November 23, 2006 - Thanksgiving 2006 Matthew 6: 25-33
The Rev. Stephanie E. Parker

As I was preparing for this morning's sermon, I was reading a brief commentary by Herbert O' Driscoll and I had to smile when he says, with tongue in cheek, "We all know that there is not a single pleasure, given to us as a gift of God, that we cannot with a little effort turn into a neurosis!"

I think Jesus' words this morning speak to a world that is utterly addicted to anxiety. It is almost as if we feel that if we are not worried or anxious, we're not paying attention. "The world is mess!" "The end is near!" "Society is disintegrating!" "Kids today have lost their way!" "My favorite restaurant's closed!" "I can't find an outfit for tonight's party!" "My computer crashed!" It doesn't seem to matter whether the problem is truly grave or if it's just a temporary setback in our lives, it appears our fallback response is anxiety, worry, or fear. Our whole orientation seems to be to show our "connectedness" by demonstrating worry.

Ironically even our call to love and serve God with all of our heart and all of souls, minds and bodies and to love our neighbor as ourselves can become a source of anxiety. Jesus uttered this phrase not abolish the "law" but to free us from the way we had chained ourselves to it like it was a millstone that drags us down. The "Law" was meant to set us free from the worse ways that we can punish one another and ourselves as we seek to co-exist with others.

So Jesus wrapped warm flesh and blood around these cold tablets of stone and demonstrated continually that God's deepest promises to us were about mercy, compassion...and freedom from anxiety..."Do not be afraid"... "I tell you," he says to us today, "Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?...and can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life?"

And we know that Jesus was not advocating that we not work to clothe and feed ourselves and others, he tells us plainly, "Indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things." Material possessions and food are gifts from God as well and they are to be rejoiced in and shared with others. It is when these things become idols that humanity's neurosis begins and anxiety and worry seem to become a philosophy of life.

We miss so many of the gifts God bestows us each and everyday because we dwell in the shadows of what it is not yet. If we are constantly buried in worry and seeking after that "next" thing we think will bring us happiness, we can miss the blessing of a raise in pay as easily as we can miss the friendly smile on the face of a stranger we pass on the street.

God in Christ calls us to be caring people. God calls us to be concerned for the state of the world we live in. This is not a simplistic "don't worry, be happy" exhortation. What this incredible teaching calls us to is an not an escape from the ways the world falls short, but instead to a deep abiding trust that God's providence, God's grace and God's power will always have the last word and see us through all of the ways that life can be painful and punishing as well as the ways that life can just feel empty and pointless.

Jesus' words call us into the profound joy of being present in each and every moment of our lives. It has been said, "Put God first and you'll get the world thrown in."
This kind of attentive presence to God at work in the world in all things brings us to that glorious peace that passes all understanding. Seeking God's presence in all things and participating in God's promises of reconciliation for world---this is what makes the kingdom come and God's will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

This is the gift that calls us into profound thanksgiving for all that God does for us even in the midst of the ways life is uncompromising and hard. This is the way that joy becomes the foundation of our lives that cannot be shaken by heartbreak, grief or even just simple disappointment. God calls us out of the shadow lands of worry for tomorrow with the promise that Christ's light can find us even in the darkest of places. Seeking God first is what brings order to our chaos. It is the key that unlocks the mystery of time and gives us the gift of the present moment.

For me no one captures the profound beauty of this gift than Christian mystic Jean-Pierre de Caussade. He says:
"The events of every moment are stamped with the will of God. How holy is his name! How right it is to bless it and to treat it as something that sanctifies all it touches. Can we see anything which carries this name without showing it infinite love? It is a divine warmth from heaven and gives us a ceaseless increase of Grace. The present moment is the kingdom of heaven that penetrates the soul. It is the bread of angels that is eaten on earth as well as in heaven. There is nothing trivial about our passing moments, as they enclose the whole kingdom of holiness and the food on which the angels feed. Most precious moment! How small it is to my bodily eyes, but how great to the eyes of my faith! How can I think of it as nothing when it is thought of so highly by my heavenly Father. All that comes from (God) (even the smallest moment) is most excellent and bears the imprint of its origin."

Today we are reminded to be thankful not just on this National holiday, but in all things and in all places. Jesus shows us the fruits of living moment to moment without anxiety and what means to embrace peace in an embattled world. May it be also with us...Amen.





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