Be the change

 

Matthew 5: 1-12
New Ark United Church of Christ, Newark, DE
February 1, 2026

Photo of a colorful chameleon (combination of red, purple, green, blue, white) hanging from a tree branch, looking at the tip of a curling leafy vine.

You know that saying, “Kids say the darndest things”? I’m thinking what it really means is, “Kids say the wisest things, the things we need to hear, the things only they know how to say”.



A few weeks back, one of you came up to me and shared a story about one of your children. Before coming to church, this young one said, “Mom, Mom, it’s Chameleon Sunday!” “What? What Sunday is it?” “Mom, you know, Chameleon Sunday!”



Beloved child, you are not far from the kindom of God.



Today is Chameleon Sunday, Communion Sunday, when we come to the Table and not only remember Jesus but we come closer to Jesus, we change, we become the change we want to see in the world.



The people who come to hear what Jesus had to say are people who need to hear that they matter to God, that God is closer to them than they think, especially when it doesn’t feel that way. Remember that Jesus came to gather in the lost, those still in exile, the outcast, the stranger, those treated as less than, and Jesus brings the kindom to them. There is nothing they have to do in order to receive it. Jesus doesn’t say they will be blessed if they do something; they simply are blessed just as they are. That’s what the gospel is all about: at our lowest, most despairing and hurting, Jesus says to us, “You are not alone. I am on your side.”



This is what I hear in Jesus’ words:



Blessed are those hiding in their basement, the children who are afraid they will be taken next, the mother who holds her sick child in a detention center, for theirs is the kindom of heaven.


Blessed is the father who cannot go to his disabled son’s funeral, who died because his father, his only caregiver, was detained by ICE agents, blessed are the families of those who have been killed by ICE agents and those who have died in detention facilities, for they shall be comforted.


Blessed are those with protest signs and snow shovels, with dishes filled with tamales and casseroles, with bags of groceries and diapers, with whistles and phones, and not guns in their hands, for they will inherit the earth.


Blessed are those who march in the streets in single digit temperatures, who call each other neighbor no matter the color of their skin or where they are from, for they shall be filled.


Blessed are the merciful, the kind, the compassionate, because they know what it looks like, how it feels, for they will receive it wholeheartedly.


Blessed are those who are like children who have not learned how to hate or fear others, for they will see God.


Blessed are those who work for justice and restoration, who build trust and do not destroy, who travel the path of nonviolent resistance, for they shall be called children of God.


Blessed are immigrants and Muslims, queer and transgender folx, refugees and Jewish friends and neighbors, young girls and children, Black, brown, and indigenous peoples, disabled and neurodivergent people, poor and unhoused neighbors—all those persecuted and targeted, abused and oppressed, for the kindom of heaven belongs to them.


Blessed are you who follow me and God’s ways of peace through justice and are slandered by those who only claim to follow me and use me for a mascot, for their ancestors did the same to the ones who came before you.



This is who Jesus wants us to get close to. This is the change we are invited to become, when we make other people’s problems our problems, when we bring the kindom to the stranger and the outcast. Getting close to Jesus means getting close to not only the pain of others but our own pain. Getting close to Jesus means getting close to not only the healing of others but our own healing. That’s what this Table is all about. When we get close to Jesus, we just might start to look like him, act like him, sound like him, be like him. It’s Chameleon Sunday, beloveds. Every day can be a Chameleon Day. Amen.

Benediction – enfleshed.com


To do justice...
To practice kindness...
To journey in life attuned to God....
This is what Love desires of us.
May it be so among us as the Spirit leads us from here with peace.

Amen.