A Homily on Anxiety & Fear in Uncertain Times
on John 14:27
by Griff Martin
March 15, 2020
*This document comes from an oral manuscript.
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
I won’t lie.... this is not my favorite of Jesus’ sayings.
I feel this is very much a “because I said so” response.
So I want to argue with Jesus on behalf of all of us this morning...
I would begin with this...
“Jesus, There is a lot to be anxious about these days. For instance as I am writing this we are in the midst of packing our bags to get on a flight back home tomorrow because we think cutting our time away and coming back home seems like the right thing to do, and as we are planning to head to the airport I have stopped counting the times I have heard the CNN anchor talking about not getting on a plane.
Or, Jesus, just glance at the emails that have flooded my inbox already this day with folks worried about finances and jobs and paying rent. Or emails from other folks who have folks they are worried about in terms of jobs and paying rent. Or people who are just scared, scared of catching this virus, scared of a loved one catching this virus, scared of being stuck at home alone, scared of family and friends who live in hot spots. Or people who are grieving because something they really loved and looked forward to has been cancelled and this is a whole other type of grief.
Or, Jesus, look at the front page of any paper or news website. There is a lot that is going on that we are anxious about. And to be honest, there already was a lot to be anxious about... we live in an age of anxiety and we (well a lot of us) are already a very anxious people and that was before we heard of COVID19.
So what do you have to say now, Jesus?”
And after a brief pause
(because Jesus is very thoughtful and listens fully before he responds)...
“Oh beloved... I say the same thing:
Peace I leave you; my peace I give you.
I do not give you as the world gives.
Do not let your hearts be troubled and don’t be afraid...
"Beloved, there is a lot to re-learn about this text. Just think about when I said it, this is one of my last teachings to the disciples before Jerusalem and my last week here. So don’t Hallmark felt board this one, this one was said when things were turbulent and quite scary. These are words meant for tough times.
Beloved, maybe you need to know peace a bit better. Peace is not the absence of fear and anxiety, it’s a calm in the midst of fear and anxiety and only I can give you that (I am fully playing the resurrection card here Beloved, but I feel it’s a very fair card to play because that is why I am the only one who can give peace). This peace is the type of calm that comes from cuddling up in my arms and letting me hold you for a while.
So beloved let’s start there. Turn the news alerts off your phone, stop checking Huffington Post, turn the TV off, turn NPR off... for now let’s just plan on only watching enough news so that you know what you need to do right now and you are well informed, but past that, let’s turn it off. Instead cuddle up in my arms and let me hold you.
I can’t give you something you are too busy to receive.
Beyond that all that news is just fuel to the anxiety fire already burning very bright.
So stop and breathe, deep life giving breaths. Slow down.
Let me hold you and give you peace.
And don’t let your heart be troubled because if it’s troubled, that is a good sign it is concerned with the wrong things. As one of my other favorite beloved children Anne Lamott writes, 'if you worry- don’t pray, if you pray- don’t worry.' A troubled heart is a worried heart.
And as one other of my favorite beloved children the Dixie Chicks sing, trouble is seeing double with the wrong one. Troubled hearts are full of the wrong things, I think I said it somewhere else, hearts are best used to love- to love Me, love others and love yourself. Start there and your heart fills up with the right things.
So try praying... try some time with me so that I can fill your heart (and it looks like you are going to have a lot of time on your hands the next bit to work on your prayer life and let’s be honest, how many times have you told me you want to do just that?)
And don’t be afraid... As one of my other favorite beloved children Elizabeth Gilbert writes, fear is a really bad driver. She compares our lives to a big old car trip and says that one of the most important choices we make each day is to tell fear that he can go along for the ride but that he can’t drive because he is a bad driver.
"So Beloved, how do you do this? Well, prayer and meditation and Sabbath are really good starting points. So is compassion. Think of something you can do for someone else today, often just getting your mind onto others is a huge step. Or even harder think of something you can do for yourself today.
But whatever you do don’t worry, after all who can add a single hour to their life by worrying? And if that doesn’t do it for you... pay attention to the birds and the flowers (just a reminder, these are some other things I said about worry it might be good to review).
And to mesh truths from two of my other favorite Beloved children, Saint Teresa and John Lennon, 'In the end all will be well, so if it’s not all well, it’s not the end.'
Trust me love wins.
Take peace in that, Beloved.
And also this... I love you.”
0 comments:
Post a Comment