Do Not Worry

Do Not Worry!!

Gen 1 1-2:3

Rom 8 18 -25

Matthew 6 25 – end

Let me share with you a short story about a mechanic who worked out of his home from a garage at the back. The mechanic had a dog named Mace. The mechanic always wanted to buy the latest gadget or fastest sports car. He worked long hours to fund his obsession and he worried constantly about the debt he was getting into. As his worry increased the more absent minded he became and he was notorious for loosing his tools. Sometimes he would miss deadlines and as a result have to give significant discounts to his customers and loose money which would fund his gadget habit.  The more he seemed to worry, the more he mislaid things.

His, dog Mace had a bad habit of eating all the grass on his lawn, so the mechanic had to keep Mace inside. The grass eventually became overgrown. One day the mechanic was working on a car which had to be ready that day and unfortunately he dropped his wrench, losing it in the tall grass. He couldn't find it for the life of him, he looked everywhere. Instead getting into a flap and worrying he decided, for once, to put it in God’s hands and pray that the wrench would turn up. That night, Mace escaped from the house and ate all the grass in the back garden. The next morning the mechanic went outside and saw his wrench glinting in the sunlight. Realizing what had happened he looked toward the heavens and proclaimed, "A grazing Mace, how sweet the hound, that saved a wrench for me!"

Worry is something that most of us have and do experience. I hear myself saying to my husband “I wish you would stop worrying about things” on a regular basis and he often points out that I am quite annoying because I never really seem to worry about anything. I admit some years ago when I worked for a long time in a very stressful job this wasn’t the case. I was often stressed and preoccupied with all the things that I needed to do and often with not enough hours in the day to do them.

 In the complex society in which we live we see people worrying about being normal, whatever that is. I have an acquaintance who recently decided her figure could be improve and choose to undergo very expensive cosmetic surgery and suffered weeks of pain afterwards. Ironically, once she had recovered, no one noticed she had even had it done. We see people becoming preoccupied with owning the latest flat screen tv, the latest mobile phone, the latest fashion item. Often getting themselves into debt and buying things they cannot necessarily afford. Loosing all perspective and seeing the most unimportant things in life as critical to survival. Jesus reminds in the passage we read, about the futility of worry. It doesn’t add one hour to the span of our life. It achieves nothing. As a famous quotation says “Worry is a futile thing, it's somewhat like a rocking chair, although is keeps you occupied, it doesn't get you anywhere”

However, sometimes there are times in our life when you are pulled up by your boot straps and something happens where you can’t help but worry.

Last Summer I had a slight twinge in my side which I had ignored for about 12 months, foolishly.  On mentioning it to the Dr she suggested I go to the hospital and get checked out, which I did. Convinced it was all in my imagination I got a huge shock when the consultant told me that I had to come into hospital as soon as possible to have a mass removed which was the size of a small melon. The problem was she then said that it was possible that this could be cancer and she would take a test and let me know the result in a week. My immediate response to this was – “ I can’t have cancer, I am going to be a priest!. But you can imagine that the following week felt very long indeed. Waiting to hear whether I had cancer or not.  I confess that at first my immediate response was to worry, but resolved that there was nothing I could do but place the situation in God’s hands. I am pleased to say that the mass proved to be benign. In hindsight, I do believe I was sent this trial to really help me understand what people go through when faced with such things and I am sure I will be a better priest for it.  

Jesus, having shared our humanity, knows our fears and anxieties. In some circumstances it is perfectly natural to worry when we have real concerns for someone’s health or are facing a difficulty.  As we heard in the story of the mechanic and the dog Mace, although amusing, it tells us the importance of handing our worries and concerns over to God through prayer. It is through a relationship with God that God works in and through our lives.  Each day has troubles of its own and worry can be defeated when we live one day at a time and let God hold everything.  This demands trust and trusting can be quite a challenge. It is a bit like the team building game of trust, where someone stands on dry stone wall and then falls backwards expecting a group of colleagues to catch them in their arms. If you have ever had to do this is quite scary.  Our natural instinct is to protect ourselves and look after our own safety. Falling backwards and trusting someone else is difficult. But this is exactly what Jesus is asking us to do. And just as the group ensures that they are there to catch you as you fall off the wall, so Jesus is there with open arms on the cross to save.

It is important however, when reading this gospel passage to recognize that Jesus wasn’t asking us to be nonchalant and expect things to be handed to us on a plate. Nor did he expect us to live a life of austerity. Jesus was instructing us that when we desire more and more and become preoccupied with material things, they lead us away from God. Jesus bids us to strive for the Kingdom of God. If we live a life which is grounded in God, where we are not distracted by the latest “must haves.” If we  rest content in the life God gave us and appreciate and cherish the beauty of creation around us, then it is only then that we experience the freedom in Christ.  A life in Jesus gives us freedom to live for today and inhabit the present. In the gospel passage Jesus communicates to us just how much we are valued and loved by God. Jesus tells us how much God values the birds of the air and the grass in the field yet he values us, his children even more. Today’s Old Testament reading from Genesis illustrates this clearly.  We can be sure in the knowledge that God loves us all with an everlasting love. 

In our reading from St Paul to the Romans, Paul brings us back to the troubled state of this present world. He draws a great picture. He sees all nature and human kind waiting for the glory that shall be.  Paul goes on to think about human longing. In the experience of the holy spirit, men and women had a foretaste of the glory that shall be. We are saved by hope. The hope Christ holds for us. Paul believed that the human situation is not hopeless. Paul saw human sin and the state of the world but he also saw Christ’s redeeming power and the end of it all, for him, was hope. Because of that, Paul’s life was not a state of permanent despair.  Life for Paul was an eager anticipation of liberation, a renewal and a recreation brought about by the glory and the power of God. In verse 19 he uses a wonderful Greek word for eager longing or expectation, it is apokaradokia.  A great word which describes someone who scans the horizon, head thrust forward, eagerly searching for the first signs of the dawn breaking:  the day break of glory. To Paul life was not a weary defeated waiting, it was a vivid expectation.  As Christians, part of our human situation is to battle with our own human nature often finding ourselves in a world which turns its back on God. However, as Christians we do not live only in the world but we also live in Christ. By living in Christ we look beyond the world to God.  And as we look beyond our human weaknesses and sin we see the power of God’s mercy and love. Therefore as God’s people we need never despair or worry. We have a sure and certain hope – life in Christ. 

So as we go about our daily lives, let’s pause when worry begins to creep in and hand our worries and concerns over to God .  Let’s respond to the challenge Jesus gives us  and put God first and he will respond and meet all our needs.

 I would like to end with a wonderful passage which was written by Julian of Norwich, mystic and writer of the 14^th Century. Julian reminds us:

“When the soul is tempest tossed, troubled and cut off by worries, then it is time to pray, so as to make the soul willing and responsive towards God. But there is no kind of prayer that can make God more responsive to the soul, for God is always constant in love. And when, by his special grace, we behold him clearly, knowing no other need, then we follow him and he draws us to himself by love”.