Pentecost 11.htm

Genesis 15:1-6

Psalm 33:12-22

Hebrews 11:1-3,8-16

Luke 12:32-40

I really don’t want to preach on these lessons today. Because I just don’t want to hear it! All of the reassuring calm, don’t worry stuff. Have no Fear Little Flock. Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Do not be afraid, I am your shield…

Yah, yah, yah. Easier said than believed. Cause here I am, caught up in my own little whirlpool of worry. My own little shell of stress. My own little life of loose ends.

Don’t worry! Yeah, right. I have to, I have financial stress, single parent stress, school starting stress. And then we have that church needs to pay the bills stress. Am I doing enough stress, will my kids be okay stress….what will happen in December stress…

And there you sit, all calm and cool and collected. But I know you too are paddling like heck under the surface.

And now I stand up here and I’m supposed to tell you “Don’t worry, be happy?”

God will provide? Do not be afraid? Have no fear, little flock?

Once again, God uses the Scripture of the week to get to the pastor. Right when she needs to hear it most. And once again I’m standing up here talking to myself and you are listening in….

Now, first off, God doesn’t say don’t worry, stop everything. God doesn’t say stay home from work, quit helping your neighbors, stop disciplining your kids and all will be well.

Abram still had to leave town and take his old self to a new land and set up shop in a new place. He still had to raise a child and support his family.

The Gospel tells us to not be afraid, and then in the next breath we are to be dressed for action and have our lamps lit.

I can do action, keep busy. Keep the candle burning at both ends. “My candle burns at both ends, it shall not last the night. But oh my friends and oh my foes, it makes a lovely light.” If we just keep busy, maybe we can set aside the worry.

But really, come on, busy just makes more worry. And makes more afraid. What would happen if we stopped? More worry?

That’s not what God is getting at either. Somewhere between getting overwhelmed and depressed and paralyzed with worry….and the other side of being so busy you won’t have to think about anything…

Somewhere in the center is peace. Somewhere between worry and frantic action lays God’s desire for us.

I admire those folks who have found it. Who radiate calm even when the world around them is chaotic. People who have learned that even in the hardest times God is holding them and guiding them. People who have learned that being ready for action is a spiritual act.

Living in the already not yet of God’s kingdom, when the master is coming yet is already here, when we are learning Christ’s will yet already doing it gives us solid ground.

I really like the notion that God doesn’t just lay out one path for our lives and our job is to find that path. If all we do is look for the right path for our lives, we miss looking up and around at the rest of the world.

Instead, what if God uses whatever path we are on. So maybe whether I chose this job or that one doesn’t matter as much to God as what I do with what I have been given. Either choice could be right, either choice will be useful. Even the decisions we live to regret have signs of God all over them.

Abraham sets out into the great unknown, doesn’t even get to see his descendants number like the stars. Yet forward he went, trusting that God would use even his mistakes, even his failings for good.

And God does. And still God does.

How then, do we ditch the fear, ditch the frantic, yet keep moving forward in faith?

“Have no fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possession and give alms (charity). Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Maybe if I say it enough, I will grow into believing it. C.S.Lewis of the Chronicles of Narnia writes: “If you want to be generous, but you’re not, pretend!”

So if you want to be calm, but you’re not pretend. Not a bad first step. And then remember that Jesus words today are not just about you.

They are about us. Jesus isn’t telling each sheep individually to have no fear. He is telling the whole flock. We’re in this together. And we are a group are to have no fear. And to help each other when fear and frantic arise.

We are called to calm each other down, remind one another of God’s love for us, work together diligently for the good of the Kingdom.

Trusting that sometimes, most times, God uses the people around us to calm our fears. To quiet our anxieties, to help us settle down and refocus on the things that matter most.

God puts people in our midst, in our way sometimes…in order to bring us back to center. In order to reminds us that our treasure in not found in our datebooks or our to-do-lists or even in those things we worry most about.

Our treasure is found in God and in God’s love for us. In relationships, in worship, in service to others.

Sometimes, oftentimes, we don’t see the fruit of our labor. But we trust that God will use our lives and our congregation.

So when I am fraught with worry, remind me that we are in this world together. And will hold each other up. And when you are frustrated that your plans aren’t paying off today, I’ll remind you that “faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”

And then together we will chill for a while, worship for a while, and then return to the world refreshed and renewed by the Spirit of God.

Ready for actions, with our lamps lit.

Don’t worry. Don’t worry.

Amen.