by Eric Anderson

Searching for hymns that used the Beatitudes as their inspiration, I was quite surprised to find very few of them. And, well, I decided to add one. It was first sung in worship at Church of the Holy Cross UCC, Hilo, Hawai’i, on February 2, 2020.

Upon the mountain, Jesus sat with all his friends about him,
The crowds drew close and silence fell. He taught them without shouting.
He spoke of blessings to the poor. He spoke of new creation.
He spoke of a world overturned when mourners find their comfort.

You meek take hope, the earth is yours, though others pride to take it.
The ones who thirst for righteousness will drink until they slake it.
There will be mercy for the ones whose mercy flowed in rivers.
The pure in heart will see our God in majesty forever.

You who make peace have always been the children of the Maker,
And so are those who suffer for their holiness of labor.
If you are caged and tortured for your witness to redemption
The gates of heaven will open wide when you are present to them.

The hardships of the world are real, as human eyes keep weeping,
But every tear that falls is held within the Savior’s keeping.
Blessed are the humble, meek, and poor; the pure in heart, the peaceful.
Yes, God embraces those who bear the burdens of earth’s evil.

Suggested tune: ENDLESS SONG 8.7.8.7.D.

Copyright © 2020 by Eric Anderson
Used by permission

The image of the Sermon on the Mount is an etching by Jan Luyken from the Phillip Medhurst Collection of Bible illustrations housed at Belgrave Hall, Leicester, England (The Kevin Victor Freestone Bequest). Photo by Philip De Vere. Credit: Phillip Medhurst – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=20116195.