Sermon: February 27, 2011

Worry Is Never Kingdom Work

Preached by Linda Jo Peters ~ February 27, 2011

Scripture: Psalm 131 read responsively and Matthew 6:24-34

INTRODUCTION TO SCRIPTURE READINGS
Psalm 131 read responsively
The psalmist uses the image of a weaned child no longer frantic for its mother’s attention but at peace in her arms. This song of Assent sung by pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem was a witness to the assurance found in the Lord.

1O Lord, my heart is not lifted up, my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me.
2But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; my soul is like the weaned child that is with me.
3O Israel, hope in the Lord from this time on and forevermore.
Matthew 6:24-34
In William Loader’s commentary on this passage he writes: “The issue for Jesus was what - who - ruled one's priorities… The challenge (is) to seek God's rule, righteousness and justice. Does worry rule your life or does trust? Listen to the NRSV. The familiar lines at the end give us a little twist to think about.

24“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.
25“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 than food, and the body more than clothing? 26Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? 28And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, 29yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. 30But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ 32For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34“So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.

SERMON
Let’s be honest we all worry about something. We worry about grades in school, if people like us, how to get or keep the right job, approaching deadlines and shrinking budgets, bills and expenses, rising gas prices, insurance costs and paying taxes. Have you ever worried about having your home in perfect condition for "company," and within seconds of their arrival, the house is turned upside down and no one even notices.

What do we accomplish by all this worrying? We get distracted from God’s will for our life. None of our anxiety will make us safer, richer, healthier or happier. So why do it? Habit! We are creatures of habit. We practice worrying very early in life. Way before we are pushed to get good grades, we are pushed to be like the perfect brother, sister or cousin in our families. We are told not to talk to strangers. Now worry is rooted in our very natural emotions around fear. Fear is quite useful to pump the adrenalin through our bodies that we need to our run a wild animal that wants to eat us. But fear of the monster under the bed is not helpful. Any way we can learn how to face our fears without constant worry, will free us to be more attuned to God. Years ago when we lived in Hanover Park, a northwest suburb of Chicago, a neighbor boy became so anxious that he refused to go outside alone. It took a lot of work to discover the reports of the Atlanta Child Murders in 1979 & 1980 had generated his anxiety. He needed to be free of this worry.

You have probably seen the Windows Phone 7's launch commercials that dramatizes people obsessed with their cell phones, and ignoring their real lives. John Wilcox, BetaNews blogger writes: the commercial resonates with my worldview, which is that more people should get off the phone and get to really living. This is my worldview too. We should turn off things and turn on to God. We need to turn off our worry button and pay attention to God in our lives and our relationships.

If you are watching or listening to anything that is making you more worried and anxious, turn it off. Our media today is worry driven. More of us need to reclaim the children’s story of “Chicken Little.” Even if the sky is falling, there is very little our worrying about it will accomplish and there is so much wonder and beauty our worry will distract us from noticing.

It is easy to say stop worrying but it much harder to do. Like any habitual behavior we usually have to replace it with another better activity.

Christian writer, Mary Fairchild has this simple formula to follow so the energy we spend worrying can be put to a much better use. Worry replaced by Prayer equals Trust.

Replace your worry habit with a prayer habit. Every time you are afraid and begin to worry, just stop and pray. Keep the pray simple and honest. Lord I am afraid/worried about_____. Please help me let go of my fears and worries and trust you to guide my choices and life. Amen.

Kyrie eleison’ is even simpler. This is the Greek refrain often used after confession which means “Lord, have mercy.”

Those of us habituated to food, often find journaling a helpful tool for breaking the hold food has to satisfy our anxiety. So write down what you are worried about. Then at the end write: “Lord free me from these worries to trust you.”

Consider one worry that keeps you from paying attention to God. Every time it comes into mind, say “That one belongs to God!”

Remember the scene from Harry Potter where they are learning to defeat the scary creatures called Boggarts with the "Riddikulus" charm. By using humor the fear mongering spirit is defeated. So use humor to show just how ridiculous your worries are.

I asked Wilber Ellis for help and he said that years ago he had a very demanding job and he was worrying all the time and then one day he drove by a cemetery and realized that all the worries each grave represented could not turn over the first shovel of dirt. So he decided that from then on he didn’t have problems to worry about but situation to face and handle as best he could.

As a church we worry about where the resources will come that we need. Such worry distracts us from God’s direction and purpose for our shared ministry. This past year I have been president of United Campus Ministries. We took a terrible financial hit when over a third of our budget was cut. We have fretted and worried and now just recently we have faced our situation and laid claim that this mission is too important to our campuses and communities that we serve, so we have dusted our self off and begun to face the problem with trust that God will provide and guide our living. You see our job is to proclaim the kingdom of God. Worrying about how that will come about is not in our job description. We can plan for the future, we can work to accomplish our goals, but worry just distracts us from what God has called us to do and be. We represent the kingdom of heaven here on earth. What a terrible representation we would be of God’s reign, if all people saw us do is spin our wheels and fret and worry. People need to see a community of people who are unafraid to take risks because they trust wholly is God’s redeeming grace.

Paul wrote to the church in Philippi: Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.(NLT -Philippians 4:6-7)  Amen.

RESOURCES:
 http://wwwstaff.murdoch.edu.au/~loader/MtEpiphany8.htm  Emeritus Professor at Murdoch University, Perth, Australia.
http://christianity.about.com/od/whatdoesthebiblesay/qt/reasonnot2worry.htm

“Really? New Windows Phone 7 commercials rock” by Joe Wilcox Published October 11, 2010, 6:14 PM
4 Reasons Not to Worry: What Does the Bible Say About Worry? By Mary Fairchild, About.com Guide
See Presbyterian Book of Order #G-1.200

Great News

Camp PYOCA

receives the Green Leaf Seal!

Pyoca Camp, Conference and Retreat Center has received the 2011 Green Leaf Seal from the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s Environmental Ministries and the Presbyterian Church Camp and Conference Association. This honor speaks to the great commitment that Pyoca Camp, Conference and Retreat Center has to environmental stewardship.

To receive the 2011 Green Leaf Seal, camp and conference centers must have completed a total of five projects or activities related to environmental stewardship in the areas of facilities, education/program, operations, and outreach.


The Green Leaf Seal is designed to recognize camp and conference centers that care for God’s earth by practicing sustainability and educating guests about environmental stewardship

checkout their news link:
http://www.povpc.org/news/?p=905

Reflection

Though Unity will be closed this Sunday,
February 6, 2011
Here is a reflection on Matthew 5:13-16

 by Linda Jo Peters

INTRODUCTION TO SCRIPTURE
Many of you have been without power this last week. Sitting in darkness and cold wondering when and if the lights will come on. Jesus challenges his followers to be the light in the darkness. To give flavor to life itself. Here in this very familiar passage we hear the call of Jesus to be the best we can be.

Matthew 5:13-16“You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot. “You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.

REFLECTION
In spite of terrible, even life threatening weather and news of justifiable unrest in Eygpt, eartquake in Japan, we still claim Chirst is the giver of life and the light in our darkness.  In John’s gospel we read:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was in the beginning with God. 3All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being 4in him was life, and the life was the light of all people.
5The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.


This is one reason we call Christ the Author of Life. We remember the giver of life, the light of the world, gave up everything to reshape our relationship with the Eternal One and with one another. In a world where what you sow you reap, where for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction, Christ’s death gives us the ability to be reconciled to life and become the light of the world; to love enemies into friends; heal the wounded and be a blessing beyond measure.

All through this terrible weather, I have heard stories of neighbors, friends and total stranger helping one another.  It seems the worst of times gives us an opportunity to live up to our very best. 

If we are called to be the salt of the earth, what does that mean for our life? What kind of flavoring do you bring?  Think about how salt permeates the whole of any dish.  Have you ever had a salt free diet?  Things just do not taste the same without salt, although this could be a worthy fast for Lent: a salt free fast.  But I digress, the point is your faith and the way you live your life permeates all those around you.  So flavor your life with goodness.  Be the salt of the eath and the light in the darkness.  You are precious to God and God's son, Jesus the Christ who gave you life, a purpose and eternal oneness with God.  Amen.

resources:
John 1:1-5

"For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction," is a common reference to the third of Newton's laws of motion that form the basis for classical mechanics. They describe the relationship between the forces acting on a body and its motion due to those forces. They have been expressed in several different ways over nearly three centuries,[2] and can be summarized as follows:
1.First law: Every body remains in a state of rest or uniform motion (constant velocity) unless it is acted upon by an external unbalanced force. [3][4][5] This means that in the absence of a non-zero net force, the center of mass of a body either remains at rest, or moves at a constant speed in a straight line.
2.Second law: A body of mass m subject to a net force F undergoes an acceleration a that has the same direction as the force and a magnitude that is directly proportional to the force and inversely proportional to the mass, i.e., F = ma. Alternatively, the total force applied on a body is equal to the time derivative of linear momentum of the body.
3.Third law: The mutual forces of action and reaction between two bodies are equal, opposite and collinear. This means that whenever a first body exerts a force F on a second body, the second body exerts a force −F on the first body. F and −F are equal in magnitude and opposite in direction. This law is sometimes referred to as the action-reaction law, with F called the "action" and −F the "reaction". The action and the reaction are simultaneous.
See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newton's_laws_of_motion or Sir Isaac Newton Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica, first published on July 5, 1687