2 PENTECOST, YEAR A

SERMON PREACHED AT CHRIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, NORWAY, MAINE

THE REV. ANNE G. STANLEY

25 MAY 2008

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Isaiah 49:8-16a; Psalm 131; 1 Corinthians 4:1-5; Matthew 7:21-29

Maybe this will sound strange, but for me, this is one of the hardest gospel texts to preach on. Of all Jesus’ tough messages, this one is among the toughest. On the surface, it’s pleasant enough; we often hear it read on Thanksgiving, while our turkeys are cooking back home. Lilies, birds.  Don’t worry, God will provide. But when I really listen to what Jesus is saying, I find his words not only challenging, but annoying. Downright irritating.

“Do not worry about your life,” says Jesus. “Strive for the kingdom of God, and all the things you need will be given to you.”

Some practical advice from Jesus, coming in a long string of teachings in Matthew’s gospel.

“Do not worry.” That’s easy for him to say! Can any of you show me someone who doesn’t have something to worry about? Most of us have more than enough. And not only worries for ourselves and our own families and our own neighborhoods and our country, but now huge, global worries. We’ve got our own illnesses, gas and oil prices skyrocketing, our kids, our parents, our jobs, or no jobs.  But on top of that we’ve got two wars to fight, to say nothing of the other wars scattered about the world.  There’s climate change. There’s hunger—did you know that food costs in the poorest countries will be 40 % higher next year than they already are? And we produce corn to run our cars?!? Then there’s terrorism.  And threats to our highly-integrated ecosystems, which is losing species at an alarming annual rate—How can we let Jesus get away with saying we humans are of more value in God’s eye than the birds of the air?  Jesus had no clue, it seems, about the importance of every one of God’s creatures to the whole of the created order, the integrity of all creation.

Jesus didn’t have any of those things to think about back then. How dare we look a suffering soul in Ethiopia or Haiti or Sichuan or Burma in the eye and preach Jesus to them: “Do not worry. Don’t say, ‘What will we eat?’ or “what will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’…Just strive for the kingdom of God and all these things will be given to you….” ………They WILL?

The word “gospel” means “good news.” How is this news in Matthew’s gospel “good?” Keep digging to find out, is our job. Keep prodding and uncovering. What is Jesus up to here?

Here are some results of my own digging. I am finally convinced that Jesus is reassuring us here of God’s desire for every last one of us all. Jesus is pointing out the discrepancy between God’s desire and our desire. There’s a disconnect, he seems to be saying, between what God wants for us and what we want for ourselves. 

And how much. Notice our own busy-ness in worrying so much about what we have and with our security that we become obsessed with our acquisitions and “more” rather than “enough” becomes our goal. How much is “enough?”  We are so focused on what we have as signs of our own power and security that we forget that God is our security.

Notice also God’s activity in this story. There’s God over there, feeding the birds, here’s God clothing the lilies. God is busy, God is active, God’s desire is at work. God’s passion is on display, passion for the community, passion for the common good. God’s busy-ness is different from our busy-ness.

On Friday afternoon I heard former Governor Angus King in a speech entitled “The Saudi Arabia of Wind: Confronting Maine’s Energy Catastrophe.”

Gov. King, a good Episcopalian, by the way, had some downright frightening information, plenty for us to worry about, concerning, not in this speech, the availability of food or clothing, but the demand and supply of global energy, about the future for the world, for Maine. And how we all can begin to make a difference, if we are committed, he said, as a community of souls.

Angus King talked about our country’s insatiable demand for energy. He talked about household budgets in Maine. And he went on to describe the energy demands of Asia, especially China and India, demands which are increasing so rapidly that the world’s finite supply of fuel resources (mostly oil) will be nowhere nearly enough in the near future. And Africa is not far behind. Access to resources has been a source of conflict and war for ages, still is. What is down the road for us if we continue living the way we are used to living? The Chinese are buying cars at a great rate. When I was there in 1987 to visit our son, there were few automobiles and most of them were pale blue. A few years ago, on another visit, David and I were shocked to find the roads clogged with cars of all colors; superhighways are popping up throughout the country. It ought to terrify us, said Angus King, that India has just unveiled a new little car, the Tata Nano, which sells for a mere $2500. Sales in India will boom, with cars now available to ordinary people, and there are plenty of people in India! And in spite of the good mileage of these cars, demand for fuel to power them will skyrocket.

We’ve got more than enough to worry about.

But eventually in his speech our former governor described his own dream of developing of a 5000 megawatt wind turbine platform in the Gulf of Maine, where wind power is abundantly available, especially in winter. Harnessing this free, renewable, steady source of energy, as they’re already doing in Europe, will provide enough electricity for Maine’s cars and home heating, enough for everyone. 

Although he didn’t use these words, Angus King was absolutely talking about bringing our desire into line with God’s desire to provide enough for everyone, so that our efforts and God’s are in sync.

In this gospel story today, Jesus is talking to many people. He isn’t speaking to an individual. “You” is plural throughout this teaching. Jesus isn’t talking about personal piety here but the behavior and attitude and faith practice of an entire group. Jesus is talking to all of us. All of us together. The community.

If we all begin to think differently, if we all begin to support the dream of God, that there be enough for everyone, then the poor will have reason to hope, because they’ll know that they will have our help! That’s good news! For those of us who have enough right now, today’s gospel may be more of a challenge.

But Jesus never promised that the journey would be easy for any of us. Just that he will be with us always, as we make the journey.