May 25, 2008; The 2nd Sunday after Pentecost Readings: Isaiah 49:8-16a; I Corinthians 4:1-5; Matthew 6:24-34; Psalm 131.   The Rev. Dr. Hilary B. Smith The Dynamics of Devotion Who do you serve? It is a thought-provoking question. The gospel tells us that we cannot serve both God and wealth. In the sense of being devoted to, and willing to act accordingly based on our devotion, we cannot serve both God and anything else. The focus on wealth, however, is not an accident. Wealth allows a person to believe that he or she is in control. Those with wealth, and really, most in the U.S. are wealthy by world standards...those with wealth can control much about their life experience. There are those for whom acquiring wealth and the things that one can buy with that wealth becomes the focus - it can become a religion. When wealth, or anything else other than God, becomes the most important thing and focus of our devotion, we are building our lives on a temporary and unstable foundation. Because it is unstable, we need to be very careful to make sure it is held together - we lose our freedom and become slaves to that which can never meet our deepest need. We will always be worried about our lives. Jesus tells us, "Do not worry about your life..." That is very practical advice. How is that possible? Is Jesus saying that we will have no problems in life? I don't think so. But rather than worrying about what we don't have or what the future holds, we are to consider all that God has done for us - such a focus puts life in perspective. God created us; God has given us abilities for the common good and our own joy; God bring us into community; God gives us hope; God sustains us in many ways; God has called us to new and everlasting life through Jesus Christ. God will not forget us. As expressed by the prophet Isaiah, God cannot forget us just as a nursing mother cannot forget her child. Some of you know that I am getting a puppy. In preparation for the puppy, I've been going to youtube.com and entering the search words "cocker spaniel puppies." When you do that, about 100 videos of cocker spaniel puppies come up. My favorite one, which I thought of when I heard Isaiah comparing God's concern for us to that of a nursing mother, is a video of a mother dog with 4 week old, large puppies, nursing. Those puppies are attached to their mother - the mother is walking around but the puppies do not let go...they just move right in step with her. That is how connected we are to God...who cannot forget us. God's love and care for us is what really matters, and our knowledge of that love and care frees us to follow where God leads - even into the unknown, even into danger. Memorial Day, which we are celebrating this long weekend, is about much more than barbeques and the beginning of the summer. First observed in May 1868, it was known as Decoration Day, a day to decorate the graves of the Civil War dead with flowers. Memorial Day, observed annually on the last Monday in May, is a time to remember those who gave their lives in pursue of high ideals - freedom, peace, justice. There are times to debate the ethics of war; there are times to question the motives of those in power, but Memorial Day is not one of those times. Rather, we give thanks for the brave and courageous in every generation -many of whom believed that their service was a call from God. There have been so many young lives ended in war - over 1 million in our nation's history, 400,000 in WWII; over 4500 in our current conflict. Memorial Day was not intend to be so much a celebration of patriotism but rather a time to honor the dead and remember the cost of war. The U.S. Veterans' Affairs website has this quotation from Gen. Logan who ordered the decorating of graves in 1868, "with the choicest flowers of springtime" [the general] urged: "We should guard their graves with sacred vigilance. ... Let pleasant paths invite the coming and going of reverent visitors and fond mourners. Let no neglect, no ravages of time, testify to the present or to the coming generations that we have forgotten as a people the cost of a free and undivided republic (link)." As we remember and give thanks for their sacrifice, we also pray for peace and a world community that works for the good of all. For Jesus urged his disciples to be devoted to God, saying: "Strive first for the kingdom of God and [God's] righteousness." Peace and a united humanity are signs and evidence of God's kingdom on earth. The sort of devotion that soldiers give to their country and the willingness to sacrifice for it, has long been a metaphor for the Christian commitment to the kingdom of God. At times people are offended by such comparisons - not everyone likes the hymn "Onward Christian soldiers," -marching as to war. But I think those who do not like the metaphor are missing the point: the hymn does not glorify war, but shows the sort of attitude that we as Christian disciples are called to have. Just as a soldier needs to be loyal and devoted to the cause at had, followers of Christ need a focus and devotion that takes worry away as we seek to follow God and work for the kingdom. Interestingly, it was a great solider, Ignatius of Loyola, who, in the 16th century, developed a method of prayer designed to deepen our relationship with God. Ignatius knew from his own experience of life and God that to serve anyone or anything other than God would be miss the peace and joy of a properly ordered life of faith. Using what he knew from his military life, he developed what he called the Exercises, ways of praying, that gave structure to the life of faith. Our lives can be worrisome. The only way to follow Jesus' instruction not to worry about our lives is to ground ourselves in God. Just as a soldier trains, or an athlete exercises and trains everyday for the big game, we too need spiritual disciplines to strengthen us for the challenges of life. A consistent commitment to our faith prepares to use to deal with both what is worrisome and, on the other side, to live into what is most joyful with a sense of God' joy in the circumstance. When we are spiritually fit and focused on God as our source of life, we can enjoy the peace that passes all understanding no matter the circumstances of the moment. Amen.