A Meditation on the Sermon on the Mount

The Beloved says:

“You are the salt of the earth.

  The taste of my presence”

Ask and it will be given to you;

seek and you will find;

knock and the door will open.

You are the light of the world

a city on a mountain top

a lamp on a table

to give light to the whole room

let your light shine out

to draw guests to my table

Ask and it will be given to you;

seek and you will find;

knock and the door will open.

You remember at the altar

the hurt in your brother

Go and be reconciled with him

Come and offer your gift to the Beloved

Ask and it will be given to you;

seek and you will find;

knock and the door will open.

They strike you on the right cheek

you turn the other toward them

they take your coat

you let them have your shirt

they force you to make a short journey

you do the long journey with them

you lend freely, you give freely

Ask and it will be given to you;

seek and you will find;

knock and the door will be open.

Love your enemies

pray for those who hurt you

the Beloved causes the sun to rise

on the evil and the good

Sends rain on just and unjust

Live with a spirit of invitation

and live perfectly through everything

Ask and it will be given to you;

seek and you will find;

knock and the door will open.

Do not store treasures on earth

Moth and rust will eat through them

Thieves break in and steal

store your treasure up

in the heart of the Beloved

where moth and rust do not destroy

and thieves do not break in and steal

For where your treasure is

There you will find your heart 

For where your treasure is

There you will find your heart 

You worry about your life

what you will eat and drink

about your body

what will you wear

Life is greater than food and clothes

Look at the birds of the air

they do not sow or reap

or store things in barns

and yet the Beloved feeds them

you are much more valuable than they

Can worry add a single hour to your life?

For where your treasure is

There you will find your heart 

The Beloved says:

You worry about clothes

See how the lilies grow in the fields

They do not labour or spin

Know that not even Solomon

in all his splendour was not dressed like one of these

If that is how the Beloved clothes the grass of the field

which is here today and gone tomorrow

how much more will the Beloved clothe you.

Oh you of little faith.

Seek first the kingdom of the Beloved

and all these things will be given you as well

Do not worry about tomorrow

for tomorrow will worry about itself

Each day has enough trouble of its own.

For where your treasure is

There you will find your heart 

Move with the Beloved beyond judgement

Judge not and you will not be judged

You see the speck in your sister’s eye

and miss the plank in your own eye

‘Sister, let me take the speck out of your eye,

 when all the time there is a plank in your own eye?

First take the plank out of your own eye,

see clearly to remove the speck

from the eye of your sister.

For where your treasure is

There  you will find your heart 

For everyone who asks receives;

the one who seeks finds;

and to she who knocks,

the door will be opened.

If your son asks for bread,

will you give him a stone?

If your daughter asks for a fish,

will you give her a snake?

You give good gifts to your children,

how much more will the Beloved

give good gifts to those who ask.

In everything, do to others

what you would have them do to you.

This is the Law and the Prophets.

For where your treasure is

There you will find your heart 

The Beloved says: “hear these words of mine

and write them upon your hearts

Do not be like the foolish lovers

who built their house on sand.

The rain came down, the streams rose,

the winds blew and beat against that house,

It fell with a great crash.”

Be like the lovers who built their house on rock.

The rain came down, the streams rose,

the wind blew and beat against that house;

It did not fall, its foundation was on rock.

For where your treasure is

There you will find your heart