PRAY MORE, WORRY LESS Jeremiah 29:11-13 Philippians 4:4-13 July 26 th, 2015 Let s begin this morning with a little story by Rev. Dr. Karl R Kraft. He writes: After a written exam, a teacher asked his students to sign a form stating that they had not received any outside assistance. One student raised his hand and asked the teacher whether he should put down that he had prayed for assistance of God. The teacher pulled out the student s exam papers, carefully studied his answers, and then said: You can sign the form with a clear conscience. God did not assist you. Well, I m going to share with you a little bit about my journey this spring and summer with my Course of Study classes. And I definitely felt God s presence in my life as I faced these challenges and it was His strength that empowered me to persist and endure. Without his guidance, love, and mercy I could not have survived the stress and demands upon my heart, spirit, and body. In the 2012 Book of Discipline it states Throughout their careers, clergy shall engage in continuing education for ministry, professional development, and spiritual formation and growth in order to lead the church in fulfilling the mission of making disciples for Jesus Christ. (p. 285, par. 351) In my case as a licensed local pastor, I make a commitment to attend Course of Study classes each year at a United Methodist School of Theology. It is technically a five year program but going part-time, it obviously takes longer. I have been attending these sessions the past five years, first at St. Paul s School of Theology in Kansas City and for the last two years at Claremont School of Theology in Claremont, California. 1
Now, some of you have asked me before I leave for California, if I am going to have some beach time. Or you might say, with good intentions, -- Have a good time! Claremont is inland and about 30 miles south of Los Angeles. It is hours away from any beach and besides, I am there to attend classes, take notes, write papers and there is no time for sitting on the beach! It s pretty much a 24/7 commitment for the time I m there and that s why my attendance does not count as vacation but as continuing education. This summer I was looking forward to taking a new class titled Worship and Sacraments and I was also registered to take Polity and Administration. I registered in January, received my textbooks and started working on the pre-class reading and writing assignments. My goal was to have them all done by the end of May because I was going to be out-of-town most of June. My summer session was scheduled for July 9 th -17 th. I was reaching my goal when I received an email from the Dean of the School notifying me there had been some confusion in the changes to curriculum at Claremont and I would not be able to take the Polity and Adminstration class that I was registered to attend & had already completed the pre-class work. That meant I would have two weeks to prepare for the new class and it just was not sufficient time to do the assigned tasks. So I went to California in July totally prepared for one class and totally unprepared for the second one. I had emailed that instructor and he was willing to extend the due dates until after the session. However, when I arrived, I learned the instructor s wife had gotten very ill and there would be a lastminute substitute teacher. To make a long story a little bit shorter, I ended up dropping that class and auditing a Preaching class for the remainder of the time. 2
The bright spot of my summer session this year was my Worship and Sacraments class taught by Faith Conklin. She had served in ministry for forty-four years and she was an excellent instructor!! I took notes as fast as I could and I learned so much from her. Her class was from 8:30am-11:30 am every day. It was followed by a worship service in the chapel, lunch, and our second class in the afternoon from 1:30-4:30 pm. Back to my room at Motel 6 and homework. Dr. Bell did organize a field trip for us on Saturday. We drove into the California Science Center to see their exhibition of the Dead Sea Scrolls. It was very well done and extremely interesting. Also Sunday we took a break and went to church at the Claremont UCC church. I don t think I had ever attended a UCC service and it was a new experience for me. Afterward, we walked around a Farmer s Market there at the Village and had lunch. Then it was back to work!! The scriptures that Dave read this morning are the ones that have been especially helpful to me this year as I fought to cope with the anxiety and stress of being a graduate student at this time of my life. I even had a mug on my desk during this process that said, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. I knew that I could not work through all these things alone and I needed to rely on His strength, not my own. It s natural for us to worry because we all have concerns relating to our families, jobs, school, country and global issues. However, Paul s advice is to turn our worries into prayers. I found his advice to be very relevant to my situation and I tried to follow it. Whenever I would start to worry, I would stop and pray and then I had the strength to move forward. That involved a great deal of prayer over the weeks and months but it gave me peace and the courage to tackle each task, knowing God was with me. 3
Many times as clergy we are asked to respond to the question, What do you believe that God was trying to help you learn through this experience? I know I will be asked that question when I have my annual meeting with the District Committee on Ministry in September. One of my responses will be that I learned more about my basic, essential need to depend more on God s presence in my life and the importance of coming to Him in prayer. I learned again and again that He answers our prayers and I have been blessed with such gratitude for His love, grace and mercy. I also learned that God can take seemingly difficult, bad experiences and help us find some good in them for He is a God of Love who does not desert us when we face hard times. I don t understand all the mysteries of God but I trust His love for me as I try to faithfully follow His Will for my life. Jesus mentioned five areas in which we are not to worry-finance, food, fitness, fashion, and the future. The first is finance. When you worry about your finances, it s a way of making money your god rather than God. The second area is food. What farmer would feed his chickens and starve his own children? The Creator takes care of the fowls of the air and He will take care of us. Matthew 6:27 cautions us about fitness: Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit into his stature? Can we worry ourselves taller? Well, Bible scholars tell us that Jesus wasn t primarily referring to height but rather length of life. Worry will shorten our life span. In verses 28-31, Jesus said not to worry about fashion. If God makes grass for the clothing of the earth and places beautiful robes on the flowers that fade, how much more will He take care of you? God cares about the details in our lives. Finally, Jesus mentioned our future. Look in verse 34: So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today s trouble is enough for today. (NRSV) 4
Worry is absolutely harmful because it can lead to evil (see Psalm 37:7-9). Worry is also harmful because it can lead to physical problems. It will do the same thing to us physiologically that sand will do to machinery. It will wear us down! Not only is worry harmful to you, it s harmful to other people. Do you like to be around people who worry all the time? They brighten up the room when they leave it. People who worry all the time need our love so they can learn to stop. I need to stop. You need to stop. Worry also creates a wound in the heart of God. In Matthew 6:30, there is a small, sobering phrase: ye of little faith. Worry is an insult to God because it says we don t trust him. Matthew 6:32 compares worriers to the pagan Gentiles (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. Jesus is saying that we are acting like pagans when we worry!! So guess that got our attention!! We certainly don t want to be like the pagans who worry! What do we do? In addition to Paul s advice that we have already discussed turning worry into prayers Dr. Adrian Rogers also has some solutions to offer: The first solution to our worries is what I want to call the Father factor. Has it ever dawned upon you that your heavenly Father has a responsibility to care for you? God did not create and redeem you to forsake you (see Romans 8:31-31). Second, is the focus factor. Worry is a sign that we are not focusing on our Father. Matthew 6:33 says, But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. What things? Finances, food, fitness, fashion, and a hope-filled future (see Jeremiah 29:11-13) Third, there is the future factor. God is in control and some days He send 5
sunshine and some days he sends rain. That worst thing that can happen is for sinful people like us to experience no trouble in life. Why? Because we would never seek God. You see, God gives us enough trouble every day to cause us to turn to Him and to get the grace that is sufficient for that day s problems not tomorrow s problems. If you take things that belong to tomorrow and bring them into today, that is called borrowing trouble. What is the high cost of borrowed trouble? First, worry pulls tomorrow s clouds over today s sunshine. Secondly, worry steals our strength. Thirdly, worry can produce the very thing that you re worried about. Tomorrow has two handles- -fear and faith and you can take it by either. Keep saying to yourself, God is my Father. Oh, how I wound His heart when I worry. Next, keep seeking the kingdom of God with all your heart. Trust God to give you what you need. And finally, leave the future in God s hands. In closing let me remind you of the scripture where Jesus spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart. If you ever need an answer for why you ought to pray, that is the best one right there. Beyond the simple blessing of obedience, however, those of us who pray will experience the joy and satisfaction of answered prayers such as the salvation of a loved one, a divine healing, or God s special provision in our lives. Let s turn those worries into prayers and we will feel God s presence in our lives, strengthening and loving us. Amen and amen. 6