Don't Worry, Be Happy!

Matthew 6:25-34
July 19, 2009


I’m taking a U.S. History class this month
because even though I was bored to tears by history
when I was back in high school
Since I’ve grown up, I feel very strongly
that knowing history is essential
to help give us insight into human nature
and hopefully help us make better decisions
for the future
One can hope!
But one thing I’ve learned is that as much as the details change
there’s a whole lot of other things that never seem to change--
that we tend to do the same things over and over
and find ourselves in the same messes
only with different names
One thing that seems to be a common element
in human nature throughout history
is fear
People act crazy when they are afraid
they say the craziest things out of fear
and sometimes do terrible things because of fear
For forty-five years we went through the Cold War
and how crazy was that?
Some of you remember practicing drills
where you hid under your desks at school
to practice what you would do in case of a nuclear bomb
when of course we know now that hiding under your desk
wouldn’t have done anything to protect you
There was the McCarthy era, when a lot of innocent people
were accused of communism--
arrested, tortured, publicly scorned,
lives ruined because of paranoia
Well, we got through the Cold War
only to find ourselves now in that abstract thing
called the War on Terror
Ever since 9/11, of course, people are AFRAID
and the terror alert is orange
we can’t fly on airlines without major inconveniences
and of course people still act a little crazy
if someone of Mid-eastern appearance should sit next to you
People buy guns who never dreamed of owning a gun before
because somehow it makes them feel better

We’re afraid
And we tend to act crazy when we’re afraid

I’ve also observed that when we’re afraid
we may try even harder to be in control
Of other people, of a group, of a situation
I find that people who are always trying to control
are usually people who are hurting a lot
who are afraid of something
Somehow afraid that if they are NOT in control
everything will fall into chaos
They can’t trust other people, and they can’t trust God

Jesus is walking along with his disciples
that are a lot like you and me
They are a little nuts
they worry about having enough food,
enough work to make enough money
They worry about their enemies
and whether their enemies will take something away from them
They worry about their lives
because they lived in very violent, unpredictable times
While they’re walking, perhaps some of them brooding
about a fight they had with their wife over money
or about how they’re going to pay next month’s mortgage payment
or about whether there’s enough food for dinner
or if the Roman government will take away any more
of their freedoms
whether the frustrations of their people will heat up again
whether there will be more violence
and who will get hurt this time

Jesus cleared his throat
and shook them out of their daydreaming,
he looked up to the sky and said,
“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?
Look at the birds of the air,
they neither plant or harvest
or store up food,
and yet God feeds them.
Are you not of more value than they?”

They looked at him questioningly
They wanted his peace, his trust
but their neck muscles were sore
and tight,
their teeth were sore from grinding at night
with anxiety
they were tired from not sleeping …
‘Do not worry…’ they thought
‘Easy for him to say…’
He spoke again, “Do any of you add one single hour to your life
by worrying?”
Well, the doctor did say they needed to cut down on stress,
that their blood pressure was high
and they needed to get more rest ….
We all know that feeling of tightness in our chests
that comes with anxiety
that sick feeling in the pits of our stomachs
that ache in our necks…
Worry, Jesus said, is not good for you
long before it was clinically proven…
Stress takes years off your life,
he said, basically, it doesn’t add to anything
and yet he’d never been to medical school
Isn’t it true that we have a hard time NOT worrying
because we figure somehow
if we DON’T worry about it
it may happen?
If we stop worrying, somehow everything will fall apart …
So in a way, we feel more in control if we’re worrying
about something
and worry, fear makes us do ugly, crazy things

Fear makes us hate
because hate makes us feel more in control
If we can blame someone for our problems
than somehow we feel more in control
Because if we have to face our problems
and what part we might play in them
then that’s too scary, too overwhelming

Whoever came up with that little acronym, WWJD
What Would Jesus Do?
was very wise --
although of course, it became so popular
it was pretty much watered down
People wore it, but I don’t think they thought about it anymore
People ask, what does God want to do with my life?
As if there’s some great calling that each of us are created for
and if we miss it, then somehow we’ve missed something
But what if we started each day
with the question, “What would Jesus do?”

Tony Campolo, a Baptist preacher, and sociologist at Eastern College,
wrote about the time he was talking on social problems
and he asked his students,
“Can you imagine what Jesus would say to a prostitute?”
One of his students raised his hand
and said, “But Jesus never met a prostitute!”
Campolo chuckled at the student’s biblical illiteracy
and flipped open the Bible to the Gospels
showing him exactly where Jesus met up
with prostitutes and what he said to them
but the student said confidently,
“Doctor, when Jesus met a prostitute, do you think
he saw a prostitute?” --
and Campolo admitted being stymied
Indeed, he believes that when Jesus sees a person
he sees what that person could be
what that person can become
Jesus believed in people, Campolo said
And we need to be believe in people the way God does

What would Jesus do?
Would he say bitter, nasty, hateful things
about anyone because they didn’t agree with him?
Would he hurt people, tear them down
to their faces or behind their back
because he didn’t like who they were?
Would he make violent comments about them
and what he would like to see happen to them
just because they were from a place
whose government might be at odds with ours?
Would Jesus EVER forget that every human being on this planet
has a beating heart, blood pumping through their veins
gets hurt like we do, can bleed like we do
and has a soul like we do?

Anne Lamott, one of my favorite Christian writers,
wrote about doing a lesson for children at her church
a bunch of rambunctious, antsy,
sugar-infused 6 year olds
She had several lessons for them that morning
But one lesson was about Letting Go
So she asked them, “what does letting go mean?”
The kids looked around and stared at her
a little confused
So she took a couple of Magic Markers
and held them out at arm’s length on each side of her,
gripping them tightly
so tightly that her knuckles turned white
And she said to them,
“What if, when we go in for snacks,
someone offers me a juice box
and I won’t let go of these markers
even though I’m thirsty?”
Nobody answered
She told them to watch,
and she said it was like she was doing a magic trick
as she slowly unfurled her tight grip on the markers
and they fell to the floor
with a echoing clunk
She smiled at them,
“Now,” she said, “Why would you let go?”
And immediately one 6 year old jumped up
raising his hand in an ooo ooo sort of way
and said, “Because you’re thirsty!”
bingo!
She got through!
And she said,
“sometimes, if you’re lucky,
you get so sick of a problem ,
or you’re worn down by tinkering with it,
or clutching on tight to it.
And letting go of it,
writing it down, talking with a friend
and sending it away,
buys you time and space,
so maybe freedom and humor sneak in—
which is what you were praying for all along.”

In the book and the movie,
“The Secret Life of Bees,” May Boatwright is a very sensitive soul
she was a twin, and her twin died very young
and now she lived with her two grown sisters
But she never really recovered from the grief
She was always just a little bit more sensitive to pain
and heartache than most people
What her sisters finally did to help her
was to get her to build a wall of stones on their property
and that would be May’s very own Wailing Wall
When she’d get upset about something,
she’d leave the house, and go out to her wailing wall
she wrote down what was breaking her heart
or worrying her
and she’d slip that piece of paper into the cracks of the wall
She’d sit there a while, in the quiet
and the beauty
and after awhile, she’d return to the house
having left the pain behind
Having let go of it, offering it up, if you will
letting God take the burden away from her

If only we could do that, huh?
Imagine how many friendships would be saved
imagine how many marriages would be helped
if we all had a wailing wall?
If we didn’t just blow up and say what we wanted to say
in that moment
if we didn’t hurt each other out of fear
anger and our own needs for control
Imagine….
Imagine how much calmer we could be
if we could physically let go of our worries, our hurts,
our anger, our fears
and surrender them to God --
stick them in the crevices of a wall
whose stone is strong enough to bear their weight?
For after all, rocks are more solid
than human hearts

What if we let go?
What if we unfurled our knuckle-white grip
on our lives, on any given situation
and opened our hands, opened our arms
and let God in?
Because if we don’t let go,
if we don’t unclench our fists
we can’t hold another’s hand …
If we don’t open our arms and hearts
God can’t get in
And it gets really, really ugly

What does Jesus want us to do with our lives?
I think, if we all got to know Jesus and his teachings
so much so that we could ask ourselves every day
“is this what Jesus would want me to do?
Is this what Jesus would want me to say?
If Jesus were here, is this how he would respond?”

Tony Campolo talks about a friend of his
named Mike
who asked a deacon of his church to drive
a group of young people to the old folks home
and lead a worship service
This deacon was someone who just wasn’t sure
how he could live out his faith
he always hung back, didn’t get involved
he was afraid
But he agreed to drive the youth to the nursing home
That first Sunday they were there, the deacon stood at the back
with his arms folded
as he watched the kids do their thing
All of a sudden, someone was tugging at his arm
He looked down and there was an old man in a wheelchair
He took hold of the old man’s hand
and the old man hung on to his hand
for the rest of the service
The next month that was repeated
The old man wheeled himself toward the deacon
and held his hand through worship
The next month again, and the next month, and the next
then the man wasn’t there for worship
The deacon asked about him
and was told, “Oh, he’s down the hall, right hand side,
third door. He’s dying. He’s unconscious,
but if you want to go down and pray over him,
that’ alright.”
The deacon went and there were tubes and wires hanging
all over the place
The deacon took the man’s hand
and prayed that God would receive him
that God would bring this man from this life into the next
and give him eternal blessings
As soon as he finished the prayer,
the old man squeezed the deacon’s hand
and the deacon knew he’d been heard
He was so moved by this that tears began to run down his cheeks
He stumbled out of the room, wiping his eyes
and as he did so, he bumped into a woman
She said,
“He’s been waiting for you. he said that he didn’t want to die
until he had the chance to hold the hand
of Jesus one more time.”
The deacon was amazed and said,
“What do you mean?”
She said, “Well, my father would say that once a month,
Jesus came to this place.
‘He would take my hand and he would hold my hand
for a whole hour.
I don’t want to die until I have the change to hold
the hand of Jesus one more time.’

I don’t know what you think God wants us to do
as Christians in this world
I don’t know what you may think
being a representative of God means
when we’re out there, Monday through Saturday
But I think that the very least we can do
is try, every day, in everything we do and say
to be Jesus in the world
To be Jesus to those who are in need,
to be Jesus to those who are beat up by the world
to be Jesus for someone who needs a friend
And that means believing in people,
forgiving people, showing mercy to people
even if we don’t like them
even if our politics or beliefs are in direct conflict
and finally, it means to show unconditional love
If we could just do that,
imagine what our corner of the world would look like--
it would light up,
it would shine for miles
and everyone would be drawn to the light
Don’t worry,
let go, let God be at work in the world
you don’t have to run the world
you don’t even have to save the world
that’s God’s job
but in the meantime, let’s be Jesus to one another
let’s be gentle
let us be sanctuaries of grace and mercy
Let’s breathe deep of God’s enduring grace
and make room for each other

Head On A Platter

Mark 6:14-29
July 12, 2009


This is a tough story
One of those embarrassing stories
that doesn’t often get told in Sunday School
It’s not a G-rated, family-friendly movie
After all, you got lust, you got a drunk politician
who also committed adultery,
you have a vengeful queen
with a sultry daughter who is dancing
for her stepfather and getting his hormones raging
And, you have a good, religious man
in prison for no good reason
who gets executed for no good reason
How DO you explain this one to the kids?

I’m exactly sure why Mark included this story
Unless he’s like my husband
who, when he’s telling one story,
he gets sidetracked, takes a detour
and goes off on a whole nother tangent
until you forget what the original story was …

People are scratching their heads
about who this Jesus person is
who’s wowing the crowds
He’s healing people, he’s blowing them away with his speaking abilities
and he is teaching his disciples to do what he does
and they’re proving to be pretty good at it

So, who is he??
Some say, well, he must a reincarnation of Elijah,
it’s the only explanation
or that John the Baptist himself was raised from the dead
Although, to this point, we didn’t know that John the Baptist was dead
so of course Mark has to take a moment
to explain how it happened….

I have to admit every time I read this story
I get an image of Christopher Plummer
who played King Herod in the movie, “Jesus of Nazereth,”
and I must say that he did a very good job
at convincing us that Herod was a sleaze
He was a weak man in a strong position
He was a powerless man in a position of power
He was yet another politician who acted as if
the common rules of morality did not apply to him

Herod liked John the Baptist
he didn’t know what it was about John that fascinated him
but he liked him
John was passionate,
maybe Herod secretly wished that he could be more like John
passionate in the things that matter
brave, for John was brave
It was like there was a fire inside of him
put there by God
and it drove him to urgently proclaim God’s message
He didn’t seem to have a choice
it was like the message would burn inside of him
if he didn’t get it out
I think it’s true that someone with that amount of unearthly passion,
energy, focus, and drive
tends to be a social outcast
They’re not someone that we usually admire
as someone we want to be like
Most mothers would have prayed
that their sons would not turn out like John
that they wouldn’t even listen to him or follow him
Because a man like that burns out in this world
if the world doesn’t get to him first
and shut him up
John the Baptist knew the danger of his passion
that it could burn him up
He knew that his intense commitment
and his relentless preaching
would ultimately be his demise
because the world does not tolerate that kind of passion well

Maybe Herod envied him
and yet also thanked his lucky stars
that he wasn’t like him
Because Herod was on a throne
and John was in prison

John would never have made it past today’s media scrutiny
he would be torn apart
psychologically analyzed, criticized,
scandalized, and people would start rumors
to explain his bizarre behaviors
What’s with the camel skin?
What’s he trying to do?
And someone said he eats bugs and wild honey
what’s up with that?
Did his mother not properly nurture him as a baby?
Was he beaten as a child?
Is that why he’s so angry??
Back then, they had executioners with sharp axes
today we have the media….

Herod had a birthday party
It was a pretty extravagant birthday party
he invited all of his wealthy, important friends
Well, maybe not friends
but people he couldn’t afford to alienate
The important people whom he had to please
to keep up a good impression with
so they would keep him in power

There was a lot of drinking, dancing, music,
and a lot of food
Herodias, his new bride, who used to be his brother’s wife --
but of course when you’re king,
you can get what you want
and so Herod did
John the Baptist did express his opinion on that, of course
he didn’t like it
but so what, I mean, it’s what politicians do
why couldn’t John just be quiet about it?
Why did he insist on expressing his opinions?

Anyway, Herodias hated John the Baptist
she hated him for his criticism of Herod
for taking her away from her first husband
She wanted him dead
but Herod like John
He was perplexed by his preaching
it made him think
but it didn’t make him change anything
He just liked listening to him
He didn’t want to hurt him
he kept John in prison to make his new wife happy
but he wouldn’t kill John

Ah, but that was before he got drunk at his party
he was full of good food and lots of wine
and there was dancing and music
and he was having a good time
when his step-daughter came in and danced
Apparently it was some dance
for it made the men a little crazy
perhaps it was pretty seductive and provocative
for King Herod and all his important official guests
were mesmerized, spellbound
And in his drunkenness and lust,
Herod dreamily said to the girl,
“Ask me anything and I will give it to you…”
he said, and he couldn’t just keep it at that,
he went on, “Whatever you want, even if it’s half my kingdom,
you may have it..”
He was feeling quite good, quite sauced, you might say

One wonders what kind of relationship
the girl had with her mother
because she knew to take a time-out
and ask her mother what she should ask for
This was a big opportunity, after all,
the king had just sworn an oath
and she couldn’t be small in her request….
Of course, her mother saw an opportunity
to get what she wanted

“Ask for the head of John the Baptist,” her mother said,
her eyes lighting up with the power…
This at last was the queen’s chance at revenge
against that big-mouthed preacher
she’d shut him up forever
and her husband could not argue now
He had given an oath!
And she knew Herod was essentially a weak man
He felt he had to please the people
he had no firm convictions of his own
none that he would give his life for
none that he would even endure any discomfort for
He worked very hard to not displease anyone
to not ever cause controversy
He was not like John the Baptist
and he must have known that
He knew he was a coward
He didn’t have the passion of John
the conviction and commitment of John
Herod was a Jew
but the god he worshipped was the god of empire
of the world, the government, the power
The god of wealth, prestige, domination
Not the God that seemed to drive John the Baptist with purpose
When the beautiful girl came to Herod
she said simply, “I know what I want…”
“Anything, darling, anything,” the drunken king implored
“I want the head of John the Baptist on a platter…” she said
as if she were asking for a new dress

Herod’s heart sank
and then filled with utter horror
He sobered up quickly
What had he done?
His eyes were wild with panic
and it says that he was deeply grieved
Deeply grieved
I wonder
he could have changed things
he could have made a difference
he could have spoken up
he could have been strong and said no,
and spared a good man’s life
But all eyes were on him
All the officials of the court
He could NOT lose face in front of them
He could not appear weak in honor
He could not displease the court
He could not appear weak to his people

It was barbaric and horrific
The guard was sent to the prison,
and right there in the prison
he cut off John’s head
And then, at the time of the final course of the meal
the guard came into the crowded room
and handed the platter to the girl
a platter with the head of John the Baptist on it
The girl handed it to her mother,
who was satisfied at her revenge

And still I wonder, why did Mark have to tell us this?
He could have easily left this out
But the story is right before the story of Jesus feeding the 5,000
out in a remote part of the wilderness
where he’d been teaching and preaching
It was as if Mark had to tell us the conditions in which
Jesus went on with his ministry
under the tension of knowing what happens in this world
to people who speak truth that is not pretty
Truth that must be spoken
but most people opt for the easier way

This story shows us that it is dangerous to tell the truth
in this world
It’s dangerous to be passionate,
it’s dangerous to care
it’s dangerous to go against the status quo
or public opinion
Jesus says in the Gospel of John,
“you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free…”
But according to this story,
the truth will also get you killed

Beth Neilson Chapman is a folk singer
and songwriter
who writes songs for people like Martina McBride
and other big stars
And she recorded a song called, “Beautiful Fool”
In it, she says,
“Oh, you beautiful fool,
swimming upstream, kicking up waves
dreams weren’t meant to come true,
that’s why they call them dreams,
oh, you beautiful fool.”
She mentions Martin Luther, who challenged the Roman Church
during the Reformation
and got into a lot of trouble
She mentions, Mahatma Ghandi
who worked for peaceful, non-violent strategies
in a world so bent on violence
She mentions Jesus Christ, another beautiful fool
who got himself killed for speaking the truth
in a world that would rather speak what’s popular
and be comfortable
She celebrates the beautiful fools of the world
who of course look like fools to most people
but who live with passion, commitment
and a driving spiritual sense of purpose
that gives them courage to face opposition
to go against the flow
to be labeled a traitor or a heretic

We have a whole history of beautiful fools
people who were burned at the stake
excommunicated from the Church,
shot down on a hotel balconies
or riding in a car
or giving a speech at a hotel,
Fools who were executed alongside convicted criminals
scorned by good religious people as deserving of death
Fools who were beheaded
on a lustful whim
imprisoned wrongfully for a few decades
or simply crucified by public opinion

Some of our most creative geniuses who ever lived
were the most troubled,
the most depressed, the most socially scorned
or publically humiliated
So many beautiful fools cut off much too young
because the world doesn’t handle them well
and it’s not socially prudent to be a fool

I think maybe Mark told this story
because he wanted to contrast the cruelty
and foolishness of our world
that crushes the passionate
with the power that comes from God
who seems to find the unlikeliest, weirdest people
to speak God’s truth of love, mercy, passion and grace

In the end, we have to wonder,
what is it that we want in this life?
To live with purpose and passion for a cause
that is eternal
that is empowered by the very one who creates
and sustains us?
The one who calls us by the power of Jesus Christ
who lived, taught, healed, and died for love
and never compromised his mission, his purpose
even if it killed him?

Or do we want to make sure everyone likes us?
Do we live for the approval of other people
Do we go along with the crowd
so that we won’t get hurt?
This world always proves its fickleness
and whatever pleasures we get in this world
are always temporary
I’d rather live for the eternal purposes of Jesus
I’d rather spend my life living and speaking truth
for the sake of mercy, justice, grace and love
as I know it from the one who wasn’t afraid to die
knowing that even death
is just a temporary inconvenience
That we are people of eternity
sent here to live out the truth of Jesus’ life, teachings,
death and resurrection
I’d rather be a beautiful fool for Christ….

A Poem by Langston Hughes

I just discovered this this morning. What else could we substitute for "black"? There are many.


Bible Belt
By Langston Hughes

It would be too bad if Jesus
Were to come back black.
There are so many churches
Where he could not pray
In the U.S.A.,
Where entrance to Negroes,
No matter how sanctified,
Is denied,
Where race, not religion,
Is glorified.
But say it --
you may be
Crucified.