the Beatitudes, Jesus declares that the blessed are those who recognise their neediness, grief and pain, who desire more of God but who won’t take up power to try and get it, who extend mercy to others, exhibit purity and pursue peace, and who will probably face criticism for all of the above. With this in mind, I wonder if a reasonable definition of ‘blessed’ might be ‘partakers of the divine nature’ (2 Peter 1:4 rsv); to be someone not immune from the heartache of living in a broken world but, through sharing in the life of the trinity, somehow able to transcend the despair experienced by
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