“Don’t Worry” (Matthew 6:25-34)

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, “Anxiety has become the number one mental health issue in North America.  Approximately 18.1 percent or 40 million adults between 18 and 54 are affected by anxiety disorders.”  That is a staggering fact.  So staggering that one individual stated that “anxiety is the new base line in the symphony of life.”

Years ago, concerned with all the people in his life who seemed to be anxious, singer/songwriter Bobby McFerrin wrote a song you probably remember . . . what they call an earworm:

Here's a little song I wrote

You might want to sing it note for note

Don't worry, be happy

In every life we have some trouble

When you worry you make it double

Don't worry, be happy

Worry . . . anxiety . . . is a major problem.  As I stated at the start, it effects nearly one in five Americans.  It is reported by the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry that anxiety disorders cost the United States more than $42 billion a year, almost one third of the $148 billion total mental health bill for the United States.  Worry and anxiety is a problem that hurts people physically, mentally, spiritually, and financially.  It cripples people from achieving their hopes and dreams . . . of becoming who God created them to be.

It is no wonder then that even in Jesus’ time, he recognized the problem of worry and anxiety.  He recognized its debilitating effect upon the lives of people to keep them from fully living life as God intended them to live it.  Recognized that when people are focused on their worries and anxiety they are not free to give the time or energy to that which was important—relationships.  Relationships with God and others.

That is what we are hearing in our scripture reading this morning.  Jesus is addressing the worry and anxiety he senses in the great crowd that is before him.  And, what does he tell them?  He tells them, “Don’t worry!”  Don’t worry because God will take care of them . . . that God has their backs . . . that God will provide.  That God will do all of this because they are the beloved children of God.  Jesus tells them: “Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in 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 his life?”

Jesus recognizes what a drain worry, and anxiety are on people.  He sees how it takes them away from what is important.  So, he tells them, “Don’t worry.”  Instead he tells them to focus on what is important.  What is important is for people to “. . . 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.”

To seek and find God’s kingdom, one must focus on relationships.  Relationships are the key to unlock the kingdom . . . to doing God’s will.  Relationships between God and individuals . . . relationships between individuals.  As Jesus said, do this and all the laws and teachings of the prophets will take care of themselves.  Relationships are the key to fulfilling God’s kingdom.  It all comes down to how we relate to God and to one another.  Something that cannot be accomplished if our lives are focused on our worries and anxiety.

That is what is important.

We have entered into the holiday season.  From Thanksgiving Day to Christmas, we stroll into the frenzied gauntlet of the holiday season that bombards us relentlessly with expectations.  Ask yourselves, do you not enter the next couple of weeks with a little trepidation . . . a smidgeon of concern, worry . . . with anxiety?  A little stress?  Sure we do.  Everyone knows that this is the most stressful time of the year.  And, we also know that if we allow that stress, worry, and anxiety to take over we miss the whole lesson and point of season.

It is ironic that we enter this season in such a state.  Ironic because we kick this season off the way we should . . . with a day of giving thanks.  As good as the feast might be on Thanksgiving Day, we know what is really important.  What is really important is not the food, but the people who are gathered with us to break the bread, to lift the cup, to talk and laugh.  Rarely is it the food that is remembered, it is the fellowship . . . the relationships . . . that is remembered.  And, when we pause to give thanks, it is the relationships with people and God that we give thanks for.

And then, BOOM! We sprint right into the holiday mood of stress, worry, and anxiety.  We lose sight of what is important.

Now I don’t know if is because my kids have gotten older and wiser, or if it is because they have gotten cheap.  What I have noticed is that they have taken a different attitude and approach to the holidays . . . in particular, Christmas.  I have been hearing them say that what is important to them is not so much the gifts that surround the tree, but the people who are gathered.  They want to focus on the people in the room and not all the pretty packages.  They want to partake of the gift of presence . . . the presence of those they love . . . the presence of relationship . . . the presence of one another.  Because of this they have declared a moratorium on gift giving . . . gifts only for the kids—our grandchildren.  For everyone else, the gift of being present is enough.

At least that is what they decided among themselves.  They assured Dana and I that the moratorium wasn’t for us . . . we could still give them gifts; but, if we didn’t want to, we didn’t have to.  Wink!  Wink!

As I said, I’m not sure if they have gotten wiser or cheap.  Yet, I applaud them on their intentions.  They are beginning to get it.  They are beginning to understand what is important.  What is important are the people in their lives . . . having their brother, Eli, come in from Maryland . . . having their brother, Joshua, and his wife and son come from Salt Lake City . . . having their brother, John Andrew come in from Billings . . . having their mother and father there . . . and, having Candace, Jason, and the girls open their home to everyone.  That is the gift they desire, and that is the gift they will always have.  It is about relationships.

 

Isn’t that what the holiday season is all about?  Isn’t that what life is about?  Relationships . . . to be in relationship with God . . . to be in relationship with others . . . to realize the Kingdom of God?

That is what Jesus said.  Jesus said to focus on that and God will take care of the rest.  Jesus said, “. . . 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.”

During this holiday season . . . and, all the days of our lives . . . if we are going to be followers of Jesus, we must take stock in his words.  We are not to allow stress, worry, and anxiety to keep us away from that which is most important—relationships.  After all, in the end that is all that really matters.  Think about it . . . when we gather for a funeral we do not hear a list of the departed’s possessions in life.  No, we hear about how that person related to others . . . those who are gathered.  It makes us sigh, laugh, and cry because we remember . . . we remember the relationship . . . because that is what really matters.

As Bobby McFerrin echoed the words of Jesus in his song, “Don’t worry, be happy!”  God will take care of the rest.  Amen.

“Love, Not Fear” (Mark 13:1-8)

Most people believe that President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s quote about fear, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself”, came after the bombing of Pearl Harbor drawing the United States into the Second World War . . . but, that is wrong.  President Roosevelt spoke that famous quote during his first inauguration speech in 1933 when he was addressing the nation in the depth of the Great Depression.  In his first speech as the president, he wanted to bring hope to the American people in a time of panic and hopelessness due to the Great Depression’s economic woes.  Here is the quote in its entirety: “So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.”  

President Roosevelt recognized the power of fear.  Recognized its power to be a deterrent that keeps progress and growth from taking place . . . that keeps people from grasping opportunities to make changes and differences . . . that keep people from fulfilling their hopes, dreams, and becoming who they were created to be . . . of helping those in need.  Roosevelt understood the power of fear and how it was sweeping the nation, dragging it to the bottom of the pit.  The pit of ineffectiveness.  Thus, his goal was to alleviate that fear and call the people into action.

Historians have stated that Roosevelt’s 1933 inaugural speech took on a solemn, religious quality in its message.  He mentions materialism—the love of material—as the greatest factor in the nation’s current state of depression.  He mentions how this has destroyed the ethics and morals of the nation and its people focus more and more on material possessions.  And, in his call to restore the nation back to its greatness and to pull it out of economic depression, he focuses on the idea of neighborliness . . . the act of being a good neighbor.

In his speech he states: “In the field of world policy I would dedicate this Nation to the policy of the good neighbor—the neighbor who resolutely respects himself and, because he does so, respects the rights of others—the neighbor who respects his obligations and respects the sanctity of his agreements in and with a world of neighbors . . . If I read the temper of our people correctly, we now realize as we have never realized before our interdependence on each other; that we cannot merely take but we must give as well; that if we are to go forward, we must move as a trained and loyal army willing to sacrifice for the good of a common discipline, because without such discipline no progress is made, no leadership becomes effective. We are, I know, ready and willing to submit our lives and property to such discipline, because it makes possible a leadership which aims at a larger good.”

Imagine that . . . in a speech that is nearly 86 years old . . . the diagnosis to the problem is fear, and the remedy is love. 

It is always love, not fear.

This is the message of Jesus . . . love, not fear.  This is the gospel, the good news, that Jesus shares.  Love conquers all.  Jesus focused on love . . . always love.  We all know that he stated that the two most important things that any person could do came down to love . . . love of God . . . love of neighbor.  Life is meant to be lived in love and nothing else . . . especially not fear. 

In our reading we are near the end of Jesus’ earthly ministry.  He and the disciples are in the city of Jerusalem for the Passover.  In the Gospel of Mark, starting with this chapter, we are entering a series of proclamations that many biblical scholars and historians call Jesus’ mini-apocalypses . . . dealing with the end times.  It begins with his disciples asking him when all these scary doomsday events are going to take place.  Jesus can sense the fear in their questioning . . . he hears it in their voices.  Thus it is that Jesus attempts to quell their fears by telling them not to be worried about such things.  Instead he would rather they focus on him and what he has taught and done . . . focus on his message of living in love.  He tells them that if they do this, they will have nothing to fear.

We know, as the followers of Jesus, that the gospel or good news, is love . . . love to restore the relationship with God . . . love to restore the relationship between individuals . . . and, love to restore the family of God—the Kingdom—as God desires it to be.  Never has the gospel ever been intended to be a message of fear.  The whole thing is based on love . . . loving relationships.  As Jesus stated, it is pretty simple . . . love.

Simple, yes . . . but we live in a time of fear.  We live in a time in which we have allowed fear to guide our lives and our decisions.  We have seen this especially in the recent political elections within our nations.  Politicians everywhere and on all sides used fear to sway voters.  How many times throughout the long, long election cycle did we all proclaim that we were sick and tired of it all?

At the same time, the fear that has engulfed our lives is not only being stoked in the political realm . . . no, it is also found in our daily lives.  I do not know about any of you, but the advertising world sure is putting the scare in me . . . especially as I get older.  Being bombarded repeatedly by advertisements about one’s health, I am beginning to fear that I might not be as healthy as I think I am.  Pharmaceutical companies are working hard in putting the fear of God in all of us with their constant advertising of each and every little ache and pain that could be a symptom of a deadlier illness.  With such inundation of information, I am amazed each morning that I even can make it out of bed.  But fear sells products.

There is also all those advertisements beyond health that focus on what Madison Avenue sees as a “in” person.  By this I mean, the standards of acceptability within our society . . . advertisers dictate that stuff to us.  What is that standard?  Well, I can tell you by my age, by my advanced looks and baldness, by the car that I drive, and clothes that I wear . . . I am nowhere close to being in the “in” crowd . . . nowhere close to being valued within society.

Research shows that what a society values can be determined in what you see advertised on television and print . . . what you see in entertainment.  What do you see? 

This does not do much for our self-esteem . . . pretty much at any age.  We all have a deep desire to be loved and accepted, but when the standards—which are unrealistic—are what we see in advertisement and entertainment, we become fearful that we are not desired or loved.  Thus, we allow fear to dictate our lives in the hope that if we can even come close to what we are seeing, we will be accepted and love.

To live life in fear is no way to live life.  When life is lived in fear there is no growth . . . there is no improvement or betterment . . . no fulfillment . . . no control of one’s life or hopes or dreams.  Only those who breed and spread fear for their own gain get anything out of fear.  Fear immobilizes and keeps people from getting done what really needs to get done.  For the followers of Jesus that is love.  Love dedicated to establishing God’s kingdom . . . re-establishing God’s family.  Love dedicated to being in a relationship with God just as God created us to be.  Love dedicated to living our lives to the best of our abilities as who we are, not who the world tells us to be.  And, love dedicated to loving others . . . those around us, near and far—our neighbors.

This cannot be done if we live our lives in fear . . . fear based on rumors and lies . . . of what is supposedly yet to come.  No, it is based on the here and now, and what can be done in the present moment.  What can be done in love.

It is love, not fear that will sustain us in the journey of faith.  President Franklin D. Roosevelt understood this in a time of crisis in our nation, proclaiming: “. . . the only thing we have to fear is fear itself . . .”   Even more amazing was his solution to the problem . . . neighborliness . . . love of neighbor . . . focusing on relationship . . . plain ol’ love.  Whether Roosevelt even saw a connection between his words and Jesus’ teachings and action, we will never know.  But, we do know, nothing can be accomplished when life is lived in fear.

Jesus calls us to love, not fear.  May we heed his call.  Amen.