sermon excerpts: Easier Said than Done

...Jesus was another one who said, “Don’t worry.” If it was only as simple as not worrying turning off our mind, our conscience, our natural inclination to fret about things out of our control or things unresolved. There isn’t a switch that we can throw in our mind and suddenly be calm, assured and composed.

We know the effects of stress, ulcers, high blood pressure, of Type A personalities, on our health. We know that worry is bad for our health, that worry doesn’t add a day to our lives. But we do it anyway. We can’t help it.

We cannot avoid worrying. That is part of what we do. I would go as far as to say it is what makes us human. No other animal or life form frets or stews about things so abstractly out of our control, or thousands of miles away or months into the future.

Jesus offers a bit of perspective based on lessons from plants and animals. Even the ugliest of birds can look graceful soaring in the sky. We see trees growing out of solid rock, or glorious flowers coloured in ways that our most brilliant artists cannot copy. Nature knows that things will be taken care of and that worry won’t do anything good. Let us simply be and trust that nature will take its course. Goodness will flow.

I’m going to suggest that in this season of thanksgiving, we also give thanks for our worry. It assures us of our ability to recognize a need for God. It helps us identify what in our life is truly important.

We may wonder if we are truly safe here in Ravenswood/Arkona. We worry about bird flu, mad cow, gun violence, cancer, E. coli in our spinach, lettuce or drinking water. If we let all these things get to us, we’d be paranoid of everything and paralysed to do anything.

Jesus wants us to worry about the right thing. We are not to be worried about where our food, or drink or clothing will come from. God will take care of us. We know that, we see how abundantly and extravagantly all creation is cared for. We are part of that same creation and partake of God’s providence.

But it is our Christian duty to worry about the needs of others. Where will the poor find food? Where will clean drinking water come from for people in Africa? Who will clothe the street people in winter?

The gap between rich and poor is so great, and the needy and those who have too much, are both unfulfilled and unhappy. That is our call to serve this world, to act upon our worries and concerns about the state of the world, the condition of all people and to imagine what might be done.

Let our worry spur us to action. To speak out against what is not just or life-affirming, to support ministries that tend to the needs of others in ways we ourselves cannot, to remind others of God’s love and care for us. To cherish the precious moments we have with our loved ones. To give thanks for each opportunity.

Don’t worry, God will take care of us. Can it be that simple? Why can’t we simply do that then? Because we have faith and hope for a better way of living, for a better humanity. We dream of world peace, of an end to war, of a cure for cancer, of freshwater and healthy crops for every corner of the globe. When we bother to think beyond ourselves, we worry. But these are worries we share with God.

So I give thanks for my overactive imagination and the worries it heaps onto my mind because it helps me dream of a better world. I give thanks for the compassion that causes me to hurt from hearing news stories on the radio. I give thanks for inspiration and determination to work for a kinder world that is aware of God’s love, care and grace. And I give thanks for this community that surrounds myself and my family with that same love, care and grace. Of that I do not worry.