With thanks to my good friend Claire Maxim, whose own sermon I extensively plundered for this, when the excitement of imminent grandparent-hood became altogether too much for me!
“your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things”...
Over the past few days, as we waited for the
arrival of a 1st grandchild our family has been doing a lot of
hoping for what is not seen , - which Paul assures me is a GOOD thing...and (less
good) a lot more worrying about tomorrow, and what it might bring...especially
as we counted the long hours of a labour that seemed to stretch all the way from
Wednesday night to Saturday morning. Do not worry about your life?
Hmmn….
I might
just manage it for myself, but for my precious daughter in law? NO WAY!!
It’s fair to say that by the time I went to bed
on Friday I had recast the entire family in one of those Victorian tear-jerkers
where a beautiful young mother dies in child-birth, leaving a whole string of
tragic orphans. Since this was Giles and Lizzie’s first baby, even a worst-case
scenario would have been unlikely to lead to such a very bleak familial
landscape...but since when has reality ever impacted on the possibility of a
Really Good Worry.
And of course I WILL worry, even now their
daughter is safely landed on the shores of time,about what sort of a world my
lovely Eleanor Grace has been born into. A world where the extreme right seems
to be enjoying an ascendency in previously liberal countries, where Trump is
behaving like a greedy toddler high on e-numbers, where our own government
seems to find it completely acceptable to leave hundreds of refugee children in
a hostile environment, despite earlier promises of help and sanctuary.
It doesn’t take more than a few seconds of
listening to the news to make you feel that worry is after all the most
reasonable response to the current situation. Unfortunately,Jesus sees things
differently (as he so often does) Our Gospel passage says pretty clearly
Don’t worry: you won’t achieve anything that
way, not a second more of life, not an inch more of height…
If only it were that easy.
Of course, there’s a risk of inhumanity inherent in not
worrying – the same risk that the Romans passage presents:
“I
consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with
the glory about to be revealed” says Paul...and on a bad day, this might
just be interpreted as
“Put up with anything in the here and now
because up ahead it’s all going to be wonderful! In such an interpretation,
this teaching becomes a licence to ignore those who have less than we do, to
ignore people who are hungry, to ignore those who cannot afford to clothe
themselves and their families.
“Do not
worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink...”
A careless reading might encourage you to
decide to simply leave everything up to God...to absolve you from all
responsibility“your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things”...
But the crux of the matter lies in the next sentence:
“But
seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be
given to you as well.”
So yes, God knows we need food and drink and
shelter. God understands that.
And we are told that if we seek God’s kingdom,
and God’s righteousness, we will get the basics as well.
As well,
not instead of.
What does that mean for us, in this time and
this place? What might a world where
everyone is seeking God’s Kingdom look like?
What does God’s righteousness really involve?
The quick answer is that such a world is
obviously not at all like the United Kingdom in February 2017. Yes, there are plenty of good people about
here and now, plenty who seek God’s Kingdom and God’s righteousness, but still
and all, things go wrong for them. “All these things” don’t seem to be given to
them in the way we might hope.
But I wonder why that might be? Could it be something
to do with us?
In the world that Jesus describes, there is
that core assumption that there is enough for everyone, that ample provision is
made for all our basic needs, if only we weren’t seduced by greed, encouraged
to demand more and better with every passing day.
But still and all, there IS enough and to spare...if
we can only let go of our relentless determination to accumulate more…
But we find that so very very hard.
We can’t quite take it on trust that there IS enough for all, that everyone can and will
be provided for.
And so we buy into the anxious spirit of the
age. We are encouraged to worry about tomorrow, and next week, and next year.
Who will look after us in our old age?
Will our pension be sufficient to live on?
Will our health break down, and if it does, do
we have enough money to pay for our care?
Will we have to carry on working until we drop? Can the over-stretched NHS give the care it
should to everyone?
Worry upon worry upon worry….and they all seem
utterly reasaonable to me – particularly at 3.00 am! And I'm one of the fortunate "haves"!
Try preaching “don’t worry about tomorrow” to
someone who can’t cope with today. As
Christians, we claim that through God’s good grace we have the gift of eternal
life, of bright hope for tomorrow. But
how to claim that for a mother whose children are hungry, a father whose son is
disillusioned because he cannot find a job, a teenager trapped in the Jungle
with his hope of a better future just a few miles away?
If we are truly seeking God’s Kingdom, truly
seeking God’s righteousness, we will care about the poor, the vulnerable, the
voiceless. We will care about those for
whom this is an unjust society, we will speak out for those who are at the
margins. We will care that the whole creation groans in labour
pains...and not only the creation but we ourselves.
We know things are broken but we know too that
we have a Saviour who came to heal...who spent his time with those on the edge,
with those who have no hope
And we have a Spirit who is alive in us today,
who calls us to seek God’s Kingdom, to collaborate with God in making it real
here and now.
So don’t worry….but don’t bury your head in the
sand either.
There’s work to be done, for you and for me.
This isn’t some academic call to an unseen
Utopia, though we look for it with hope.
It’s a call to the deepest reality, to change
right here and right now.
There is enough, if we share; there is justice for all, if we care.
And if we act,God’s Kingdom is here. Amen. Let it be so.
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