The Rev. Dr.
Hilary B. Smith
October
12, 2008; The 22nd Sunday after Pentecost
Readings: Exodus 32:1-14;
Psalm 106:1-6, 19-23; Philippians 4:1-9; Matthew 22:1-14.
Dealing with Anxiety
The Gospel reading caused me to remember a dream I used to have. Have
you ever had one of those dreams where you find yourself in a place and you are
totally unprepared to be there? The anxiety is hard to take. I haven’t had this
dream in awhile, but I used to have this recurring dream in which I show up for
my high school math class, or my Spanish class, to find that I haven’t actually
been going to it all semester, or studying the material, and that I’ve gone to
the class for the first time on the day of the final exam.
And I have that feeling of anxiety – the feeling that this is not going
to end well!
Dreams like this are often caused by anxiety in one’s life – a sense
that one is not in control. Many with investments have been waking up to a
situation that seems like a bad dream, and there is a high level of anxiety
among many people because of the current economic realities – prices going up,
companies failing, jobs in danger, home foreclosures.
In these difficult financial times, does our
faith and our Christian tradition contain wisdom to see us through the
uncertainty? Absolutely! While the financial markets go up and down, the love
of God stands firm forever. As we live
our lives subject to temporary highs and lows, that which is eternal stands
firm. One of the reasons that we are here today –perhaps a primary reason—is to
be renewed by the grace of God so that can we live our lives with grounded in
faith and hope, rather than anxiety.
Over the last several weeks we have been hearing parables about what
happens when one does not choose to follow God. We have reached the conclusion
of Matthew’s teaching about judgment. Things do not go well for those who do
not turn to God. One can think of this in terms of
judgment, but knowing what we know of God’s great love for us, and God’s desire
to save us and bring us to fullness of life, the judgment we speak of is most
often the judgment we make in choosing something other than God.
In the Book of Common Prayer, in our teaching on matters of faith , we define Hell as separation from God – God never
chooses to be apart from us – that is something that people choose.
And what do we find at this conclusion of Matthew’s teaching on
judgment?
We find perhaps one of the most confusing stories in the Gospel of
Matthew.
We hear about this poor man who was invited to the wedding banquet at
the last second and was then condemned for not having the right clothes. This
story doesn’t really make sense until we see it from Matthew’s point of view
and understand the point Matthew is trying to make about life as a Christian.
The Good News is that this story actually makes a simple and basic point
about the Christian faith and life. Choosing to follow God and be a Christian
means that we have put on new “clothes” we are transformed, we are not the same
as we were before committing ourselves to Christ – and of course in Matthew’s
time there were no infant baptism—becoming a Christian was an adult decision.
The meaning of the man who chooses to attend the
wedding banquet, but does not put on new clothes, is that he is not living as a
transformed person – he is not living into his identity as a Christian. Matthew is
making the point that just showing up is not enough – we are called to live
with intentionality with regard to our faith – to acknowledge that we have been
transformed by grace.
The grace given to us is the knowledge there is another way to live. We
are transformed by the grace of God. Our transformation does not mean that we
will never feel anxiety, but rather that anxiety will not rule our lives. When
anxiety rules our lives we tend to make poor choices.
The
Hebrew people became very anxious with Moses did not return to them according
to their timetable. Fear and anxiety ruled their hearts and the outcome of that
was to create the golden calf – to create something that they could control,
something that they could see and understand. But of course the calf had no
power to help the people or to save the people. In the reading from Exodus, God
sums up the attitude of the people in these words:
they have been quick to turn aside from
the way that I commanded them; they have cast for themselves an image of a
calf, and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it
One of the great challenges of the spiritual life is to stay with God
and what we believe to be true of God, when we are filled with anxiety and
uncertain of the future. Our golden calf can be anything…or anyone to whom we
look for comfort other than God. There are those things that bring us momentary
satisfaction and there are those practices that bring us eternal benefit—we do
well when we choose what is eternal and of God.
The Anglican Communion News Service sent out
an email this past week entitled, Thousands
turn to online prayer and advice as financial situation worsens. Turning to
prayer when there is anxiety is the right thing to do; seeking
those people who will support you in your life of faith is the right thing to
do. Here is one prayer offered by the Church of England:
Lord God, we live in disturbing days:
across
the world,
prices
rise,
debts
increase,
banks
collapse,
jobs
are taken away,
and
fragile security is under threat.
Loving God, meet us in our fear and hear our prayer:
be a
tower of strength amidst the shifting sands,
and a
light in the darkness;
help us
receive your gift of peace,
and
fix our hearts where true joys are to be found,
in
Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
That is our prayer that we may receive that gift of peace,
which passes all understanding, and that we are able to fix our hearts where
true joys are to be found, in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Such intention in our prayer and in our actions enables us
to deal with stressful times and even to rejoice. Paul’s words to the
Philippians, written long ago, speak directly to our situation today:
Rejoice
in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to
everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry
about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with
thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts
and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Finally,
beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is
pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence
and if there is anything worthy of praise, think
about these things. Keep on doing the things that you have learned and
received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.
Amen.