This sermon was preached at St. Lydia's on Sunday, January 24. The text is Matthew 6:25-34. Click here to read.
It’s easy to write off tonight’s passage about worry. People tell us not to worry all the
time. Worrying is considered
pretty much a negative thing to do, but something that everyone does. Worrying, stress, anxiety, all part of
life, right?
I actually think that this passage about worrying is integral
to spiritual practice. And giving
up worrying is central to a life of faith. Central to trusting God.
Psychologists identify anxiety as a feeling different from
fear. Fear is caused by some
external reality. Anxiety, worry,
is caused by a lack of control. We
worry about things we can’t control.
We worry about dying, or people we love dying. We worry about loosing our jobs. We worry about money.
We worry about things we can’t change.
The thing about worry, is that it’s generally massively
unproductive. The word worry
actually comes from the old English word “wyrgan,” which means “to strangle.”
And in fact, that’s exactly what worrying does. I find that worry or anxiety in my life
has the ability to smother or cover all of my other emotions. Worry obliterates joy, it wipes out
fear, and it moves me toward this emotional paralysis, that above all, keeps me
from trying new things. From
learning.
Jesus preached to people who had very little control over
their own lives, and a lot to worry about. They were poor.
Their family members were sick.
They worked long days and had little ability to change their lives for
the better. They strived to feed
and dress their children, yet Jesus tells them not to worry about these
things.
It’s one of those moments when Jesus literally makes no
sense. In the first verse, he
says, “Is not life more than food?”
Well…no, actually. You need
food to live, the people were probably thinking. But also…yes…life is more than food.
In fact, what he’s preaching is that all the things we worry
about, even food and clothing, are second to the spiritual life. If we can just lift our heads from the
ground in front of us, focus on God, the rest falls into place.
This is Jesus being a radical again. Because in fact, what he’s offering is
freedom. Freedom from trying to
control what we can’t control.
Freedom to release our anxious minds and set our hearts on the
divine. Whether you’re a slave in
Jerusalem or a fisherman in Galilee, or a trader on Wall Street, control is an
illusion that isn’t hemmed in by class or money. But placing your trust in God, letting go of your need to
control, is freedom.
A story about giving up control:
Last year, when St. Lydia’s had just started meeting at
Trinity Lower East Side, we were small enough that congregants used to sort of
RSVP to me if they were going to come or not. Generally, I had an idea of how many we’d be, and could
prepare food for that number. But
one week, about four weeks into our time together, suddenly everyone just stopped. And I had these visions of showing up
at church and having it be me, the lead cook, and food for 12 people!
In the end, it became this incredible spiritual discipline
simply to trust God. To allow God
to bring whoever needed to be there that night to our doors. I learned to trust that God would give
us what we needed to worship together.
Perhaps you have a story to tell about giving up control?
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