(This sermon was preached at the Windsor, N.J. United Methodist Church on the occasion of its 150th Anniversary.)

Sometime ago I discovered that God wants us to be happy. Happiness, I already knew, is no simple matter. The Bible teaches much about it, but the Beatitudes, to me more than any other text strike to the heart of the working ground for true happiness. “Blessed are those who….” is translated into “Happy are those who….”

Now, a great deal has been said and written about the Beatitudes. So I decided that I would not try to explore additional meaning but rather bear my testimony to the deep wisdom I find in them. What have I learned in life that verifies Jesus’ teachings on happiness? I learned that there are truths of life that often take us a long, long time of trial and error to le…