Northwood United Church

"Don't Worry, Be Happy!"

Matthew 6: 24-34
May 25, 2008
Jim Chisholm

Song writer Bobby Ferrin tells us "Don't worry, be happy." Sure thing! I have a drawer full of projects I need to be doing, plans for the fall stewardship program are buried somewhere in this folder, the Fall Fair needs a bit of a push so I need to provide some leadership there, since Easter our offerings have dropped below last year, we are short two key people in my area of ministry. Don't worry? Sure thing! Oh, what's this? Last months VISA bill and I forgot to pay it. My to-do list has 21 items on it. Maybe if I'm lucky they will disappear one by one but in the meantime I'm getting very anxious that I'm not getting to them. And oh yes, I forgot I have to talk to Jim Karpoff about Vision 2010 and Christine Wolff about the budget for spiritual development. My wife has been in England and I forgot to feed the dog one day last week. Anxious? No, that might be putting it too mildly.

Well, I suspect that if I were a teen-ager I would probably be anxious about something too. Maybe about being cool, fitting in, being accepted or maybe a zit flaring up at the wrong moment. If I were middle-age I might be worried about my marriage, the company downsizing, when will I get the mortgage paid off or are those kids ever going to leave home. Seniors worry about whether there will be enough cash to see them through retirement, or perhaps concerns about not remembering things quite as they used to.

If you were to review the list I outlined you would recognize that most of the things I mentioned are either directly or indirectly related to money. In today's Gospel lesson from Matthew Jesus is telling us that there is a way of living a life with less worry and anxiety. It's actually a very simple message: Look at the birds; consider the lilies; set your heart and mind on God's kingdom - be open to God.

It's not new news to hear that wealth (or mammon) is a well-established creed in our country and has been for some time. Alexis de Tocqueville visited the United States in 1831 - note that was 1831 and wrote a book entitled Democracy in America in which he described what he saw. The amazing thing about that book is that it was written so long ago, but so much of it sounds like today. Among other things, de Tocqueville wrote: "A native of the United States (and this applies to Canada as well) clings to this world's goods as if he were certain never to die." Does that sound like me? Doesn't it describe most of us at some point in our lives?

Anxiety about money can be a soul-cancer that strikes the rich, the poor, and those in the middle. It is a well know fact that a good deal of life's anxiety can be traced to monetary questions and decisions.

The rich person is anxious about getting richer still. To accumulate houses, cars, art, clothing, and other possessions to advertise his/her success and to protect these possessions against moth, rust, embezzlement, accounting fraud, inflation, deflation, high and low interest rates, and innumerable other threats.

The middle-class person is anxious about job security, health insurance, car payments, house payments, tuition, the cost of child care, leaky roofs, worn tires, and a host of other concerns. That's certainly where I was 30 years ago.

The poor person is anxious about keeping a roof overhead and food on the table. Poor people are easily tempted by lotteries and get-rich-quick schemes, because they have such desperate needs and so little hope.

A few years ago, the New York Times ran an article entitled, "Feeling Poor on $600,000 a Year." The article talked about people whom most of us would call wealthy but they felt poor because there were, even at their income level, things they still couldn't afford. Everything's so expensive in New York City. People making $600,000 a year can afford a nice apartment, but not a truly grand apartment. They can't get their children into the best kindergartens. They can't afford a summer home in the Hamptons. So they feel deprived, poor, frustrated. The author of the article concluded: "A whole generation of bright young people has been seduced. This fixation with money has been narcotic-like in its effect on many of our most talented young people. Like a drug, they have needed higher and higher doses for the same thrill."

The other day I came across a story about a man and wife, in their sixties, who built a new house with three floors and 4500 square feet of living space. There was nothing really wrong with the house they had. It was all on one floor which seems to make sense for people their age. When they were asked why they needed such a big house they said, "Well, we have so much stuff. This new house has gigantic storerooms." So obviously the next questions is, "Why do you need so much stuff?" They didn't really have an answer for that question. Instead, they told how many trips they had to make to the dump to get rid of things. They were so pleased because they were finally able to get at all the things that were in storage .

Now there is an example of someone who has become a slave to their stuff. This couple are devoting their old age to being caretakers for things they don't need.

Then there are the malls and the mega big box stores. They are like a grand temples devoted to excess, the shrines of Mammon. Next time you go to the mall ask yourself, "If everything that people don't really need were to be taken from the mall, what would be left?" I suspect a lot less!

You hear all kinds of stories: I can't go a week without buying new clothes. I'm not fulfilled until I buy something. I'm suffering from megamall withdrawal. Is there any way out of this materialistic maze? It is a maze because we find ourselves surrounded by walls of advertising and retailing and peer pressure that make it difficult for any of us to find the path to a simpler life.

Jesus does not counsel us to be flippant about possessions or to be careless stewards. Toward the end of Matthew's Gospel we are commanded to take our eyes off our selves, off our lives, off our own selfish anxiety with our desires for good things for ourselves, and to look around God's world for a place where we can throw ourselves into the cause of being Christ's disciples. We need only to walk in faith, doing what we can and trusting God to do the rest.

So what is it that Jesus calls us to be and do? He does NOT tell us not to plan. He does NOT tell us not to work. But that we should: "Strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well."

In other words, turn away from the altar of Mammon and kneel at the altar devoted to God. Turn away from the star in the sky that blinks like a dollar sign, and turn toward the star that came to rest over the manger. We have Jesus' promises that, if we do that, God will help us. He doesn't promise a great big house. He doesn't promise a Lexus. He promises that God will help us and will provide what we need.

Then Jesus adds this note: "So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today's trouble is enough for today."

Charles Spurgeon made this observation: "Anxiety does not empty tomorrow of its trials. It simply empties today of its joy. Anxiety does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow it empties today of its strength."

Jesus asks, "Who do you trust, God or Mammon?" The answer to that question makes the difference between living a centered, secure life or an anxious life.

It is possible to hear Jesus' words as either Bad News or Good News. If we picture Jesus as pointing his finger at us, chiding us for putting our faith in frivolous things, then his words are Bad News, a call to an impossibly high standard.

But if we hear what Jesus said as reassurance, as a promise that God loves us and will take care of our needs, then it is Good News. If we can hear it as Good News, we will find ourselves able to shed some of the anxiety that weighs down on us so heavily. We will find it possible to relax a little knowing that God loves us and God is in charge. We will find it possible to take a little time here and there to smell the flowers and to play with the kids because we will then come to the realization, perhaps for the first time, that we aren't responsible for holding up the sky and keeping the earth from falling apart.

Don't worry, be happy In every life we have some trouble But when you worry you make it double Don't worry, be happy

Our amazing God is in charge of those things -- and that is Good News indeed.

Look at the birds, consider the lilies, set your heart and mind on God's kingdom - be open to God.

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