Don’t Worry, Be Happy!

Epiphany 8, Year C, 2011

Text: Isaiah 49: 8-1a; Psalm 131; 1 Corinthians 4: 1-5; Matthew 6: 24-34.

Let us bow our heads in prayer –
Loving God, sometimes life makes us feel powerless. Speak softly your words of grace to us until we believe that we are beloved and do not worry. Amen.
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I wonder what I would think about this gospel reading, telling us not to worry about what you will eat or drink or wear, if I was a person sitting in a congregation in Christchurch this morning. And I wonder what I would make of it if I was one of the 800,000 refugees in one of the many refugee camps that were set up in Haiti after the earthquake that struck there a year or so ago.

It is one thing to read this gospel to a group of people who have jobs, places to live, and cars and completely another to read it to people who are caught up in a devastating event. What does it mean ‘don’t worry’ if you facing the loss of a loved one, your home or don’t have the necessities of life?

I don’t think Jesus here is saying that the basic necessities of human life don’t matter, and nor is he saying that these necessities will magically appear if we believe in God correctly, otherwise his encouragement not to worry would simply be cruel, and this is not the compassionate Jesus we meet elsewhere in the Gospels or know of in our hearts.

This passage is part of Jesus’ teachings in his Sermon on the Mount. His audience were ordinary people who had been crushed by their oppressive Roman conquerors. They had much to be worried about, just like the people in Christchurch or Haiti or the millions of people across the Middle East and Africa who have been uprising against oppressive regimes in recent months. So on one level Jesus’ hearers no doubt would have heard him say ‘Don’t worry, trust, God has things in control.’ But as in his other teaching as part of the Sermon on the Mount Jesus is also calling his hearers to deeper spiritual truths, even within their hardship. He’s calling them to look at the bigger picture for their lives, and is challenging them to look at what is real and to seek after truth.

The universal truth is that ‘Truth is Truth’. There can be, and is, only one truth. People can have different perceptions to each other and some of these perceptions may point towards the truth, but perceptions can be wrong, and they are not ultimately the truth because a perception comes with a level of doubt. “No one can serve two masters,” Jesus says. In other words, truth doesn’t come with a choice, truth is truth. You can not seek after what is real within illusions or perceptions about life that are false.

So, is what you are seeking in life real and is it the truth? Or are you covering up your own fears about who you are and where you are going in life with illusions you make up about yourself and your life situation?

Are you worried about tomorrow? Whether your hair is going grey or if you’re grey already if it’s thinning a bit on top? Are you worried about what you wear, or whether you have Weetbix or Cocopops for breakfast, or if you’re the wrong shape, or about your job or your home or your future?

Jesus says not to worry about tomorrow, “… for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.” That doesn’t sound particularly encouraging when you first hear it !) but …..

The truth is, there is only the ‘now’. The past has gone and the future actually hasn’t happened yet, and yet we all lament the past or worry about the future to some extent. Some people even take this to the degree that they see themselves as victims of life.

Jesus says however that if we “… strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, all these things will be given to you as well.” In other words if we seek after and are truly present to God, if we choose truth in our lives, we will find meaning and peace. We won’t be worried about the past or the future; we will be at peace with God and life right now, in the ‘now’.

A lot of people say to me how busy they are and how they don’t have any time even to reflect spiritually in their lives. One of the consequences of our modern life is busyness. However, we are all busy, and being present to God, or spirituality in our lives, is not a part time job! It isn’t part of what we do but should be part of everything we do.

Being present to God involves letting go of our constant preoccupations, immersing ourselves in the here and now, and giving ourselves wholeheartedly to whatever is at hand. It’s about becoming more aware, alert, awake to the fullness of the immediate moment, engaging with God with all our heart and mind and soul and strength.

As I said last week, God isn’t interested in what we do, but we can find God and ourselves spiritually in the relationships we encounter in our daily lives, moment by moment. And it is through these relationships that God has places all around us that we are healed and in turn move into a deeper relationship with God.

Of course such wholeheartedness requires patience, time and discipline, a word that doesn’t sit comfortably with many of us.

If you’re finding it hard to be present to God in your life at the moment can I suggest the following exercise, and I challenge you to do it over the next week. Simply set some time aside, perhaps five minutes, to do nothing. Just sit down somewhere and say “I’m seated; I’m doing nothing and I’m not going to do anything for the next five minutes.” Having declared your intention for this little space of time, decide firmly that nothing will distract you during these five minutes. If you find your mind wandering into the past or future, bring yourself back to the here and how with the thought, ‘I’m here in the presence of God, in my own presence and in the presence of all that is around me, just still and moving nowhere. God help me surrender, show me the truth’. Doing a simple meditation like this regularly builds up the capacity to live more deeply in the present within our daily lives.

To end my sermon today I thought we might actually try this exercise out simply for one minute. You don’t have to if you don’t want to, but if you could just be patient with those of us who are. So let’s declare together that we are not going to do anything for the next minute, and if you find your mind wandering remember to say ‘I’m here in the presence of God, in my own presence and in the presence of all that is around me, just still and moving nowhere. God help me surrender, show me the truth.’ ………….. Amen.

Be Perfect

Epiphany 7, Year A, 2011

Text: Leviticus 19: 1-2, 9-18; 1 Corinthians 3: 10-11, 16-23; Matthew 5: 38-48.

Let us bow our heads in prayer -
Loving God, you have taught us that without love whatever we do is worth nothing. Pour into our hearts your greatest gift, which is love. Amen.
__________________________
For me the key to this passage is really right at the very end where Jesus says ‘Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.’ Here Jesus is really calling us into right relationship with God, with others around us and with ourselves, and he’s summing up what he means in the rest of the passage and the proceeding passages that we have been hearing over the past few weeks in chapter five - as part of his Sermon on the Mount.

The purpose of our whole existence here as human beings is to be in relationship with God. That’s why we were created. Ultimately there can be no other purpose to our lives. When everything from this world has passed away only our relationship with God will remain.

Many of us who are open to this truth recognize this deep down within us and we too want a relationship with God. That’s why we are here today. We hear God’s call and feel God’s love for us, surrounding us.

Whilst we want this relationship often we can only see ourselves as islands, isolated by our egos and our own sense of specialness. We see ourselves as separate to God and to those around us, and because of that we fear God, we fear life, we fear those around us and we fear even ourselves. And the scary thing is that we fear so deeply we may not even recognize this within ourselves.

And it’s this fear that blocks us from understanding what life is really about. We trick ourselves into believing that the purpose of life is to gain for ‘me’. To gain that big house, that nice car, that world trip, that promotion.

It actually really doesn’t matter what we do in life. What is important is how we respond to the relationships we encounter in our daily lives, moment by moment. And it’s through these relationships that God has placed all around us that we are healed and in turn move into a deeper relationship with God.

A lot of people have talked to me recently about the lack of meaning in their jobs, maybe this has in part has be brought on by the stresses of the recent economic downturn. They say to me that I’m lucky as a Priest because of what I do. It’s true, I am lucky, and I do find a lot of meaning in what I do. But that meaning is found not in what I do but in the relationships within it.

Many people judge others by what they do for a job, and a lot of people define themselves by what they do for a job. But in the purpose of God and in the big picture of life, death and the universe there is no difference between the Prime Minister and a Rubbish Man. God sees no difference what so ever between them. It is not what we each do in life that is important but how we respond to the relationships we encounter in our daily lives. It’s only here that we will each fulfill God’s purpose for themselves and find true meaning in our lives.

Over the years I’ve taken a lot of funerals and found that the ones that have left a lasting impression on me have not been the ones that have focused on what the person did, but rather emphasized what the person was like. Where the children stand up and say what a great Dad or Mum they had. Funerals that emphasise only what a person did can be very sad as they often show that the person never truly lived.

Ultimately of course the issues and problems we face in our relationships are not so much about other people but about us. (I can feel some of you squirm as I say that).

This was brought home to me during the week, you might be surprised to learn, when I was sitting at the traffic lights. Lately I’ve been using my driving experiences as a form of meditation. I can thoroughly recommend it as it totally changes the way you drive.

Anyway, as part of my meditation I was reflecting that being in your car is a bit like being in your own little bubble in life. You’re travelling with others around you in the same direction. But then someone suddenly cuts in front of you, or speeds up on the inside lane at the light to get in front of you (which is one of my own personal pet hates), or smokes you out with their exhaust fumes, or speeds up in the passing lane when your wanting to pass. How do you feel? Do you suddenly think that the person is personally doing this to annoy you? Maybe they are, maybe they aren’t. Most of the time of course you have no idea. But mostly I think not. We can feel enraged by other peoples driving and in some situations we can even let our egos get the better of us. But when you are confronted by such a situation on the road is what you’re feeling about the other driver or about you?

In our Gospel Jesus tells us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. He also tells us not to resist an evildoer giving a number of examples ‘…if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also; and if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well; and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile. Give to everyone who begs from you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you.’

So how do we overcome these situations? We surrender. This does not mean that we are supposed to be doormats for the sake of our faith. Jesus is not recommending that our calling card be ‘mistreat me’. This would be contrary to what Jesus says elsewhere in the Gospels where he calls us to love ourselves. If we can not love ourselves how can we love another person? Jesus calls us to see the truth about our relationships with others, God and ultimately ourselves. He’s calling us to look at the bigger picture for the purpose of our lives. Amen.