A Sermon on Matthew 6:19-34

I don't know if it is because this is my second to last sermon or if it is because of the richness of the text or what... but I had a zillion illustrations and no focus floating around my head all week after studying on Monday. I had a ridiculous anxiety dream about this sermon (on the "be ye not anxious" text!) last night. But I threw a draft together on the drive home from our get-away that is reasonably focused, I think. I'd appreciate any feedback. For some reason, I just can't let this one go. I expanded the pericope from the lectionary because it felt incomplete as recommended.

In my pastor's page for the May White Spire I did a fair bit of remembering, especially remembering back to Memorial Day weekend 2002 when I first met so many of you. One of my most vivid memories from that weekend was of my first conversation with Bill T. which moved along rather nicely until he asked the question "Are you into birds?" To which I responded "No, not particularly." At which point he promptly stood up and with a wave of his hand dismissed me. Apparently he was a wee bit embarrassed when I recounted this story in the White Spire. But I did not mean to embarrass him. I found it to be a rather endearing moment, actually. Here was a man who knew what was important to him and who wasn't afraid to express that. And certainly that first meeting with Bill is not the only experience I had of him in the past six years. I will take away from here many, many memories of all of you, and many of Bill in particular.

One of my most cherished memories of Bill will be of the role he played for many years on the stewardship and finance committee. As our Gospel reading suggests today money and material goods and anxiety or worry often go hand in hand. When a group of church members sit down to talk money, it is not unusual for anxiety to run high. Somebody is usually convinced we'll run out of money any day now and others are concerned we're throwing money away. When it comes time to set a budget for the new year and to invite commitments for that year, it is not surprising for there to be much sighing and hand wringing. This happens in all churches. It is normal human behavior. But... this is what made Bill's presence on the stewardship and finance committee so memorable and so valuable. He was always cool and calm as a cucumber. He often had a smile on his face. When he chaired the committee he'd come to meetings with a lovely prayer prepared to offer. And when others would start to voice their worries or concerns he'd say "We'll be fine. God will provide. God always does." Even when giving was down and expenses were up, he'd maintain this perspective. And he'd reduce the anxiety in the room.

So as I studied our passage this week I got to thinking about Bill and his unusual relationship to money and material goods and then also about Bill and his relationship to birds. Jesus advised his disciples when worry creeps in about how daily needs might be met to consider what? Well, first he suggests that they consider the birds of the air. Birds who neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet are fed by God. I know we have a lot of bird lovers in this congregation, but I'm not sure that any have spent as much time considering birds as dear saint of the church Bill T. has. For goodness sake, not so long ago he and Jane travelled all the way to South Africa to consider birds. Could it be that his deep and abiding trust in the provision of God which made such an impression on the stewardship and finance committee is directly correlated to the attention he pays to the birds of the air?

I wonder. In any case, I believe our Gospel reading, and the life and witness of Bill T., suggests that where we set our sights has everything to do with the quality of life we lead. The truth is that an obsessive focus on the stuff of this world has a tendency to increase anxiety, and increased anxiety has a tendency to decrease life satisfaction. Jesus asks "Can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life?" What an excellent question. In fact, don't we know that worrying eats up hours and hours of our lives? Can I get a witness from any worriers in the room? I know that I can testify. And hasn't modern science revealed that stress, often fueled by anxiety, can actually shorten lives?

And have you noticed that in your own personal lives, just as in the life of the church, material goods and worry go hand in hand? When we focus on the stuff of our lives, the stuff in our bank accounts or investments, the stuff in our houses or garages, the stuff in our refrigerators, the stuff in our storage units... the stuff... when we focus on the stuff, the stuff we have that we have to take care of or find a place for, the stuff we don't have that we want, the stuff of our lives our worry tends to go up. When our sights are set on treasures on earth, there are always more treasures that we could have, and there are always threats to our treasures, we quickly get the perception that we do not have now and never will have enough. This is true for people on all rungs of the social ladder, when our eyes are set only on the material treasures of this world, money or possessions, no matter how much we have, we can easily believe we do not have enough or that what we have will someday go away.

This is particularly true in economic times like those in which we now find ourselves. When oil is selling for over $100 a barrel and the price at the pump has shot up to over $4.00 a gallon, when the cost of basic groceries has doubled or even tripled, when foreclosure rates are shooting higher and higher... at times like these there are many worrying and wondering about their futures and the future of their children. Many on all rungs of the social ladder, when focusing on material things here and now, feel their blood pressure rising.

I listened to an utterly fascinating, deeply disturbing, highly illuminating hour of radio a week or so ago that I would be happy to burn to c.d. for anyone who might be interested. It was a joint production of the radio show "This American Life" and NPR News called "The Giant Pool of Money" and it was examining just how the housing crisis in which our country now finds itself came to be. Those who assembled the show considered folks all along the chain of money borrowing and lending from individual borrowers, to mid-level loan agents, to mid level investment managers, to big wall street investment managers and pointing even to global investors. What struck me most in this hour of radio was that at every single link of the chain the disease of greed could be detected. Individual borrowers were borrowing money they had no business borrowing to be able to live a life they couldn't afford to live, lenders were lending money irresponsibly because there were investors who wanted to invest in mortgage backed securities which required more and more mortgages, and investors wanted greater and greater return on their investments fueling this cycle of the making of risky loans. For awhile while housing prices were rising many along this chain got richer and richer and richer. But when the bubble burst and housing prices started dropping... many, many were hurt. Or rather, I should say, many are hurting. It seems to me that this housing crisis which is one big piece of the overall economic mess our country appears to be in was the result of a national hyper focus on material goods and wealth. We've landed in a sea of worry after letting our corporate vision be infected by greed.

The pithy observation that Jesus makes in this passage that one cannot serve God and wealth, that one ends up inevitably loving one and hating the other, a slave to one and an opponent to the other, seems proven true by our national story. When we set our sights on the service of our own wealth, what happens to us? Do we not find ourselves then in a position where it is harder and harder to live as the generous and gentle people God has called us to be? How can we live lives of love, obedient to Christ's greatest commandment, loving God with all that we are and loving our neighbors as ourselves, when we are sucked into anxious cycles of accumulation and loss?

So how shall we live instead? Jesus suggests that rather than working to store treasures on earth that instead our energies ought to be invested in storing treasures in heaven. He suggests that we consider birds and flowers, that we look to the beautiful creation to see how well God provides. He suggests that we strive for God's kingdom and God's righteousness above all else. And finally he suggests that each day be lived for itself, that each be taken in turn, that we live fully in the present moment.

Jesus first suggestion to store up treasures in heaven might leave you scratching your head. "How am I supposed to do that?" you might wonder. I suspect that the rest of Jesus' advice in this passage gives us some idea, but I heard a story this past week that sounded to me like one way of storing treasure in heaven. Brianna, a relatively new cast member in [P- a local musical writer's] productions, has twin two year old daughters. We got talking before P's preview production last week about the funny things that kids say and do. Brianna said that she and a friend are always calling one another to swap stories about their kids. One of the other people at the table admonished her to write everything down because it will all be forgotten, but Brianna responded by saying something like this. "Rather than worrying about writing everything down, I just try to truly soak in and appreciate what is happening when it is happening. I give thanks to God in the moment and try to love that moment fully. Like just recently it was a beautiful day and our yard was full of dandelions. My girls were both wearing jeans and they went outside to play. I came out to check on them only to find one of them had her jeans on backwards and she was bent over with her little hiney sticking up in the air while her sister was shoving dandelions every which way into her two pockets. It was so precious. I didn't run inside to write it down. I just watched it unfold. I soaked it up. And I gave thanks to God right then and there." Brianna is surely storing a treasure in heaven when she stays present to the moment like this, when she delights in these two precious gifts that God has given her, and when she takes these moments as opportunities to return thanks to God. And I imagine that if she continues to live life like this, even if she can't remember these unspeakably precious moments when the girls are screaming at each other at the age of 16, she will be accustomed to setting her sights on God and God's provision, she will be practiced in trusting God, she may be free from the worry that plagues so many of us.

Will you, like Bill, look to the birds? Or like Brianna to the dandelions in backwards pockets? On what will you set your sights that you might increasingly find yourself growing in love and service of God, and in joyful trust in God's provision?