"A Way With Worry"
Reverend Rick Kirchoff
January 18, 2004
Philippians 4:6-7 NRSV 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.
Let us pray. Come, Holy Spirit, Heavenly Dove. Descend on us, reveal your
love. Word of God and inward light, wake our spirits; clear our sight. Surround
us now with all your glory. Speak through me that sacred story. Take my lips
and make them bold. Take hearts and minds and make them whole. Stir in us
that sacred flame. Then send us forth to spread your name. Amen.
You have probably heard it said that sometimes God calms the storm. At other
times God calms the child who’s in the storm. (ML) But the truth is, sometimes
God calms the storm!
That’s what God did for Moses. As Pharaoh fumed behind him and the Red Sea
foamed in front of him, Moses had no where to turn but up. He lifted his staff
toward the heavens, and a way was opened and Egypt became little more than a
memory.
Max Lucado says, “Sometimes God does calm the storm. But most of the time,
God calms the one who is caught in the midst of the storm. Rather than quiet the
tempest, God calms the sailor. Rather than still the storm, God is able to still the
one who is in the midst of the storm.”
Like the night that Jesus was in the boat with his disciples and the storm came
up, and Jesus was asleep and the disciples were terrified. They go to Jesus and
say, "Wake up, wake up; we're about to drown. Save us from this." And Jesus
rubs his eyes and says, "Why are you afraid?" He gave a command and the
winds and the waves grew still. Now, what is more amazing? That Jesus
calmed a storm? Or that he could be calm in the midst of the storm? While the
boat was bouncing and the winds were howling and the waves were bursting
over the boat, Jesus was asleep. He was calm and confident and at peace, even
in a storm.
It sounds nice, doesn't it? Wouldn't we all like to experience that kind of calm
and that kind of confidence and peace in our lives? But for most of us, such calm
seems illogical, even incomprehensible. But while this peace is beyond our
understanding, the scripture affirms it is never beyond our reach.
And oh, how we need that kind of peace in our lives! Because there’s always
something trying to upset us, trying to disturb our peace, something to worry
about -- something on the outside coming inside and disturbing our peace. Since
Sept. 11, we have added a whole new lexicon of worry words: increased threatlevels, Al Qaida and bio-terrorism. There are smart bombs, letter bombs, shoe
bombs, dirty bombs and the mother of all bombs. For awhile, even a common
substance known as “duct tape” took on a new, more sinister meaning.
Then, there are the everyday worries that you and I have about family and
friends, and losing jobs, aging parents, wayward children, unexpected illnesses,
and financial struggles. And what does the media tell us? We watch the news
and we have something new to worry about. They say you step outside, and the
sun's rays are going to give you cancer. You stay inside and you have to be
careful about breathing because your house probably contains the dreaded black
mold. They say watch those carbs; check that cholesterol. And now, we hear
even the cows have gone mad!
So, we worry. We have this “thin stream of fear trickling through our souls.”
Some of us in this room have advanced degrees in worry. We could teach
seminars on how to worry because we do it so well. We worry about getting
enough sleep and then we worry that we slept too late. Some of us worry that
someday they’re going to discover that lettuce was really fattening all along and
that donuts were really health food! And some of us worry what the dog thinks
when he sees us step out of the shower. (ML)
We worry about all kinds of things!
And behind our worry is a very powerful myth. The myth is that by worrying, we
can somehow control what is otherwise uncontrollable. It is built on the belief
that if we worry enough, we can gain control and affect the outcome. If we worry
enough about our kids, our marriage, our job, our health, the economy and the
stock market…if we just worry enough, then, we can control what happens. Oh,
if only it worked!
Do you want to worry less? Scripture’s counsel is this: Pray more! “Don’t worry
about anything…pray about everything.” God’s prescription for less anxiety is
more prayer.
And what are we to pray about? Paul says, "Pray about everything."
Everything? Yes, everything! About dirty diapers, broken refrigerators, conflicts,
temptations, traffic jams, economy, retirement investments, job expectations,
marriage, children, terrorism! Don’t worry about these things…pray about them!
In scripture, in place after place, we’re told to pray without ceasing… to be
constant in our prayer…to pray at all times…to continue steadfastly in prayer.
So, when are we to pray? Always! What are we to pray about? Everything!
Now, as I say this, and as I look into some of your faces, I know some of you are
saying to yourselves: "There he goes again! He’s always saying we should pray
more. But now, he’s really lost it. He's gone off the deep end! He wants us to
pray all the time! Doesn’t he know that I have to get up at 5:30 every morning
and get dressed and prepare breakfast for the children, and then I have to take
the kids to day care and then go to work and try to satisfy my grumpy boss, and
then get my job done in time so that I can go to the gym and get a little bit of
exercise? And then after I exercise, I have to run by and pick up the kids and
make my way through all that traffic, and then get home in time to have a little bit
of life of my own? What does he think? Doesn't he know I'm overworked and
overstressed? I'm worn out. I am too busy for this!" (ML)
Well, I want you to know that if I have ever left you with the thought of prayer as a
burden, then I apologize. I have miscommunicated, because the heart of God
that calls us to prayer is not a heart that calls us to have more burdens in our life,
but wants to alleviate the burdens that we carry.
To say that prayer is just another burden in our lives would be like a bride or a
groom going on their honeymoon and saying that time spent with their beloved is
a hassle.
How would you like it if your mate said to you, “I can give you twenty minutes, but
that’s it! Don’t ask for anymore. I need my time!” How many of you would like to
have your spouse show up and say, "I want something today!" You look at them
and wonder what it is they are wanting. You say, "Oh, here he comes again.
What does he want this time? A clean shirt, a hot meal, a little romance?" You
wouldn't put up with that! (ML)
And I need to say a stern word. Neither does God! God “aches” for more than
that. Jesus says, “How often have I ached to do more for you”…than just a few
favors, “but you wouldn’t let me.” God aches to be in an intimate relationship
with you. Not just a here-and-there relationship, but a lifelong, life-giving,
everyday, moment-by-moment, soul-nourishing, power-infusing, peace-imparting
relationship! God wants there to be not one moment of your life that you will be
out of touch or on your own.
You might ask, "What does that mean? What would that kind of prayer look like?
Does it mean walking along and just suddenly stopping on the street and bowing
your head in prayer? Is it like the Muslims who set aside five times a day to
pray? Is it constantly muttering under your breath like someone who is insane?
No! It is none of these. It is simply this: living your life in the constant, conscious
awareness that in every moment, you are in the presence of God.
It means making the choice to become more aware…aware of four realities.
(MD)
First, it is the choice to say that from this moment on, "I'm going to live my life
in the constant, conscious awareness of the presence of God." That the old
divisions between secular and sacred are no longer real because all of life is
sacred because God is there. It is living each moment in the knowledge that you
are not alone…for if the Gospel is real and God's promises are true…then you
are surrounded with the mysterious, unseen, yet wonderful presence of the living
God.
This means dismissing any concept of prayer as a “now and then nod to God!”
In this kind of prayer, you never hang up. You never disconnect. You never log
off. You never shut down! You never say “Amen,” that’s it -- I’ll be back later.
Rather, you make the choice to live all your life in the presence of God.
Then, second, it is asking God to help you to be aware of yourself -- to be
aware of your moods, your feelings, your fears, your temptations, your sins, your
habit patterns, your prejudices, your pride. But not just your flaws and
weaknesses, but also to be aware of your gifts and your strength and seeking
guidance in how to use them.
Then third, ask God to help you in every moment of your day, to be more
and more aware of the people that you encounter during the day and to
intentionally relate to them as persons of sacred worth.
Finally, it is to live your life, moment by moment, more and more aware of
the world -- the world both as it is and as God wants it to be.
Now, that kind of awareness is not natural for any of us. It is something that has
to be cultivated. It requires discipline. But it is worth it! For the outcome is
nothing less than the peace of God! A peace far more wonderful than the mind
can comprehend.
But is it possible? Is it really possible to live this way?
Frank Laubach asked that question. He was born in 1884. He became a
missionary and was called God’s ambassador to the illiterate. He set about the
task of teaching people all across the globe how to read. He was not a monk
isolated from people; he was perhaps the most widely traveled man of his day.
But though he was a devout Christian, at the age of 44 he said that he felt distant
from God. So, Frank set out to answer a question: Can we have contact with
God all of the time? All the time when we are awake… awake in his presence
and then fall asleep in his arms? Can we attain that? Can we do God’s will all
the time? Think God’s thoughts all the time? Can I bring the Lord back into my
mind flow every few seconds so that God will always be on my mind? And then
Frank said, "I choose to make the rest of my life an experiment in answering this
question."
That experiment began in January of 1930. In his journals he recorded his
experiences with God up until his death in 1970. I want to share a few of them
with you this morning.
There is a sense of being led by an unseen hand which takes mine…and
grows upon me daily….
Oh this thing of keeping in constant touch with God, of making him the
object of my thought and the companion of my conversations, it is the
most amazing thing I have ever run across. It is working. I cannot do it
even for half a day, not yet, but I have come to believe that I shall
someday be doing it for the entire day. It is a matter of acquiring new
habit of thought.
I find that I like the Lord’s presence so much that when for half an hour or
so he slips out of my mind, as he does so many times a day, I feel as
though…I’ve lost something very precious.
This concentration upon God is a strenuous thing, but everything else has
ceased to be so. I think more clearly, I forget less frequently, things which
I did with a strain before, I now do easily and with no effort. I worry about
nothing…. I no longer feel in a hurry about anything…. Nothing can go
wrong except that God may slip from my mind if I do not keep on my
guard.
I don’t know how that strikes you, but I hope that it causes an ache in your soul,
an ache for what can be…an ache for what is possible. It struck a place in me
and as I've begun this new year, I’ve made a resolution…a faith promise to
God…to make it my goal to live as many minutes as possible each day
consciously turning my mind toward God.
And I’ve begun that. I feel like a kindergartner in this discipline. Yet, already, I
find I’m growing more comfortable in places that used to overwhelm me. You've
heard me talk in the past about how I hate traffic jams. But now, amazingly, I find
myself looking forward to traffic jams! That's a miracle in itself! Because for a
few moments, as I wait in traffic, I have a time that I am undistracted and I can be
in a time of worship. I find that when I am overwhelmed with some
problem…some burden or worry that comes into my life…I am able to stop and
focus not on the problem, but on God. And when I put the focus there, an
answer usually begins to come. I'm just beginning in this, but I am convinced
that if I were to continue this…if you were to continue this…if we as a
congregation would step into this stream of spiritual formation, that an amazing
thing would happen. And I would say that some of you would say, in a year from
now, "We don't have the same preacher that we used to have, because
something has happened to him. God is doing something in his life that is new
and different." My life will, little by little, day by day, be reshaped by a discipline
that brings a growing sense of the presence and peace and leadership of the
Spirit of God.
There is power in the inner disciplines of our life.
Paul Harvey, the master storyteller, tells a story that’s one of my favorites. I've
shared it with you before. It is a story that is so shaping my life at this moment
and I invite you to hear it once again.
In 1958 Liu Shih-kun was 19, and he won second place in the First International
Tchaikovsky Piano Competition. Van Clyburn won first place and went on to
international fame. Liu returned to China, largely forgotten by the rest of the
world, but recognized in China as an established concert musician. And then
came the Cultural Revolution. He was imprisoned for refusing to renounce the
music of the East. While imprisoned, he was savagely beaten. His arm was
broken. For six years, he sat in a tiny cell, with nothing except the teachings of
Mao, no paper on which to write, and certainly no piano.
Then, amazingly, President Nixon built that diplomatic bridge to China and the
prison door opened for Liu. An imprisoned concert pianist would have been an
embarrassment, so Liu was released from jail. They asked him to play in Peking
with the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra. Liu played flawlessly. After the
concert he was again imprisoned for eighteen months. He was then released to
play one more time. Again, he played brilliantly.
Liu never returned to prison after that. He was finally recognized in his homeland
as a gifted musician.
But the fact that he had played flawlessly is astounding. For while Liu was in
prison, everything musical had been taken away from him. Not even paper and a
pen to be able to write and to remember his music. Yet something was left in Liu
that the guards could not take -- his reason for living, his love for music. For 7½
years, in that tiny prison cell, Liu Shih-kun practiced his beloved music in his vivid
imagination on a piano that no one could see.
You and I never know what challenges are going to come into our lives, or when
they will come, or what worries will overtake us and try to shake us. But it is
through the quiet, inner discipline of prayer as we pray about everything, as we
practice the presence of God in prayer without ceasing, that we experience a
peace that will keep us, and keep us strong.
So the Apostle is right when he says: "Don’t worry about anything, but pray about
everything…and the peace that passes understanding will guard your hearts and
your minds."
Thanks be to God.
Let us pray. O God, we cannot even begin to imagine the riches that you would
open to us through prayer. We see only duty and burden, but you would liberate
us and free us. O God, help us always to remember and to be passionate about
time with you. Amen.
-------------------------Endnotes: This sermon is based, in part, upon material from the following
sources:
1. Rodney Buchanan, "How to Stop Worrying and Start Living"
2. Maxie Dunnam, "The Workbook of Living Prayer"
3. Paul Harvey, "The Rest of the Story"
4. Max Lucado, various writings and sermons including "Held By An Unseen
Hand" and "Worry? You Don't Have To"
5. John Ortberg, "Truths that Transform: Don't Worry -- Pray"