1 DATE: FEBRUARY 27, 2011 SERMON TEXT: MATTHEW 6:24-34 SERMON TITLE: What, Me Worry? Worry that is what today s sermon is about. For those of you who have never had a worry, this may be a good time to read the rest of your bulletin. But for the rest of us, we had better pay attention. Erma Bombeck once wrote about the fears of a young fellow on the way to his first day at school: My name is Donald, and I don't know anything! I have new underwear, a new sweater, a loose tooth, and I didn't sleep well last night and I am worried. What if the school bus jerks after I get on and I lose my balance and my pants rip and everyone laughs? What if a bell rings and a man yells, 'Where do you belong?' and I don't know? What if the thermos lid on my soup is on too tight and when I try to open it, it breaks? What if I splash water on my name tag and my name disappears and no one will know who I am? What if they send us out to play and all the swings are taken? " (Emphasis, February 2011)
2 Winston Churchill said this about worry: When I look back on all these worries, I remember the story of an old man who said on his deathbed that he had a lot of trouble in his life, most of which never happened. Alfred E. Newman never worried, but unlike Newman, I do my fair share. I worry about my children. Both of my children are employed by school districts one in Pennsylvania, the other in New Jersey. I worry about how budget cuts may affect their jobs. My son-in-law Mike just had back surgery. I worry that the surgery may not be all that he hoped it would be. I worry about my grandchildren and the world that they will live in. I am not quite sure what that world will look like in the future, but sometimes it looks very scary. I found this rather insightful reflection of a parent lamenting about raising children and worrying: Is there a magic cutoff period when offspring become accountable for their own actions? Is there a wonderful moment when parents can become detached spectators in the lives of their children and shrug, "It's their life," and feel nothing? When I was in my twenties, I stood in a hospital corridor waiting for doctors to put a few stitches in my son's head. I asked, "When do you stop
3 worrying?" The nurse said, "When they get out of the accident stage." My mother just smiled faintly and said nothing. When I was in my thirties, I sat on a little chair in a classroom and heard how one of my children talked incessantly, disrupted the class, and was headed for a career making license plates. As if to read my mind, a teacher said, "Don't worry. They all go through this stage and then you can sit back, relax and enjoy them." My mother listened and said nothing. When I was in my forties, I spent a lifetime waiting for the phone to ring, the cars to come home, the front door to open. A friend said, "They're trying to find themselves. Don't worry. In a few years, you can stop worrying. They'll be adults." By the time I was 50, I was sick & tired of being vulnerable. I was still worrying over my children, but there was a new wrinkle. There was nothing I could do about it. I continued to anguish over their failures, be tormented by their frustrations and absorbed in their disappointments. My friends said that when my kids got married I could stop worrying and lead my own life. I wanted to believe that, but I was haunted by my mother's wan smile and her occasional, "You look pale. Are you all right? Call me the minute you get home. Are you depressed about something?"
4 Can it be that parents are sentenced to a lifetime of worry? Is concern for one another handed down like a torch to blaze the trail of human frailties & the fears of the unknown? Is concern a curse or is it a virtue that elevates us to the highest form of life? One of my children became quite irritable recently, saying to me, "Where were you? I've been calling for 3 days, and no one answered. I was worried." I smiled a wan smile. The torch has been passed (Anonymous. Magic Cutoff, October 1, 2003). Worry is a part of life. Despite Bobby McFerrin melodically encouraging us with Don t worry, be happy, we find ourselves worried nonetheless. But worry is nothing new. Worry was there in the garden waiting for Adam and Eve, and as soon as they rose up out of the ground, worry was ready to become part of their conscious thought right alongside their suspicious curiosity. And after one bite from the apple they realized their mistake and immediately they started to worry: What will God do to us when he sees us naked? Jesus knew something about worry as well. That is why worry was part of his Sermon on the Mount. In our scripture lesson this morning Jesus offers a laundry list of worries:
5 Do not worry about your life what you will eat or what you will drink. Do not worry about your body, what you will wear. Do not worry about your clothes. At first glance this advice of Jesus sounds a bit harsh, if not uncaring. Why on earth would Jesus say do not care about your body? Of course we should care about our bodies. Part of what s wrong with our country is people do not care enough about their bodies. So why shouldn t we be worried about what we eat and what we drink? Jesus is a little more on target when he admonishes us about clothing. I never have been too much into fashion. A white and a blue oxford shirt for work, a black cleric for Sunday, a pair of black pants and a pair of blue pants, and I am good to go. But these words of Jesus were not meant to be a Dr. Oz-commentary on the dietary habits of first century Judea, nor was he trying to be the Joan Rivers-of-fashion as he critiqued what the well-dressed Jew was wearing. The intentions of his words were to remind his listeners of their place in the kingdom of God. The world that we live in was created by God. The birds of the air and the lilies of the field are all precious creations of the hand of God. But
6 you, my beloved, are more precious than any of these things. If God cares for the flowers and the birds, can you even imagine the depth of God s love for you? When you find yourself worrying, what is your very first response? Does your mind begin to race as you play and replay different scenarios of possible outcomes for the source of your worries in your mind? Are you a floor pacer? Does your worry reduce you to being an insomniac? There are a lot of things we can do when we worry, the majority of which will not make one iota of difference. What I encourage you to do this day is to pray. When you are overcome by whatever worries you, take it to the Lord in prayer. It is the most effective reaction that we can have in the midst of our worries. As our text reminds us this morning, worry does not add a single hour to our lives. Worry is a waste of time and energy, time and energy that can be better spent in prayer. Worry comes easy to us. It will take time and practice for all of us to replace worry with prayer. But it can be done. Let us covenant together this day that when worry comes, we come to our friend Jesus, and we take all of our worries to him in prayer.