines you as blessed because He has taken hold of you in love and mercy and will never let you go. Blessed are you.