Sermon on the Mount, Part 5
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Matthew 6:24-34“No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet God of heaven feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will God not much more clothe you—you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed God knows that you need all these things. But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. “So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today. . |
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I attended a workshop this week put on by the Dept. or Homeland Security on how to be prepare our congregation for an active shooter attack. Even though there have been a total of 16 attacks since 1966 in the south Jersey Philadelphia area, they used the phrase, "this is the new normal."
There were outlines of action plans, training, practice drills, and follow through. We were advised to have an automated system to secure the building and communicate with each person; a system of accounting for each person should an attack take place. (Not to lessen the seriousness of the seminar, I don't even know where everyone is on a regular Sunday morning!) And while John and I both agreed that we do need to update our emergency plan in general, even for things such as fire and health emergencies, and given the things we stand and work for as a congregation we do need to have something in place for an active shooter, we also agreed this is not "normal."
Add to that real life issues that we are already dealing with, and thinking about what the future might hold for us, our children, and our grandchildren, and there is real angst there. So how can Jesus seriously think that we aren't going to worry; or even suggest that 'knowing God has our back" is enough to avert our fears? Because no kidding, I am a believer that God absolutely has me, no matter what. I believe that God will be with me through thick and thin. I can point to every crisis in my life and name specifics ways that God never let me down, never abandoned me, or my family or friends. I believe that no matter what I do or say or think or feel, God loves me and accepts me, just as I am, no matter what- and that upon my death, God will be there with mercy and grace to welcome me. I believe that for all of us. Yet, every day I find something to worry about, something to stress over, even to fear if I let myself go that far.
In truth, I do not believe that Jesus thought in any realm of his imagination that by telling us not to worry, we would stop being human beings- that we would stop wanting to secure ourselves and our families, or stop worrying about the state of the world and it's future. Jesus knew we would still worry, even about our own suffering and death. He knows people inside and out- even Jesus prayed on the night he was arrested, "If it be your will, take this cup from me." Jesus doesn't ask us to stop being human. But he does ask us to keep in the back of our minds that we are not here by our own doing. No one, as far as I know, signed up to be on earth. God created us and put us here. And God will take us out of here when our life on earth is over.
So how do we make it through? How do we lessen the burden of worry and fear and our chronic need for security? Jesus, speaking to a fearful, worried, occupied people, used the illustration of birds and flowers. And if you check, he didn't say birds and flowers don't worry. He just said that they don't do what they are not created to do- they live out what they are designed to be, do what they are supposed to do, and God does the rest. Birds aren't meant to be farmers- but God feeds them. Flowers aren't tailors, but God clothes them. In the same way, none of us can be anything we aren't created to be.
We have talked numerous times about call- and how we have a specific purpose, and are equipped with specific gifts, and that not everyone has the same gift. What if everyone was using their gifts in their area- and living out their purpose- doing what we are supposed to be doing in God's realm? And what if we trusted not just God to not forget about us, as a nursing mother can't forget her child, but what if we trusted each other not to forget about us? That's the bigger challenge isn't it? Birds and flowers work together in harmony to spread seed and enhance the beauty of creation. But we don't have that same trust in each other... we've learned in fact, not to trust- sometimes with good reason. People have let us down, or hurt us, heck, we've hurt people ourselves.
So how then, if we barely trust ourselves, do we learn to trust others? One person at a time. Starting with ourselves- learn to count on you- and then one by one, learn to find someone else you can trust- learn to trust the people in this room. (Learn to get to KNOW the people in this room) And I know that's a tall order. Because we do mess up, and we do let each other down- we argue sometimes, and disagree and rub each other the wrong way- but we also forgive. The interesting thing is, the more trust we allow ourselves to have with someone, the more valuable the relationship- and yes, that means that the hurts, when they happen, will hurt more. But by the same token, because the relationship is so valuable, it becomes one worth working on- and makes asking for forgiveness a little easier.
God put us in community together because its how we make the world better. Each one of us has been brought to this particular community as part of God's plan- can you imagine if we all trusted each other? Can you imagine how much easier it would be to work in harmony, and spread the seed of good news and enhance the beauty of creation?
There were outlines of action plans, training, practice drills, and follow through. We were advised to have an automated system to secure the building and communicate with each person; a system of accounting for each person should an attack take place. (Not to lessen the seriousness of the seminar, I don't even know where everyone is on a regular Sunday morning!) And while John and I both agreed that we do need to update our emergency plan in general, even for things such as fire and health emergencies, and given the things we stand and work for as a congregation we do need to have something in place for an active shooter, we also agreed this is not "normal."
Add to that real life issues that we are already dealing with, and thinking about what the future might hold for us, our children, and our grandchildren, and there is real angst there. So how can Jesus seriously think that we aren't going to worry; or even suggest that 'knowing God has our back" is enough to avert our fears? Because no kidding, I am a believer that God absolutely has me, no matter what. I believe that God will be with me through thick and thin. I can point to every crisis in my life and name specifics ways that God never let me down, never abandoned me, or my family or friends. I believe that no matter what I do or say or think or feel, God loves me and accepts me, just as I am, no matter what- and that upon my death, God will be there with mercy and grace to welcome me. I believe that for all of us. Yet, every day I find something to worry about, something to stress over, even to fear if I let myself go that far.
In truth, I do not believe that Jesus thought in any realm of his imagination that by telling us not to worry, we would stop being human beings- that we would stop wanting to secure ourselves and our families, or stop worrying about the state of the world and it's future. Jesus knew we would still worry, even about our own suffering and death. He knows people inside and out- even Jesus prayed on the night he was arrested, "If it be your will, take this cup from me." Jesus doesn't ask us to stop being human. But he does ask us to keep in the back of our minds that we are not here by our own doing. No one, as far as I know, signed up to be on earth. God created us and put us here. And God will take us out of here when our life on earth is over.
So how do we make it through? How do we lessen the burden of worry and fear and our chronic need for security? Jesus, speaking to a fearful, worried, occupied people, used the illustration of birds and flowers. And if you check, he didn't say birds and flowers don't worry. He just said that they don't do what they are not created to do- they live out what they are designed to be, do what they are supposed to do, and God does the rest. Birds aren't meant to be farmers- but God feeds them. Flowers aren't tailors, but God clothes them. In the same way, none of us can be anything we aren't created to be.
We have talked numerous times about call- and how we have a specific purpose, and are equipped with specific gifts, and that not everyone has the same gift. What if everyone was using their gifts in their area- and living out their purpose- doing what we are supposed to be doing in God's realm? And what if we trusted not just God to not forget about us, as a nursing mother can't forget her child, but what if we trusted each other not to forget about us? That's the bigger challenge isn't it? Birds and flowers work together in harmony to spread seed and enhance the beauty of creation. But we don't have that same trust in each other... we've learned in fact, not to trust- sometimes with good reason. People have let us down, or hurt us, heck, we've hurt people ourselves.
So how then, if we barely trust ourselves, do we learn to trust others? One person at a time. Starting with ourselves- learn to count on you- and then one by one, learn to find someone else you can trust- learn to trust the people in this room. (Learn to get to KNOW the people in this room) And I know that's a tall order. Because we do mess up, and we do let each other down- we argue sometimes, and disagree and rub each other the wrong way- but we also forgive. The interesting thing is, the more trust we allow ourselves to have with someone, the more valuable the relationship- and yes, that means that the hurts, when they happen, will hurt more. But by the same token, because the relationship is so valuable, it becomes one worth working on- and makes asking for forgiveness a little easier.
God put us in community together because its how we make the world better. Each one of us has been brought to this particular community as part of God's plan- can you imagine if we all trusted each other? Can you imagine how much easier it would be to work in harmony, and spread the seed of good news and enhance the beauty of creation?