Don't Be a Worry Wart, Trust God!
Matthew 6:25-34
September 10,2006
We really are a worrisome people. We worry about all kinds of things. We worry that it will rain on our wedding days. We worry it won't rain on our landscaping. We worry that we'll look pale instead of that Arizona bronze and we worry we'll get skin cancer from too much Arizona sun. We worry we won't make enough money to retire and we worry life is passing us by right now. We are a culture of worriers.
And because of our depth and dedication to worry, this passage today seems shallow. It's a nice sentiment but an impossible task…Be like the lilies of the field and the birds of the air. Don't worry about tomorrow. Drought and plague are best fought by being prepared for tomorrow and thinking ahead. A little bit of planning for these things allows for hope. In fact is was this passage that could have lead the Thessalonians to leave their vocations because of true belief that their dedication to the Jesus movement would force the church to provide for them. But, it's just this literal interpretation that misses the incredible metaphor it is. Although, wouldn't it be nice if the Christian right would just take the day off and quit worrying about tomorrow? It's times like these we wish they'd focus on all of Scripture and not just a few verses. But, if we release the literalism we can recognize a new description of living is emerging here…
Can you think back to the last time something in nature caught your eye? I know our family watched the full, orange moon rise on Friday night. We watched it appear on the horizon squealing with delight at its size and color. And, when we were finally able to find a good spot to watch it and all got out of the car, we stood silenced by its overwhelming beauty. I know someone else from our community was telling me this week about the sunrise on Thursday morning. It came just as the showers, the lightning, the rain. And, the clouds were so low on the mountains that the mountains were bathed in this phenomenal orange fire rain. So many people saw it, were stopped by it, were refreshed by being a part of it. How about you? When was the last time nature took your breath away.
Aren't those simple and beautiful images? They are supposed to be. They are supposed to invite us to slow down, to imagine, to remember what it's like to be outside and standing in the presence of the Holy. These amazing, natural beautiful things are to remind us we are just one small piece of an enormous web of interrelated life all beautiful in its own place as its own being. When we have these moments we remember how it is to smell the air, breathe deeply, and enjoy the moment for what it is. And, we are overcome with how small we seem. It's a reminder at how much bigger the world is than we are and it's attempting to point us toward remembering that God is behind this. God's creation is bigger than we are and we're just one small blip within it. Our little living is just a ripple in the cosmic whole. And, if we could just live into our created self we would be enough. We don't look to these beautiful flowers and think we wish the daisies were roses. We love them both for what they are. We don't look to robins and expect them to grow into blue jays. We love them both for what they are. And yet we spend countless hours worrying about our shortcomings and how we're not measuring up.
Today's message is not for wimps. Today's message is one for the Jesus movement followers. It's not a shallow message that is trite and to be easily glossed over. It's for the people who are vested in participating in doing this work, living this life, carrying on the message of the Holy One. If you aren't up for it, if you're on the edge, if you're not committed, you might not get it. Or, it might seem just too much. But for those of us who are really grappling with being one of these disciples. For those of us who proclaim to be part of First and the Jesus movement, this is our work today. And, you'd better put on your seatbelts because it's big. Are you ready?
We aren't all that. In fact we aren't it at all. It's all about God. That's right. We're not the most important thing going on. God is. And, if we are going to be in this movement, we're going to have to allow God to be first chair. We're going to have to let go and let God. We're going to have to acknowledge that we don't know it all, can't do it all, because you see, only God can.
It says in the passage today that we are to remember how God cares for the lilies of the field and the birds of the air, so why do we worry. And yet we know, not all lilies grow into their full beauty. Bugs, too much sun, not enough rain, too much rain or getting picked by one of us can stop a lily from becoming all of itself. And it is the same with birds. How many times do we see them knocked out of nests in the spring. How many times do we see them on the road after battling with cars. How many times has illness killed them before their time. And, how many times have developments made them hungry. Flowers and animals die before their time struck down in early and mid life. But, what differs is they are still fully LIVING into their being of what they've been created to be.
In our worrying, we think we are preparing for the worst of times. And yet, this passage reminds us today it's a fruitless exercise in trying to place ourselves at the center of our living. We live in a web of relationships. The ways in which we deal with our environment impacts the response of our natural creation. The ways in which we deal with our culture impacts the relationship humans have with one another. I think this passage today requires guts because it reminds us of the basics. We may live beautiful, pristine lives like an exotic flower or a gorgeous sunset. But most likely in the living, catastrophe will strike. Today's work reminds. That it doesn't matter if you're going to be one of these folks of the Jesus' movement. It doesn't matter because it's all part of the relationship of things. And, this one little outcome isn't about a punishing and angry God, it isn't about some longtime sin of our parents…This cancer is simply about a breakdown in our web of relationship. And, our only work through cancer is to be the beautiful self that God has created us to be. If we know we are just being fully ourselves, that is enough. God's beauty shines through in that, even when, times are catastrophic.
In this sense of living. Of throwing off all the cultural worries to take on a global perspective of connection and commitment. We accept the work of allowing ourselves to grow into our fullness. And, of applying this thinking that we don't have to be anything else in creation but what we're called to be. So when the world seems to rock, we already have the strength that tomorrow can lie ahead, for today we can face it, for we are part of this web. And nothing is more important than living this day right here, with God, trying to see with God's eyes from our unique perspective, love with God's heart from our unique perspective, use God's hands from our unique perspective.
Let's not ask a lily to be a desert poppy. Let's not ask a robin to be a cactus wren. Instead, let's all focus our energy, as those committed to being signs that the kin-dom of God is a different place than this current living, by learning each day to fully be our created selves. Let us pray.