The Reverend John E. McGinn, Rector
Saint John’s Episcopal Church
Sandwich, Massachusetts 02563
May 25, 2008 2 Pentecost
The sermon today is taken
from the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 6, verses 24-34.
Yesterday I was invited by a
parishioner to play golf at the Waverly Oaks Golf Course. It ended up being an enjoyable day, but at
the beginning of it for me, I was really worried because I hadn’t played golf
since our tournament last October. I had
really had not even swung a golf club so, needless to say, for the first hole I had definitely worried
myself into a state. My first shot
showed it as it trickled off into the woods.
But after that I began to try to worry less and my game became a lot
better as I trusted my ability to play golf, and it became an enjoyable day.
And, you know, there is a
familiar story of a man who was a worrier, and it showed in his face and in his
posture. He seemed to carry the weight
of the world on his shoulders. However,
one day this man changed; he had a bounce to his step. It was as if he did not have a care in the
world. A friend asked him what
happened. “Well,” he confided, “as you
know, I have always been one to worry.
I’ve decided that this is both unwise and unhealthy, so I have hired
someone to do my worrying for me.” “But
how much does this cost you?” the friend asked.
“Oh, about a thousand dollars a week,” the main replied. “But how can you afford to pay this man who
worries for you?” was the astonished response.
The man answered calmly, “That’s his worry.”
I wish, I wish, it was that
easy for some of us to get rid of our worries, don’t you? Poor us!
Worry - worry about big things and little things, worry about the
future, worry about the past, worry about our finances, worry about our family,
worry about our health. It is for people
like you and me that Jesus once spoke these words: “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
important than food and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow
or reap or store away into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour
to your life? And why do you worry about
clothes? See how the lilies of the field
grow. They do not labor or spin, yet I
tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of
these. If that is how God clothes the
grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire,
will he not much more clothe you - oh you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’
or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things and
your heavenly Father knows that you need them, but seek first his kingdom and
his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for
tomorrow will worry about itself. Each
day has enough trouble of its own.”
My guess is that there is
someone in our church this morning who needs to heed these words of Jesus. You are literally worrying yourself sick over
some situation over which you have no control.
You need desperately to stop for a moment and consider the birds of air
and the lilies of the field and turn your worries over to God. You see, worry is a needless burden that
keeps us from being all God created us to be.
And how can we rid ourselves
of this demon called worry? What does
Jesus say that can help us lighten our load this day? First of all, I think we need to understand
that worry is not based so much on outer circumstance as on an inner condition,
and understand that. Worry comes to us,
not so much from what is happening to us on the outside, as much as it comes
from how we process it on the inside.
You don’t need to raise your hand, but is there anyone in this church
this morning in danger of going hungry tomorrow, or anyone at risk at being
thrown out of your home? Well, probably
not. The people Jesus was speaking to
have real concerns about survival. There
were not government programs to serve as a safety net. If they lost their job, they really could
starve; they really could lose everything.
Most of us live lives that are much more secure than that. We worry more with less reason that any
people who ever lived.
This is not to minimize the
very real problems that many of us face.
It is to say that often our worry reflects the condition of our souls
more than it does our circumstances. For
some people a bad hair day is a real crisis - a cause of deep personal
anguish. For others of us a diagnosis of
cancer can be dealt with confidently with faith in the love of God. It depends what you have on the inside, more
than what is confronting you on the outside.
Worry is not based so much on an outer circumstance as much as on an
inner condition. We may not be able to
solve the outward circumstance, but the way we respond to it. One way to do that is to determine to live in
the present. “Therefore, do not worry
about tomorrow,” says Jesus. “For
tomorrow will worry about itself. Each
day has enough trouble of its own.”
Now, that sounds somewhat
negative - each day has enough trouble of its own - but it’s good advice. You and I aren’t God. We don’t know the future. We may be worrying about something that will
never happen. We may be worrying about
something that will resolve itself. We
need each of us to focus on today.
A few years back psychologist
Richard Carlson wrote a best-selling book titled Don’t Sweat the Small
Stuff. Carlson, who died
ironically of a heart attack at age forty-five, got the idea for his book one
day while driving his six-year-old daughter home from school. They got caught in rush-hour traffic, and
they spent forty minutes or so creeping along the freeway. As they sat in their car, Carlson’s daughter
looked out at all the other cars also creeping along, and finally she said,
“Daddy, why are the people mad?” Her statement
caused Carlson to begin looking at all the people stuck here in traffic. He realized they did have grim and anxious
looks on their faces. He knew they
probably weren’t mad, but they sure didn’t look happy. It caused him to reflect on the causes of
their unhappiness. Perhaps they were
reviewing where they needed to be and what they needed to do once they got
there. And perhaps there were children
to pick up and errands to run and dinner to make and work brought home to
do. Or perhaps being stuck in traffic
gave them a chance to think about things that they were anxious about - their
families, their work, their health. The
result was that they looked mad. And so
Carlson wrote his book Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff, for he was convinced
that most of the things we worry over are really not worth worrying about in
the first place.
A famous speaker put life
into perspective like this: “You are
born - that’s big stuff. You die -
that’s big stuff. Everything in between
- small stuff.” And Carlson’s book
reflects that same perspective. In fact,
the full title of the book is Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff and it’s all small
stuff.
Maybe life’s not quite that
simple. Still, one of the secrets, I
believe, of a fulfilled life is to focus on today. Are you healthy this moment? Do you have enough to live on in this
moment? Are your children well this
moment? Then give God thanks for the moment
and try not to anticipate what may never occur.
Live, says Jesus, in the present.
Another way to defeat worry
is to always do the right thing. Jesus
said, “So do not worry saying what shall we eat or what shall we drink or what
shall we wear. For the pagans run after
all these things and heavenly father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his
righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well.” Righteousness is a key word in this formula
for defeating worry.
There are many people who
torment themselves for decades over something that they did in the past that
was wrong. Maybe they fear exposure,
maybe they fear the consequences of their actions, and maybe it’s just the
knowledge that what they did was wrong.
Still, it robs them of their peace of mind. One way we can defeat worry is that we can
always try to do in our life the right thing.
“Focus on today,” says Jesus. “Live righteously, and finally, trust in
God’s love for you.”
Now listen again to Jesus
words: “And why do you worry about
clothes. See how the lilies of the field
grow; they do not labor or spin, yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all
his glory was dressed like one of these.
If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today
and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you - oh you
of little faith?”
Now the Greek word for lilies
means wild flowers or weeds, and Jesus is referring to any plant that is both
lovely and will grow on its own without cultivation. Since wood was scarce in Palestine, these
wild flowers were sometimes used for a fire.
Jesus is saying…Look, God’s care extends even extending to these wild
flowers which eventually end up in a furnace.
How much more then will he care for you - oh you of little faith? And that is the heart of the problem, isn’t
it? Our lack of faith. We really don’t know how much God loves
us. That’s why we worry about the
future, and that’s why we hold onto the mistakes of our past.
I love the way that Isaiah
puts it in today’s lesson from the Old Testament that Lance just read: “But Zion said, ‘The Lord has forsaken
me. The Lord has forgotten me.’” Then Isaiah adds these wonderful words: “Can a mother forget her nursing child and
have no compassion for the child that she has borne. Though she may forget, I will not forget
you.” Isaiah is saying that even our own
mother might forget us or forsake us, but God never will. Can you even imagine a greater love than a
mother for her child? And yet, the
testimony of scripture again and again is that God’s love for each of us is
greater than even that.
So this is the message that
Jesus has for us today: Don’t worry, be
happy, live in the present, always try to do the right thing. God loves you and God will provide for you.
Amen