Sermon: "God Grant Me….” “Therefore,” Jesus says - to you and to me, “Therefore, I tell you, do not worry about your life, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ (Matthew 6:25) “Therefore, do not worry.” I don’t know about you, but I will confess that I am not very good at following this teaching of Jesus – this command of the Lord. The Prayer of Confession was good for me this morning - maybe it was good for you as well. I do think now I worry less now than I did some years back – but I still worry. And my worries have changed over the years. Worries about getting through school and finding a job have been replaced now by worries over helping my kids get through college. And in this economy I worry about having enough money in the checking account to pay our monthly bills and then put gas in our cars. As one of our Session elders puts it, “many times there was more month at the end of my money.” I suspect I am not alone in these kinds of worries. Some of you are worrying about school and jobs – particularly now in this spring graduation time. Some are worried about keeping their homes – about income and debt and paying the bills – and paying for gasoline. Some worry about their health – usually older folks more so than younger. We worry about facing an illness – or having enough for retirement. And the list goes on. For some worry and anxiety are so much a part of their lives they end up like the character Charlie Brown of Peanuts fame – who once put it like this: “I've developed a new philosophy... I only dread one day at a time.” (Charles Schulz) “Therefore,” Jesus says, “do not worry.” One thing though - the first word in this verse is “therefore” - and whenever you read the word “therefore” in the Bible it’s important to see what comes before that word – the story or the teaching that come up ahead of this word – to see how the teaching fits into the context. This is always true about Bible study – and it often deepens the meaning of the passage. In today’s reading we’ve already heard what Jesus said right before the “therefore” - but we don’t like it very much: “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….” We don’t like it when Jesus talks about money – and wealth, even though we know Jesus talks about this all the time – money is the second most talked-about topic of all of Jesus’ teachings. We don’t like that. And we like it less when the preacher talks about money. So perhaps Jesus is talking about our worry over food and water and clothing – and then something more. Maybe, in this larger context, Jesus is talking about our worry and our anxiety about not having enough – not having enough food and drink and clothing – and not enough money. And maybe our not having enough of all the rest – not enough house and car - not enough stocks and bonds – not enough investments and savings – not enough opportunity – not enough education - not enough stuff – not enough of anything and everything. When we worry like that, and are anxious about not having enough, then worry and anxiety can literally take over our lives – and we find ourselves divided, torn apart. We become divided in our loyalty - divided within ourselves. And like our Commonwealth of Kentucky motto says, when we are divided, what? We fall – we fall - and we fail. Likewise, when we are anxious about not having enough, and worry and anxiety takes over like that – we find ourselves living outside of our true, God-created selves. Let me say that again. When worry and anxiety takes over, we and we find ourselves living outside of our true, God-created selves. In today’s reading from Matthew, Jesus tries to remind us of our true, God-created selves – of who we really are before God and one another. And he does this by using some very simple examples. Jesus is very contemporary and politically correct here – did you notice? He goes “green” on us. Very P.C. Jesus is “eco-friendly” with this. He says, “Look at the birds” and “Consider the lilies.” Birds and lilies - part of God’s good creation. But birds – they don’t plant food or farm or store excess food in barns – and yet they have enough to eat – “your heavenly Father feeds them.” And lilies – Jesus says, consider the lilies. What a great phrase. Now this may sound like Jesus wants us to stop and smell the roses – but that’s not it. Jesus wants us to reflect on the life-cycle of the lovely wildflowers that were all over the land. These wildflowers do not spin cloth or sew - and yet they are clothed in great beauty – more so that King Solomon – the second and wisest and richest king of Israel. So – if God so feeds the birds – how much more will God see to our needs for food? You are of much for value to God than the birds. And so – if God so clothes the lilies – which live for a few days and soon dry up and are gathered to be burned for fuel to cook supper – how much more will God see to your need for clothing. You are of much greater value to God than the lilies. Our true self – our God-created self – you are of great value to God – so much more than birds and lilies. Remember how Psalm 8 puts it: “God has made us a little lower than the angels – and crowned us with glory and honor.” And what do we sing it in that children’s song: “Red and yellow, black and white, That’s who we truly are, in God’s eyes: valued, crowned with glory and honor – precious and loved. Other people - those who do not believe – in that day it was “the Gentiles” – they just don’t know the true state of affairs. We are better informed, Jesus says. We know better – we are of great value to our heavenly Parent – who knows that we need these things. And the creator God has so ordered the creation that there is abundance – so we do not need to be overcome with worry and anxiety about not having enough. There is this critical shift here that Jesus wants us to make. We can live – and many do – we can live our lives out of a theology of not enough, a theology of scarcity, which brings worry and anxiety – and even less years of life. Or we can live as God created us to live - out of a theology of abundance – a trust that there is and there will be enough – a trust in the Heavenly Father - who knows what we really need and who will provide it. To help us here, Jesus suggest another direction, another track we can take: “strive first for the Kingdom of God – look first and foremost to God’s presence in the world – to God’s stated goals for us, our communities, and the world – to God’s “righteousness” Jesus says – to God’s right way to live and to be in the world. When we do that – all this other needed stuff will be ours as well. To help us put some substance on that, I want to suggest this “Serenity Prayer” that we have in the bulletin this morning. You may recognize it – some have memorized it – at least in the abbreviated form. It was adopted as an official prayer by a group which used to be known as “Friends of Bill W” – a confidential, anonymous group – named for its founder, William Wilson, the co-founder of the group we know today we Alcoholics Anonymous. The prayer was written by Reinhold Niebuhr, a theologian, who along with his brother, Richard Niebuhr, wrote and published – they are still studied today in seminaries all over the world. The prayer was written for a church council meeting. And according to Reinhold’s daughter, he was thrilled that part of his prayer was adopted by AA. I believe this prayer can help us strive first for the kingdom of God – to live out a theology of abundance, rather than a theology of scarcity. It can help us live out our true, God-created selves – here and now – even as we look eternity. So let us together finish today’s sermon, as we read the full original prayer – there in the middle of the page – as Reinhold Niebuhr wrote it. God, give us grace to accept with serenity Living one day at a time,
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