2011-2-27 Do Not Worry

Eric Lemonholm

February 27, 2011

Proper 3A/Lectionary 8

Isaiah 49:8–16a; Psalm 131; 1 Corinthians 4:1–5; Matthew 6:24–34

 

Do Not Worry

“Do not worry,” says Jesus.  Do not worry about your life.

Do not worry about food or drink or clothing.  Do not worry.

Jesus asks, “Can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life?”

It’s a good question.

Possibly in this one particular situation worry can add years to your life:

A man was seen fleeing down the hall of the hospital just before his operation. A security guard stopped him before he could leave the hospital and asked, “What’s the matter?”

The man said, “I heard the nurse say, ‘It’s a very simple operation, don’t worry, I’m sure it will be all right.’”

“She was just trying to comfort you,” said the security guard. “What’s so frightening about that?”

“She wasn’t talking to me,” exclaimed the man. “She was talking to the doctor!”[ii]

In fact, scientific studies have shown that on average optimists live longer than pessimists.[iii]

Pessimism is not exactly the same as worry, but they are related: “pessimism is [a gloomy] outlook about things in general and worry is a [fearful, anxious] response to possibilities in particular.”[iv]

It is reasonable to suppose that, if pessimism shortens one’s lifespan, then worry will too.

Anyone who has experienced anxiety or stress would agree.  Not only does worry not add to our lives, it takes away.

 

Kari Myers tells this story:

My little dog has an eccentric habit. It’s more of a compulsion really. Whenever we give him a rawhide bone, he spends the rest of the day and sometimes the next in a flurry of activity. Whether he is motivated by instinct or his own peculiar quirkiness or some combination of the two is hard to say.

Given a bone, he commences a search through the house for a suitable place to bury it. Once he settles on a spot, he proceeds to “dig” a hole in the linoleum. Undaunted by the fact that all his furious digging scarcely leaves a scuff on the floor, he carefully places his bone in his imaginary hole. Next he painstakingly noses imaginary dirt over it and then turns himself around to kick some more for good measure. This whole exercise in futility can take a quarter of an hour.

It is at this point, when he inspects his work, that he appears to realize something is amiss. His prize is not sufficiently buried and, in fact, is in plain sight. So he picks it back up and hunts for a better spot. And thus the cycle repeats over and over again until it’s time for a nap.

Sometimes as I watch him and shake my head, I wonder if there is some of this craziness in me, too. Are there things that I do over and over out of a compulsion I do not understand — things that are equally unproductive? Maybe you know what I mean. Things like wearing ourselves out trying to impress other people. Or how about chasing after things that never satisfy. Or maybe it’s just a cycle of busyness that doesn’t really get us anywhere. Sometimes I wonder, but then it’s time for a nap.[v]

 

Aren’t we all a little like Kari Myers’ dog sometimes?

 

Sometimes, we worry about things we have little or no control of, like gray hair or no hair or wrinkles, our body type or shape, the weather, the Chicago Cubs winning the World Series.

We wake up in the middle of the night, worrying about something we did or didn’t do the day before, as if worrying will change anything in the past.

 

Sometimes, we worry about more essential needs.

Food, clothing, clean water, and shelter are basic necessities – as we find out when natural disasters strike, like the earthquakes in New Zealand.

Or when economic hardship strikes: we’ve seen a lot of that in the past few years.

God knows that we need the bare necessities to survive.  And God wants us to help others in need.

That’s why we support the ELCA Disaster Response, Lutheran World Relief, Bread for the World, and Emmanuel’s Food Shelf.  That’s why we support Becca’s Closet right in our neighborhood.

Remember, Jesus was speaking to some very poor people.

He was not saying to farmers, “Don’t sow seed, water the crops, pull weeds, or even reap.”

He was not saying to laborers, “Don’t work, save, and be frugal.”

Jesus was talking to people who faced hunger and the lack of decent clothing as a regular danger.

And yet, he says, “Do not worry about that stuff.

Do not let worry rule your life.

God is watching over you.  You are of more value to God than birds or lilies or grass, which God also cares for.”

 

What do we worry about?

One obvious answer right now is the price of gas.

The times are tough.  Oil producing countries like Libya are in turmoil.

The cost of everything – including food – will rise, as transportation and energy costs get passed down the line to us.

That affects the poor of our nation and of our world the hardest of all.

 

But even about the price of gas, Jesus tells us, Do not worry.

Yes, in the short term, reduce your miles on the road, walk or ride your bike, use less energy.

Yes, in the longer term, develop clean alternatives.

But can any of us, by worrying, bring the price of a gallon of gas down by one penny?

Of course not!

 

So much of worry concerns things we have no control of.

Jesus is telling us: Put it in God’s hands.  Put it all in God’s hands.

 

As George Mueller said, “The beginning of anxiety is the end of faith, and the beginning of true faith is the end of anxiety.”

Faith is trust in God.  Trust banishes worry.

 

Jesus says, “No one can serve two masters.”

“You cannot serve God and wealth.”

Earlier in this chapter, Jesus said,

“19Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal;

20but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Whether we have little wealth or much, the question is the same: Do we worship God or wealth?

Is our treasure Christ, or is our treasure money?

Who is lord of your life?

If it is money, then that is what you focus on, that is what consumes your thoughts, and that is your god.

If it is your possessions that are your lord, then your possessions possess you.

This is especially important for us to hear.  In the eyes of most of the world, we are all wealthy, so how we relate to our wealth, our possessions, matters.

It is especially people with a lot of possessions or wealth who tend to worry the most.

If you have a lot, you have a lot to lose.

Have you ever noticed that it is often the poorest of people who are the most generous with what little they have?

 

Jesus says, “So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.”

Do not worry, friends.  It is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

So do not worry about money, food, or clothing.

Do not let them be your gods.

Keep your eyes on Jesus.

Keep your heart attached to God.

Seek first the kingdom of God.

And all these things will be given to you as well.

 

Jesus reminds us that our heavenly Father knows that we need food, water, clothing, shelter, healthcare.

God knows we need these things, and God will provide.

But what is our first priority?

Is it ourselves and our creature comforts?

Is it our family’s acquisition and holding of wealth and property?

Or, is our first priority the kingdom of God?

Jesus says, “strive first for the kingdom of God and [God’s] righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”

Strive for the kingdom of God.

That is the first priority of a Christian.

That is our first priority as a church.

 

This is a time in the history of the church in which we hear a lot of worry expressed about the future.

While suburban mega churches are consolidating and proliferating, local, neighborhood churches are shrinking.

Is there any older Lutheran church in urban Rockford that has more children in Sunday School now than in the 1960’s?

As I visit different churches, I sometimes look at the pictures of confirmation classes down through the years.

In almost every case, the recent classes are a small fraction of what they were a generation ago, or even a decade ago.

We worry about the future of the church, don’t we?

We worry about the future of Good Shepherd.

Will there be a Good Shepherd here in 20 years?

Will there be a thriving, growing, dynamic community of Christian faith in this space?

We need to face that question squarely and courageously, creatively and prayerfully.

There is no question that we are going through tremendous cultural changes here in Rockford.

There is no question that some churches will close in the coming decades, just as we see local video stores like Blockbuster and Hollywood Video closing their doors in the face of online competition from Netflix and Hulu.

 

So, what does Jesus say to us at Good Shepherd?

“Do not worry.  Strive first for the kingdom of God and [God’s] righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”

 

 

In Luke’s version of this message, Jesus says,

Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.  Sell your possessions, and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.  (Luke 12:32-34)

 

We cannot, by worrying, add one day to the life of this church.

But we can be faithful to our calling.

We can strive first for the kingdom of God and God’s righteousness.

We can trust in God, and seek God’s will and guidance for this community of faith.

We can seek to live and share Jesus with one another and with our community.

We can pour our resources, our creativity, our joy, and our prayer into growing in faith, hope, and love together for the sake of our neighbors.

We can leave the rest up to God, in the power of the Holy Spirit.

 

But know this, flock of the Good Shepherd: it is God’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

When our treasure is to live and share Jesus, our hearts and Jesus’ heart beat as one.

As we strive for God’s kingdom, we grow in faith; as we grow in faith, how can we keep from sharing?

As we share, how can we keep from welcoming others to our Good Shepherd?

Whether they come and stay is between them and God – but we won’t stop inviting and welcoming in the name of Jesus.

 

Let us conclude with a prayer of faith, of sorts, by Francois De La Mothe-Fenelon:

 

Cheered by the presence of God, I will do at each moment, without anxiety, according to the strength which God shall give me, the work that God’s Providence assigns me. I will leave the rest without concern; it is not my affair.

I ought to consider the duty to which I am called each day, as the work that God has given me to do, and to apply myself to it in a manner worthy of God’s glory, that is to say, with exactness and in peace. I must neglect nothing; I must be violent about nothing.

Amen.