Passage for reflection: Matthew 6: 25 to end of chapter
“Do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear…”
Don’t worry! This is a bold message from Jesus in our gospel reading today. And yet, it is easier said than done.
There seems to be a good deal to worry about in the world today.
But today Jesus says “Don’t worry.” And immediately we think about the worries of the world that go well beyond Ripon and the UK: And none of this is to mention any personal anxieties we have. We think today of Turkey and Syria and 24,000 people who have lost their life and others worrying loved ones might not be found under the post earthquake rubble.
There was a man who was a chronic worrier. He would worry about anything and everything. Then one day his friends saw him whistling.
"Can that be our friend? No it can’t be. Yes it is."
They asked him, "What’s happened?"
He said, "I’m paying a man to do my worrying for me."
"You mean you aren’t worrying anymore?"
"No whenever I’m inclined to worry, I just let him do it."
"How much do you pay him?"
"Two thousand pounds a week."
"Wow! How can you afford that?"
"I can’t. But that’s his worry."
The word "worry" comes from an old Anglo-Saxon word meaning to strangle or to choke. While we need to be attentive to life's concerns, worrying about them "chokes" the joy out of life.
“Don’t worry!” we hear. Surely, it is hard not to do so. The world has problems and the future is always uncertain. It’s amazing what we worry about in the church. Mostly money or dwindling numbers or petty trifles... the dominant issue is for one minister I know at the moment this – it is to chair a debate at Church Council whether to put a lock on the biscuit tin as 28 biscuits have gone missing in a month!
In his sermon the mount, Jesus tells us not to worry. He reminds us that animals and flowers get along fine without worrying.
They don't have to worry because God provides for them. Then Jesus goes on to say that since God provides for them, what have we got to worry about? We are worth much more to God than they are, so God will look after us infinitely better. So Jesus concludes: Don't worry!
People will say to us telling us something is afoot : “there’s nothing to worry about.” But our minds race. Gareth our Superintendent calls a Church Council on a Friday night with little notice. He walks in with two Circuit Stewards. We just don’t have Church Councils on Friday nights. Ian was nowhere to be seen! Perhaps there was something to worry about. Some amazing theories why the meeting was called were shared between being invited to it and it happening! I worried I wouldn’t get on with your new minister. I needn’t have. She’s really nice.
I don’t want to hand you over but we have this opportunity and I’m struggling today because although I’ll be here still and your new minister and I will share a service together here next month, this is my last service as your minister and I thought I had you for some years yet!
It has always been natural to worry – for good reason. This is why the most frequently repeated command in the Bible is “Fear Not. Don’t worry.” In other words, trust in God’s providence, despite everything.
Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow has enough worries of its own, today’s troubles are enough for today.
There are people who dread tomorrow. Some little children still dread school on Monday morning. I used to worry enough to make myself physically sick on a Thursday morning at secondary school, because first lesson was swimming and the teacher was a bully. I could never convince my mother I needed the day off, so I’d walk the six miles to school deliberately missing the bus.
Many people can’t face tomorrow, perhaps they have a hospital appointment or in the world of work, not knowing what the demands of the day will be, they go off work with stress, others face crippling worries over money and relationships.
To be told “don’t worry” or worse “get over it” can do huge damage. Indeed some Christians can do huge damage. Put “sermons on worry” in Google search and you get all sorts of nonsense especially from America. That worry is a sin.
Worry is part of the human condition. Most of us will have come to church this morning with worries.
I’m very conscious I’m speaking to a diverse group of people every time I lead worship and I can’t know how you feel this morning, but hopefully we support each other by being here.
When Jesus talks about worry he just doesn’t say "Don’t worry", he tells us how to prevent worry from talking control. "Be concerned above everything else with the Kingdom of God and with what he requires of you, and he will provide you with all these other things."
That's simply saying: put first things first. What we need to do more than anything else is to realise that God can be trusted, we can depend on him, that he will take care of us, if only we would have faith in him as our loving God. Let God be God, as the saying goes, and let him take charge of your life. First and foremost, as a member of God's Kingdom, realise that you are dearly loved by your heavenly Father who is always watching out for you, as is seen in what he has done for us through his Son Jesus.
Get to know what great things God can and will do for you.Learn to trust him.
Come to God and "leave all your worries with him, because he cares for you" (1 Peter 5:7).
So what’s the pastoral response to Jesus saying worry doesn’t have the last word?
As I’ve said, there is nothing more damaging than glib Christian answers or no answers at all when you are walking in the dark.
At times of worry in my life I’ve been ministered to by the Psalms. The Psalms allowed me to voice my anxiety and be honest about things and place the hard stuff into the hands of God and at the foot of the cross. The crucified Christ was there for me. I remembered how he was anxious before he died in the garden the night before. He placed his worry before his Father and found peace even in the midst of indescribable suffering.
It’s sad then that some Christians walk by when there is honesty or people need help and the person with the worry is left quite alone. If Christianity is real, it enters into the worry.
And let’s remember worry if we believe our faith means anything does not have the last word.
Gods mercy endures for ever. Do you know that? I love Psalm 136.
Do you know about Og?
The Psalmist in Psalm 136 lists all the things God has done to make the world he made better again. He confronts evil. He subdues the likes of Og, King of Bashan. He was, along with his army, slain by Moses and his men at the battle of Edrei.
The Jewish Talmud tells us that Og was so large that he sought the destruction of the Israelites by uprooting a mountain so large, that it would have crushed the entire Israelite encampment.
The Lord caused a swarm of ants to dig away the centre of the mountain, which was resting on Og's head. The mountain then fell onto Og's shoulders.
As Og attempted to lift the mountain off himself, God caused Og's teeth to lengthen outward, becoming embedded into the mountain that was now surrounding his head. Moses seized a stick of ten cubits length, and jumped a similar vertical distance, succeeding in striking Og in the ankle. Og fell down and died upon hitting the ground…
Evil, death, threats, you see do not have the final word even if today you think they do. Who is your Og, King of Bashan? He might worry you now, but God’s mercy endures forever. It’s louder and stronger than anything that is crippling us with worry today. It may not feel like that now but Christian hope calls us to hold on, and those who can’t hold on need to be held and loved by others who don’t let them go.
“Do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear…”
Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow has enough worries of its own, today’s troubles are enough for today.
I just say to us all today worry is real, but we need the confidence to place the worry into a bigger picture, that Gods purposes for us are good, and in the end all shall be well, even if we get a bit bruised getting there. I end with two quotes I find helpful. The first is from Rainer Maria Rilke:
“Go to the Limits of Your Longing”: “Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror. Just keep going. No feeling is final.”
But perhaps this is what we need to remember if nothing else as we go out of church into our worrying world again:
Some words from the prophet Isaiah:
You Lord, give perfect peace to those who keep their purpose firm, and put their trust in you.
And a little later he says:
Israel why do complain that the Lord doesn't know your troubles or care if you suffer injustice? Don't you know? Haven't you heard? The Lord is the everlasting God... Those who trust in the Lord for help will find their strength renewed.
Harrogate Road friends. I’m not going anywhere. But I commend your new minister to you. Don’t worry. There’s a foundation of hope and possibility here if we give our church and our worries to Jesus. Thank you for the way you have let me be your minister for the last two and a half years. May your strength be renewed. God bless you.
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