Brothers and sisters,
In this past Sunday’s sermon, I talked about part of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. In particular, I preached on the part of the passage where he tells those listening to him, “Do not worry,” about their lives, their clothing, their food. I tried to offer a more nuanced take on the passage considering the relative privilege most of us live in—for example, that most of us don’t have to worry about if we’ll eat tonight, just what we’ll eat tonight. I argued that part of the “not worrying” process was recognizing that God is in control, so we don’t need to fret over stuff.
There was another point I left out of the sermon be-cause it would have taken a lot more time to set up, but I was reminded of it earlier today. So often, one of the hardest parts of “not worrying” is the “letting go” that comes with it. What I mean by that is that all of us have different stressors in our lives. For some, it’s the daily grind of working — getting projects done, emails sent, meetings attended, etc. For others it’s the strain of maintaining relationships, particularly those relationships that don’t come as naturally. Think of the coworker you don’t see eye-to-eye with but have to collaborate with, the family member you had harsh words with and don’t know how to reconcile. Of course, there’s also stress that comes with money, health issues, following the news, etc.
One of the lies we tell ourselves is that we have to hold on to all these stressors. We have to keep them close to us and we cannot let a single one of them drop cause if we do, who knows what will happen? And what that means is that we grip them tighter and tighter and tighter, the whole time wondering why we can’t relax, why we feel so off, why it feels like God is so detached. The truth of the matter is, God is not detached, but we’ve filled our hands with so many things and have refused to let go of any of them, we cannot accept the good things God offers us. We’re so convinced that we are the only ones that can hold all these things together, that when we hear Jesus say, “do not worry about your life…do not worry about tomorrow,” we can’t help but think, “That’s nice, Jesus, but if you knew everything I was holding with you’d realize I can’t afford to relax.”
I’ve told this story before, but years ago my Old Testament professor was talking to my class about our impending finals. She said she’d received emails from students talking about all the stress they were under, all the obligations they had committed to, etc. And she said that she’d emailed them back, encouraging them to find time to rest, and been met with more emails explaining that rest was not an option for them. If they did not do these things, everything would fall apart. Inspired by those emails, she took time out of our class to say to us, “I know this is a stressful place. I know a lot of you are here because you are the types who work hard, take on lots of responsibilities, and then sacrifice your health and well-being to get things done. Let me remind you that in the Creation story, God took a day off to rest and, somehow, the world kept spinning. If God can take a day off and nothing falls apart, I think you can give yourselves a break and rest. Do not worry. God is in control.” Sin lies to us and tells us that if we stop worrying, our lives will fall apart. Jesus reminds us that’s not true. So, let go of the stressors that are harming you, open your hands, and receive the blessings God offers.
Grace and peace,
Pastor Ben