University Presbyterian Church - Chapel Hill, NC

“God’s Vision”

A Sermon preached for

University Presbyterian Church

By Anna Pinckney Straight

May 25, 2008

Isaiah 49:8-16a

8 Thus says the LORD: In a time of favor I have answered you, on a day of salvation I have helped you; I have kept you and given you as a covenant to the people, to establish the land, to apportion the desolate heritages; 9 saying to the prisoners, "Come out," to those who are in darkness, "Show yourselves." They shall feed along the ways, on all the bare heights shall be their pasture; 10 they shall not hunger or thirst, neither scorching wind nor sun shall strike them down, for he who has pity on them will lead them, and by springs of water will guide them. 11 And I will turn all my mountains into a road, and my highways shall be raised up. 12 Lo, these shall come from far away, and lo, these from the north and from the west, and these from the land of Syene. 13 Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth; break forth, O mountains, into singing! For the LORD has comforted his people, and will have compassion on his suffering ones. 14 But Zion said, "The LORD has forsaken me, my Lord has forgotten me." 15 Can a woman forget her nursing child, or show no compassion for the child of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. 16 See, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands;

Matthew 6:24-34

24 "No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth. 25 "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? 28 And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you--you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What will we eat?' or 'What will we drink?' or 'What will we wear?' 32 For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 "So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today's trouble is enough for today.

Today’s text from Matthew is not one which is easy for us developed-world-people to hear.  We are, for the most part, professional worriers, planners, and detail noticers.

My friend and colleague Elizabeth Goodrich suggests that if Jesus had to shepherd a young family to church he might not have been so certain in this passage.

She writes[1]:

“I was thinking about this text… the Saturday night before Easter. We had company in town, and after we got everyone fed and the kitchen sort of cleaned up, we still had eggs to hide and baskets to arrange.  I still had a sermon to edit and prayers to write. And I was tired….

And then I remembered that our 3 year old did not have any clean socks to wear to Easter services and to lunch afterwards. I had noted the sock shortage that morning and made a mental note to tend to it, but I had forgotten. So at 11 pm, I did what I felt like I had to do. I started a load of wash…. Don’t think I didn’t know this was ridiculous, really. I mean, who cares about socks? But my son, for one, would care, because it was going to be really cold on Easter. He didn’t have shoes that fit him comfortably without socks, either, and Jesus himself probably could not convince my son to wear something he does not want to wear.  Last, and I admit this was the clincher, all the children at lunch afterwards were going to be nicely dressed.  I don’t mind not having kids on the best dressed list…. But I do mind having kids who look like nobody has time to take care of them….”

Have any of you ever washed socks at midnight?  Run to the grocery store at 9:00 P.M. for the one ingredient you don’t have to make the marinated carrots that have to be ready for the teacher appreciation luncheon the next day?

Have any of you ever tried to cram in that fourth tennis ball?[2]

So.  Jesus says, “don’t worry.”  Sure.  That might work for lilies and grass, but I don’t think that’s going to fly with us.

The things Jesus is saying we shouldn’t worry about

“are the very things I deal with every single day for myself and for the rest of my family. What will we eat? Is there still chicken in the freezer? What will we drink? Should I be buying only organic milk? What will we wear? Is this the day they are supposed to wear the t-shirts for the field trip? Show me a mom or a dad who does not spend a whole lot of time dealing with what everyone is going to eat, drink, and wear….  The fact is, they are the stuff of life. More to the point, dealing with these questions… is a very real way of showing the love and concern.”[3]

Not only that, sometimes it is our worrying that helps us get things done.  Worrying about those who are hungry can lead to the development of a Project 5,000, filling a box with food for a family in need.[4]  Seeing those who are struggling with life’s natural hurdles can lead to a Stephen Ministry referral.[5]

 What I have come to understand about this passage, and what I hope is a faithful reading, is that these things, faith and healthy worry, aren’t mutually exclusive.  It’s easy to hear this passage and think that we’re being told not have an extra jar of peanut butter on the shelf or a casserole in the freezer ready to go, but I don’t think that’s what Jesus is saying.  I think that he is suggesting that it is when the concern for what will happen in our tomorrows becomes central instead of just one facet of our lives, when that happens, and for most of us it does happen at least occasionally, we have lost our way.

In her book, Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert tells of her struggles with prayer and letting go of what is called the

“monkey mind…  the thoughts that swing from limb to limb… From the distant past to the unknowable future, my mind swings wildly through time, touching on dozens of ideas a minute, unharnessed and undisciplined…  The other problem with all of this swinging through the vines of thought is that you are never where you are.  You are always digging in the past or poking at the future, but rarely do you rest in this moment.  It’s something like the habit of my dear friend Susan who­­—whenever she sees a beautiful place—exclaims in near panic, ‘it’s so beautiful here!  I want to come back here someday!’ And it takes all of my persuasive powers to try to convince her that she is already here….  There’s a reason they call God a presence—because God is right here, right now.  In the present is the only place to find Him, and now is the only time.”[6]

How do we do that?  How do we trust God with all that we have and all that we are here and now?

I suspect that as much as we would like the fast lane to that destination, it is through regular and consistent small acts of trust.

Vernon Jordan tells the story of what he experienced when he was the victim of an assassination attempt in Fort Wayne, Indiana while president of the National Urban League.  After he was shot, he said

“He saw himself die out on a dark road in a strange city.  He said that in the 15 minutes he lay there in his own blood, his life passed before him.

One thing kept coming back as he lay there, Mr. Jordan said.  When he was a student living away from home, his mother would write to him every day.  Some letters short; some were long.  Some bore news of home, while others said very little of the family.  But always, at the end of each letter after her signature, his mother wrote: ‘Remember son, if you trust Him, He’ll take care of you.’ When his mother cam e from Atlanta to Fort Wayne and stood at his bedside, he reached for her hand and spoke… ‘Mamma,’ he said, ‘you told me that if I trust Him, He’ll take care of me.  Mamma, thank you.”[7]

Vernon Jordan trusted God with his life.  Not that he would always be happy and safe, body and soul, but that there would be nothing at all in creation that could separate him from God’s love. Not just once, but in thousands of days and in thousands of little ways before he found himself in that hospital bed.

Trust in God, the kind of trust that leads us to make faithful decisions of stewardship of time, talents, and money.  The kind of trust that allows us to fear separation from God even more than a bullet. This kind of trust doesn’t develop overnight, it comes over time.  With practice. Giving.  Worshipping.  Even knowing that sometimes good stewardship is saying no to something that may be wonderful and important.   Learning over time that, as this passage says, God will provide our needs.  Not Madison Avenue needs, but what we truly need to live and walk in the way of God.

We live in a world that seems out of control.  We are inundated, just now, with images and news from Myanmar, China, and in our own Midwest.  Tomorrow is Memorial Day and we will remember the sacrifices that were made by those who were willing to fight and die for a freedom they did not get to enjoy.  A day when we are reminded of the deaths that continue in places like Iraq.   And sometimes, it can be overwhelming.  Sometimes, when faced with overwhelming anxiety and worry, international or personal, we cling to the only control we can find—washing socks or marinating carrots.   Taking care of our families and drawing them close through gathering at the table for a meal, going to church to open our hearts in prayer.

It’s how we care for ourselves and those we love in the short term, but in the long term, we need more.  We need God.

We need to know what we are told in Isaiah, “yet I will not forget you. 16 See, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands;” We are written on the palms of God’s hands.  Not as unknown or unnamed persons or populations, but beloved children, named, redeemed, and claimed. 

God’s vision is one in which we are a people of trust.

In the long term, there is nothing that can help with these real, pervasive worries that more than trusting in God.  Resting in God and tracing the place where are names are inscribed on God’s hand.[8]

And knowing that it isn’t just our names, that are there. Also on God’s hands  are  the names of those we see each day, the names of those sitting next to you in the pew. The names of those we do not know and even the names of those we do not like.  They are there too.   And we are in this together.

My friend Elizabeth finished her Easter sock story with this conclusion,

“I will say instead that it turns out he [Jesus] was right. We got through the day, and we all enjoyed it a lot as well. God did provide. The socks got clean, the eggs got hidden, and the weary parents got to rest fairly well that night. But it all wore me out, and I’d like to get to a place where it doesn’t have to be that way.

All this leads me to the idea that these are not just individual values and anxieties that Jesus is talking about. I know I cannot worry less or live more faithfully on my own. I think the way to get to the place where life doesn’t have to be so frantic, so full of worry, is to find communities where that is so. It’s easier to care less about your kid’s socks when you know the other people you are with don’t care so much, either. It’s easier to worry less about how you look or the car you drive when the people you spend time with don’t prioritize those things either. That speaks to the nature of the church, I believe. Could we be the community that says to come as you are? Could we be the community that says we will abandon worry in favor of trust? Could we be the community that says above all, we believe that God will provide? I hope so.”[9]

I do too.