Meditating on Proper 20: No Worries

 

Proper 20    

The Sunday closest to September 21

Grant us, Lord, not to be anxious about earthly things, but to
love things heavenly; and even now, while we are placed among
things that are passing away, to hold fast to those that shall
endure; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns
with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Preface of the Lord's Day

Image by Grok

Anxiety is a plague. It devours the soul. It tosses a dark, heavy, water-logged hood over one’s face, suffocating its victim as it snuffs out all hope and joy – an emotional form of waterboarding, if you will.

I grew up in the era of Mad Magazine’s Alfred E. Neuman’s, “What, Me Worry?” take on life. Yes, there is a lot of bad stuff happening. Anyone can see that, but we do what we can do and leave the rest to God. As Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount, “Will worrying add an inch to your height or a day to your span of life?” (Matthew 6) He doesn’t suggest we ignore life’s dangers, but neither should we obsess over them.

There is a well-known Bob Newhart sketch where a woman comes to visit Newhart (who plays a psycho-therapist). She confesses her fear of being buried alive in a box, so she’s afraid of closed spaces, like elevators. Newhart gives her a simple phrase to overcome her phobia: STOP IT! Every time she raises an objection, he reiterates his advice, “Just Stop It!”

It is easier said than done, though, isn’t it? Our fears are often irrational, and anxiety is simply fear run amuck. There’s nothing wrong with fear, per se. It has helped us survive life as hunter/gatherers. Fear of hunger led us to invent a variety of means for safely storing food. Fear of carnivores and enemies led us to invent fortresses and fire. Some clumsy cave-dweller probably dropped a skinned rabbit onto a fire one day and we “discovered” the joy of barbecuing. The point is, fear helps us survive, but anxiety puts so much stress on us that we burn out, get sick, and die before our time is truly up.

So in today’s collect, we acknowledge just how prone we are to becoming anxious little squirrels, so busy finding and hiding our nuts we fail to see the vultures circling overhead. Yes, gathering is important. Maintaining our homes and habitats is important. But so is maintaining good relations within our families and communities. So is taking time out to thank God for what we DO have, and not fretting about what may or may not happen today or tomorrow.

This is not to minimize just how dangerous our world is, how prone it is to make us anxious. The world profits off our anxiety. Our teeth will never be white enough, nor our breath fresh enough, nor our cars safe enough, nor our politicians honest enough. The fruit pie snack I bought as a child for thirteen cents is almost three dollars at the local convenience store today. The college education that cost me under five hundred dollars a year for tuition at Wazzu is about $14,000 annually now (not including books, food, lodging, etc.). 

So Jesus invites us to keep our wits about us, pay attention to the signs of the times – not to fret over them, but so that we may make prudent decisions when the time comes.

We need help sifting through the debris that washes over us from the tsunami of misinformation and propaganda vomiting forth from the mouths of the world’s pundits and influencers. The best defense against any anxiety we may confront is the umbrella of truth – to “love things heavenly” as our prayer puts it. What are “things heavenly” you ask? 

That God created us. God created the world (and it was (and IS) good), and God created us in God’s image, and from the beginning, God gave us two main tasks: Take care of creation; take care of one another. I would add, take care of yourself, too. Those admonitions lie at the heart of God’s call to love God, Neighbor, and self.

We are reminded that there is stuff that passes away, and there is stuff that lasts forever. Our time on earth is limited, so we are called to do the best we can to take care of our corner of the world – our community, our church, our neighbors, our families, and so on. God invites us to walk hand in hand with both neighbor and God. That way we will hold fast to that which endures. More than that, we hold fast to the One who endures. So fear not. We stand in the light of a loving savior. Amen.