Do Not Worry.

All Saints Anglican – Melville

Thanksgiving Sunday

Year B

13 October 2024

Joel 2:21-27

Psalm 126

1 Timothy 2:1-7

Matthew 6:25-33

Almighty God our Father,

your generous goodness comes to us new every day.

By the work of your Spirit lead us to acknowledge your goodness, give thanks for your benefits,

and serve you in willing obedience,

through Jesus Christ, our Saviour and Lord. Amen.

________________________________________

Do not worry.

This is the advice we’re given, today, but it’s often easier said than done. After all, the more we’re told not to worry about something it seems the more we do, in fact, worry.

But at the same time, this idea, this phrase isn’t just in the gospel, but It’s also in the message from Joel, for today.

In today’s gospel, Jesus tells us not to worry about what the food on our tables or the clothes on our backs is like.

Jesus tells us that to believe in him and his message means that there’s nothing in all of creation about which to worry, in our lives.

He says: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?” (Mt 6:25)

Joel addresses not only us with the message “Do not fear,” but he includes all of creation as well as each one of us when he says: “be glad and rejoice,   for the Lord has done great things!” (Joel 2:21b)

He goes on to tell us how we are, and will be, blessed by God for all of the hardships of the past. So, God knows that we worry, and that we are afraid, and that such consuming emotions bring out the absolute worst in each of our lives and hearts further separating us from the love of God.

But in this, in the tendency to worry and to be afraid we are given a great gift. Timothy, in his letter, urges us to pray.

Timothy urges us to give all of these fears and all of these worries to God.

Jesus says, “Do not worry.”

God says, “Do not fear.”

Timothy says, “I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions and thanksgivings should be made for everyone.” (1 Tim 2:1)

In the face of a world that turns so quickly, so easily to fear and to worry we are urged to pray. And Luther, in his writings, urges us to pray continuously.

Prayer is encouraged for everyone and everything in this world whether we’re in good circumstances, or otherwise,

When we look earlier in the chapter from Matthew we see that we have the example of Jesus’ words as he taught us to pray what we have come to call the Lord’s Prayer.

So, looking at this familiar prayer, we turn to it and we pray it willingly and easily every week.

And when we pray this prayer, when we believe that God answers our prayers, we are able to follow what Jesus tells us in today’s gospel when he says “do not worry about your life…”

Jesus says this because in the outcome, then, our prayers are answered, and this is the expectation for our prayers.

I was once told by someone that prayer doesn’t work. That the person who told me this prayed for a calm and straight forward day, but the very next action that was to occur in that day was the opposite of the petitioner’s expectation.

But what if we pray every day for life to be straight forward? Yes, there will be ups, downs, steps forward and backward.

This is the dance of our lives. This is how we grow this is how we learn to depend on God in not only the good but the troubled moments of our lives, but we pray with the expectation that our prayers will be answered.

And yet, in today’s gospel, Jesus says, “do not worry.”

One phrase of the Lord’s Prayer of this most used prayer in our lives of corporate worship comes to mind when I read what Jesus tells us, in Matthew’s gospel.

This is when we pray: “Give us today our daily bread.”

Coming back to Jesus’ words, today, about what we will eat and drink or what we will wear, this is what Jesus is talking about when we pray “give us today our daily bread,” because our daily bread is not just bread.

Our ‘daily bread’ is absolutely everything that we need to survive, and to thrive in the world. It’s food, and clothing. It’s shelter, and it’s the skills we need in this world to provide food, clothing, and shelter in and for our lives and the lives of those whom we love.

Praying ‘give us today our daily bread’ is such an all-encompassing request of God that God does all that is possible to see it fulfilled, including encouraging us knowing that not everything will go our way, all the time.

So, Jesus tells us not to worry.

And Jesus tells us this because the love of God for each one of us is greater than anything we could possibly worry about, and trust me I, like most I have talked with in life, have the capacity to worry about so very many things.

So, does Jesus telling us not to worry stop us from worrying?

No, not really; but it does point out how futile it is to worry in a world where God has given us the skills and the means to overcome anything the world would want us to worry about or of which to be afraid.

Jesus tells us not to worry because it’s those who are outside of the body of Christ who spend their time in competitions about what to wear or what food graces their table.

“31Therefore do not worry, saying, “What will we eat?” or “What will we drink?” or “What will we wear?” 32For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Mt 6:31-33)

And then Jesus gives us a focus that is beyond worry – the kingdom of God.

When we look to God’s kingdom, when we pray with the expectation of having our prayers answered, then we seek to be in God’s presence.

We seek for God’s presence to be in this world and all around us, throughout our lives.

Today, this weekend, we celebrate Thanksgiving.

This is the time of year that we turn to God with our praise and our thanks for all that God has given to us over the past year, and yet the gospel points out that there are those in the world who even in the face of God’s bounty will insist on worrying.

Now, even I will worry, from time to time, not in the bounty with which God has and continues to bless my life, but rather in the expectations of the world for the lives that we live.

Who remembers when the internet was considered a luxury? But, now it’s a mainstay of life and communication. Yet, this ‘mainstay’ brings with it the need for gadgets, smartphones, tablets, computers and the need for such things in order to access this information highway brings its own stresses to our lives as we seek to stay abreast of everything from news to entertainment, to government services.

But it’s the world that wants us to be afraid, to worry because if we’re afraid and if we worry then we have something that the world wants.

And what the world truly wants is to take from us our faith, our trust in God, and in the teachings of Jesus to bring to our lives that assurance of peace and trust.

So, this brings us back to the gospel for today. This brings us back to Jesus’ words: “25 ‘Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?” (Mt 6:25-26)

This brings us back to Timothy’s words of assurance, when he tells us: “I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings should be made for everyone, 2for kings and all who are in high positions, so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity. 3This is right and is acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour, 4who desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 5Forthere is one God;   there is also one mediator between God and humankind,Christ Jesus, himself human,6   who gave himself a ransom for all” (1 Tim 2:1-6a)

It’s easy to worry.

It’s easy to be afraid.

But in each of our lives, we are called, and we are encouraged to be more than the product of worry and fear.

We are called and encouraged through Jesus’ words, today, to believe, to trust, to have faith.

We are called and encouraged to pray for a better outcome than has been imagined. 

And in that trust, belief, and in our lives of faith that the Kingdom of God is made real in our lives, in our communities, and in our world.

And to this all we can say is Thanks be to God!

Amen.