Brad Sullivan
Proper 24, Year C
October 16, 2016
Emmanuel, Houston
2 Timothy 3:14-4:5
Luke 18:1-8
Catastrophizing The Presidential Election...Or Trusting In Jesus.
Does anyone else ever find themselves catastrophizing their
lives? Imagining the worse scenario
happening, maybe even what would you do if?
I thought it was pretty uncommon, maybe even that I was the only one who
did that, but I find more and more that catastrophizing our lives is actually
quite common. We’re afraid of things,
and our brains seem to like to try to prepare us for possible tragedy by
playing out our fears. It doesn’t
actually help, but our brains sometimes just don’t get that. When we’re afraid, we often live into our
fears, and we can’t really spread that much love and joy and hope when we’re
catastrophizing our lives.
In the midst of our worries and fears, Jesus said, “Do not
be afraid.” “Do not worry.” “Do not lose heart.” Jesus repeated these refrains throughout his
ministry, which tells us his disciples and all those whom Jesus taught were
rather anxious and worried as well. It
may be rather gratifying to realize that we are not the only ones who are
living in an anxious time. We are not
the only ones who worry about the present, the future, heck even the past. Into the darkness of our anxieties and fears,
Jesus brings us the light of hope, and as Paul wrote in Romans 5, “hope does
not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through
the Holy Spirit…”
At the heart of Jesus’ teaching and the practice of hope,
was his teaching and practice of praying always and not losing heart. At the core of Jesus’ teaching is a
persistent hope and trust in God, and God’s abiding love for us is at the heart
of this hope.
God’s abiding love for us is at the heart of the parable
Jesus told about the unjust judge (who didn’t care about God or anyone, we are
told) and the widow who kept bothering him.
The judge in Jesus’ story didn’t care a hill of beans for this societally
unimportant widow. She wasn’t going to
help get him re-elected. She couldn’t
bribe him, but she was terminally annoying in her persistence. She was like a toddler asking for
something. If you ignore them, they just
get louder. So with no love in his
heart, the judge granted justice to the widow just out of self preservation.
God, on the other hand, deeply loves us, Jesus is reminding
us. So fear not, for he will grant
justice not out of annoyance, but out of love.
Hope in God, even in the dark times, for God is sovereign, good, and the
source of all light, love, and grace.
Jesus’ teaching about our hope in God and the need to pray
always and not lose heart was a part of a greater discourse in which he had
been teaching about the kingdom of God.
The Pharisees has been questioning Jesus, seemingly concerned about when
the Kingdom of God was coming. My guess
is that this was playing into some of those worries and fears and catastrophizing
life.
There seemed concerned about when God was coming so that
folks could clean up their acts just in time.
Getting the house cleaned up before the guests arrive…“No, our house
always looks this good; what, yours doesn’t?”
Don’t worry about when God is coming, Jesus said. Don’t fret about when to clean the house. Don’t fret about not being good enough for
God. You’re not good enough for
God. That’s the point. God is ok with that. God’s grace is what makes you good enough,
not your efforts at cleaning. God’s
grace is more than sufficient to clean your house for you once he gets here, if
you really need him to. Truth be told,
though, God’s already seen the clutter of your house and is really over
it. He’s pretty well unimpressed by
it. We’re all a mess, and God gets
that. His grace is more than sufficient
for us.
So, rather than worrying about when God is going to show up,
like the bogeyman, Jesus answered the Pharisees, “the Kingdom of God is among
you.”
The kingdom of God is among you, so live the kingdom
life. Live as my disciples. Live the way, the truth, and the life that I
am, Jesus taught. Do not worry. Do not be afraid. Do not let your fears and anxieties rule your
life. Pray continually, and do not lose
heart. Pray continually for God’s
kingdom to be lived out among and within you.
Pray continually for God’s kingdom to spread to those around you, in
your homes, in your work, in your communities, cities, in the world. Pray continually that God’s Holy Spirit,
having been poured into your hearts, will lead you and strengthen you to live
out God’s kingdom, to share his love and justice and peace.
You see, contra some modern gospels and preaching, Jesus is
not the great self help book in the sky.
Jesus teaching to pray continually and not lose heart was for his
disciples’ sake, to be sure, but his teaching went beyond helping the disciples
just for their own sake. “Pray
continually and do not lose heart so that you can life out my kingdom,” Jesus
was saying. Pray continually and do not
lose heart so that you will not constantly catastrophize your fears and will
instead be filled with faith, hope, and love, and spread the joy of faith,
hope, and love, to those around you in your words and actions.
Anyone hear of an election coming up pretty soon? Talk about catastrophizing our fears, this
election is one in which many are losing heart.
There is a huge amount of fear on both sides that the other candidate
will win, and many on both sides seem like they can’t imagine anything worse in
the world than the other candidate winning.
Some people are even becoming afraid of admitting to supporting whatever
candidate they support. Some are afraid
of losing friends. Some are afraid of
being told how stupid they are for possibly being an idiot enough for support
the other candidate. Some are actually
afraid for their physical well being. It
feels like as a nation, we are catastrophizing this election.
As disciples of Jesus, we have a duty...no, not a duty. We have the joy, during this election,
to pray continually and not lose heart. We have the joy to spread the light of hope, the light
of faith and love, into the darkness of all the anxieties and fears over this
election. The bottom line is this, in
the upcoming election, anywhere from 40-60% of the population is going to be
mightily disappointed in the result, regardless of who wins, and regardless of
who wins, God is still sovereign. God is
not going to abdicate ruling the universe either to Donald or to Hillary.
God is here and with us, and God is for us regardless of who
wins. God is here and with us and for us
during the trials and misfortunes of life, and God is here and with us and for
us during the joys and blessings of life.
God is here and with us and for us when we make great decisions and when
we make bone-headed decisions. So pray
and do not lose heart.
Pray continually, and do not lose heart for all those times
when you and everyone around you falls short of God’s kingdom. We always have and we always will continue to
fall short of God’s kingdom. We have and
we will continue not to love as we have been loved. We have and will continue the let our fears
and our anxieties rule our actions. We
have and will continue to want to control the actions of others, concentrating
on how the speck in their eye is ruining the world, rather than trying to heal
the world by removing the log in our own eye.
That’s why God has given us grace. Fear not those who don’t live out God’s
kingdom way. Fear not during these
anxious times, but rather continue to pray and continue through your prayers to
open yourself to God’s Holy Spirit which has been poured into your heart to
live out God’s kingdom. Do not be afraid
and do not lose heart.
Practice gratitude instead of fear. Rather than catastrophize your fears,
remember and give thanks for all that is good in the world. Remember and give thanks for all that is good
in your life. Then cast your anxieties
where they can be best handled. Cast
your anxieties on God, and trust him with the running of the universe, for at
the heart of our hope, at the heart of our gratitude, at the heart of Jesus’
teaching and practice of praying always and not losing heart is a persistent
trust and hope in God. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment