May 25, 2008

The Bible concerns itself with the big events of life: the creation of the world, the establishment of religious community, the life of kings and queens, the rise and fall of civilizations, the reality of good and evil, the death of great leaders, the end of the world. It has great things to say about all of these big, important topics and is a source-book for understanding life's big questions. The Bible also concerns itself with little, seemingly insignificant things: hospitality extended to others as they travel, what garment is to be worn to a dinner, wine to be served at a wedding, a mustard seed. The message, I believe, is that God is concerned with it all - both the rise and fall of kingdoms and the food on your plate. Nothing escapes the care and vision of our God. What the Bible seeks to do, however, is to put things into proper perspective; the Bible invites us to pay more attention to some things than others.

Today the topic is anxiety and worry. The setting is the Sermon on the Mount, a collection of wise sayings and teachings that Jesus offered to his disciples over the course of a few years of public ministry. They are grouped as if he sat down and delivered them all in one big weekend to a great crowd, like a Billy Graham convention. Yet scholars seem to think that instead they were given out in little bits, here and there as he ate and taught his followers about the ways of God. In chapters 5 and 6 of Matthew's Gospel we hear teachings about a variety of topics. In chapter 5 we were introduced to the ushering in of God's new messianic age, whereby things would be delivered to God's faithful - the meek inheriting the earth, those who mourn being comforted. Jesus also takes on big things of his day - his interpretation of Jewish Law, murder, adultery, divorce, retribution and loving one's enemies. So then, when we turn to chapter 6, it's a bit of a letdown. Now we are hearing about less dramatic things such as proper piety: not praying hypocritically, not sounding the trumpet when we are giving, not looking dismal when we fast so as to turn attention to ourselves and our pious lives. Not quite as dicey as murder and divorce! And then finally, towards the end of chapter 6 Jesus leads up to his famous teaching about not worrying. Using poetry he identifies a very common human condition of worry and anxiety and addresses it: "Can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil or spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these?"

Let's be honest. Everyone worries and frets. What we worry and fret about may define us and our social location, but we all worry. Some of us worry about basic housing and shelter. Others worry about the color of the granite that is coming for our kitchen. We worry about our children, about having enough money for retirement, about surgery, about paying our bills. Make a list sometime of your top ten fears. And then ponder how those top ten define and shape your life. Every one of us worries.

Brian Stofregan in his biblical commentary writes that stress management experts say that only 2 percent of our "worrying time" is spent on things we can actually be addressed with our worrying. The other 98 percent is as follows:

40% of our worry is on things that never happen

35% on things that cannot be changed

15% on things that turn out better than we expected

8% on useless, petty things (from Brian Stofregan e-mail commentary for Lectionary 8A)

So, 2% of our worrying is efficient worrying that could actually accomplish something. That's a lot of time wasted. Instead, says Jesus, "Strive first for the kingdom of God and God's righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well."

So, let's see, 98% of worrying and anxiety doesn't accomplish anything and we are to strive for the things of God and all will be resolved anyway. Sounds like a plan. Yet, how do we do that? How does one just stop doing something that isn't constructive?

Now that's the million dollar question. Just because we know that something isn't good for us doesn't mean that we can stop doing it. We must find a way to replace the bad behavior with an equivalent good behavior. When an alcoholic wants to stop drinking, he or she has a physical addiction to address, but they also have a habit that must be stopped - going to a bar with a friend, unwinding after a long day of work by sitting in front of the TV. with multiple drinks. People oftentimes have to change their entire routines so as not to fall back into those familiar patterns. The same is true with anxiety and worry. We have to replace them with other, more constructive actions. Stofregan suggests that we push out worry by replacing it with thanksgiving. He says "worry usually deals with what we don't have. Thanksgiving deals with what God has given us. Worry usually thinks about what bad things might happen in the future. Thanksgiving trusts that the future is in God's hands. "(Ibid. p. 5)

So, what would that look like? How would we replace worry and anxiety with thanksgiving? My dad went into the hospital this week for back surgery. I know he was worried. I would be too. Instead of just wringing his hands, we all got to work - we made arrangements for how he would get to the west side of town, we gathered together and waited during the surgery, we visited afterwards and checked in, we listened to the doctors and made choices about what to do. We reminded ourselves how many people have been helped by back surgery over the years. We borrowed walkers and asked for pain medication. We said our prayers and asked for God's presence. When fears arose about worse case scenarios, we pushed those thoughts aside and focused on what we did have.

Replacing worry and anxiety with thankfulness is a spiritual discipline. It requires us to constantly recommit ourselves to making a different choice to trust in God rather than to be inundated by fear. How do we replace that worry? By making different choices. Here are a few hints that I have found to be helpful. First, choose your friends wisely. When you feel worry and anxiety dominating your life, seek out those folks who aren't riddled with their own fears. Surround yourself with their hopefulness; let their groundedness inform your own. Secondly, do things that open your heart to trust. One of the reasons I practice yoga is that through breathing and postures, it physically opens my being to gratitude. It is a powerful tool for reordering one's priorities by quieting the mind and opening up the heart. Meditation and other healing arts can accomplish the same thing. Walking with your dog can open your heart in the same manner. Sitting at the local bar during happy hour or on the couch eating cookies and watching Entertainment television do not encourage the same openness to trust and thanksgiving. Thich Nat Hahn, the Buddhist Monk simply says to turn off the TV. and close out the news to find the center of your being.

So first, choose your companions wisely; second, engage in spiritual practices that will open your heart rather than feed your anxiety. Thirdly, do something that will help the situation. You know that t-shirt that says, "If you aren't part of the solution, you are part of the problem." Be part of the solution. If you are worried about the upcoming election, get involved with a campaign. If you are excited and hopeful about equality in marriage, find a way to educate others. If you are bothered by the devastation in China or Burma, get involved with a disaster relief organization. If you are bothered by racism, do something to educate yourself about other people's experience. If literacy is your chief concern, offer to tutor someone.

Mindless doing doesn't calm anxiety, so make sure that you don't just jump to action before you take the time to sit and reflect. Why does any of this matter? We learn why in the line from First Corinthians, which says that we are called to be servants of Christ and stewards of God's mysteries - and stewards are required to be trustworthy. We aren't trusting God if we are just a pile of anxiety and worry!!

God needs us to help create a just and caring world. We cannot do that if we are wringing our hands and worrying about everything. God has work for us to do. We have needs to attend to in God's name. "What kind of stewards will we be if our minds and hearts are closed to the very mysteries we are meant to steward and share? " (asks Tom McGrath in Christian Century for May 20, 2008)

Frederick Buechner, a Presbyterian minister and author once wrote that faith is simply looking at the world through a different set of lenses. Same world that everyone else looks at. Different interpretation. May your intentional choices cultivate that kind of vision and allow you to be the steward that God intends. Amen.