Date: May 22, 2011
Scripture Lessons: John 14:1-14 and Acts 7:55-60
Sermon: Anxiety Antidote
Pastor: Rev. Kim P. Wells
A couple of months ago, the electronic keyboard from the church sanctuary was stolen. It was eventually located at a pawn shop by the police and we have it back. In this process, the police showed me a picture of the woman who they believe is responsible for the theft. Evidently, she has an 8 year old child, and told the police that she stole the keyboard to get money to support her child. Mind you, we got the keyboard from the pawn shop for $100. That was enough to motivate her to steal from a church and risk a jail sentence. She must have been really anxious and desperate about how she was going to care for her child.
People are experiencing anxiety in all different kinds of ways today. This woman had economic anxiety about how to provide for her child. People have anxiety about money. About growing old. About health. About the future of the planet. People have social anxieties about dealing with others and anxieties about relationships. People have anxiety about violence and war and crime. People have anxiety about the well-being of their families. And about drugs and drinking and addiction. People have anxiety over the influence of technology on the human species. People have anxiety about jobs and lay offs and cuts in government spending. Just ask a teacher or someone who works for the state or federal government. People have anxiety about personal safety, going out at night, going to school, traveling at home and abroad. There was a letter to the editor after the killing of Osama bin Laden wondering if we were going to go back to pre-9/11 security procedures at the airports now. Ha! And our anxiety level is jacked up by media and TV and entertainment that is filled with violence. There is anxiety about rejection, failure, and the big one, DEATH. Our society is churning with anxiety. You may have come to church feeling peaceful and secure, but now you may be starting to feel anxious and unsure!
So what does our faith tradition have to say to us about all of this anxiety? The two scripture lessons that we heard this morning address this very matter. The verses we heard from John are from the beginning of what is called John’s farewell discourse. Jesus has told his disciples that he will be leaving them. That he will soon be killed. They are overwrought with anxiety. They have followed him, left home and family, risked the ire and ridicule of religious authorities, and banked on him. He’s leaving them? To suffer and die a humiliating death? That’s not what they signed on for. They are worried and anxious about their future.
We can imagine their horror. Think of someone who has worked a lifetime for a corporation that goes bankrupt, and there will be no pensions or health insurance or any benefits for career employees. Consider someone investing all of their money in a business and the partner absconds with the funds and leaves the country. What about someone who has eaten right and exercised for years only to find out they are dying of a rare form of cancer. Or the family whose child is killed in a car accident by a drunk driver. Or the spouse, who after decades of marriage announces that she/he is leaving the relationship and the family. We know what it is to face the fear and anxiety of the bottom dropping out of our lives. That’s how it was for the disciples when Jesus tells them that he is going to be killed. What will they do? How will they go on?
To address this anxiety, the writer of John’s gospel has Jesus give the disciples a long farewell speech to calm their fears and reassure them. He basically tells them, “Don’t worry, trust God.” Jesus tells his friends to stay true to all they have experienced with him. Continue to believe in the goodness and love of God and love one another. Serve others. Invest yourself in something beyond yourself – in God’s hopes and dreams. These are the basic themes of his ministry. They need only stay on the path that they are
on and everything will be fine. God can be trusted. God is faithful.
In the case of Stephen, again, we hear of a situation fraught with anxiety. Stephen has given a long speech to the religious leaders and basically highlighted God’s faithfulness and the disobedience of God’s people. These leaders are filled with fury. And they stone Stephen to death for heresy.
The people who kill Stephen are anxious. They perceive a threat to their power and authority. They feel attacked. They are afraid. Those who stone Stephen are filled with malice and fury. They are blood thirty and poisoned with hatred. They lash out in vitriolic violence. They close their ears and their hearts and open their hands to throw stones. This is basically a lynching. They deal with their anxiety by engaging in reactive violence and destruction.
So here we see a stark contrast in the response to anxiety and fear. Jesus, Stephen, and the disciples are faced with threatening situations. And Jesus advises, follow the Way. Stay true to God and to love. And Stephen is a beautiful example of following Jesus. He dies like Jesus did. He commends his spirit to God and forgives his killers. He comes across peaceful. Serene. Steady. Calm. Loving. Trusting.
Then there are those doing the stoning. We are told they are loud, they rush against Stephen, and drag him away. They are hate-filled. Violent. Hostile. Rabid. So different from Stephen and from Jesus.
In the farewell discourse when Jesus tells his followers that he is the Way, he is reminding a small group of faithful people from a specific religious tradition that the way he has shown them will indeed lead them to the fulfillment of their spiritual longings. Jesus is assuring his anxious friends that they need to continue to trust all that they have experienced of the love, generosity, compassion, and mercy of God while they have been with him. He wants them to remember that through loving and serving others they have found joy and peace. And as the anxiety escalates, the threat grows, and their fears increase, they need to stay grounded in all they have learned from him.
“I am the Way, the truth and the life,” was not directed to a situation involving the threat of other religions. This was spoken to people dealing with a threat from within their own religion. Jesus was addressing anxiety related to a threat from within, he was not making a statement about Christianity or Judaism relative to other religions. Jesus was reminding his friends to stay true to anti-violence, love, forgiveness, service, and compassion. Don’t get swept away in the frenzy of reactive violence. Don’t lash out in hatred. Don’t abandon love. Don’t get taken in by an eye for an eye. Make a witness to the truth of love as the way to full and abundant life. Don’t let your anxiety and fear lead you to abandon your trust in the God you have come to know through me.
Several months ago, our church sponsored Neighbor to Neighbor dialogues at the local library which was an opportunity for people of different faiths to come together to discuss their beliefs and religious commitments. It was done to help diffuse hostility and tension and fear among people of differing faiths. We reached out in this way showing our trust in God’s universal love as we have learned of it from Jesus Christ.
In the first century, following Jesus was about a lifestyle. It was about embodying generosity and community. It was about healing and serving others. It was about celebrating a God of love, mercy, and generosity. It was not about following rules or ascribing to doctrine and dogma about God or Jesus. Christianity began as a way of living that eschewed violence, hatred, and life centered on self interest. The Way was about relationships that crossed class and social and religious barriers. It was about helping the poor. It was about living for others and for the common good.
Today, Christianity is known predominantly for its theological truth claims rather than for the behavior of its adherents. In our society as a whole, can you identify the Christians by their behavior? Do they/we act differently enough that they stand out from others? Does our lifestyle give us away? For the most part, Christians are known for believing that Jesus is God, that he came back from the dead in the body, and his followers are going to heaven. Christians are also known for expecting Jesus to return, even if they can’t get the date right! These identifying characteristics involve theoretical beliefs. That’s how Christians are identified today for the most part. For beliefs. Not primarily for behavior. Back in the day, when Stephen was stoned, Christians were known for their behavior. For their love, forgiveness, and generosity toward others. They were known for serving the poor.
When we took in the homeless here at our church some years ago that was our motivation – to show God’s love and care in our actions. Little did we know that we were going to receive significant hostility even from other Christians. Today, Christianity is mainly about beliefs about God and Jesus, rather than the ethical imperatives in the teachings of Jesus.
This past week, there was an article in the paper about a church in West Palm Beach where the congregation is in an uproar over a prayer request. After seeing the way people gleefully celebrated the killing of Osama bin Laden, Henry Borga paid $10, just as others do, to have a person put on the prayer list at his church. Borga, taking his Christian faith to heart, wanted the church to pray for the soul of bin Laden. Borga says he believes bin Laden “needs forgiveness and compassion from God.” He feels that praying for our enemies is “what God has taught us to do.” But evidently, the congregants of the Holy Name of Jesus Church do not agree. The church secretary thought the prayer request was a joke. Reacting to the prayer request for bin Laden, one church member declares: “I think it’s totally wrong, he doesn’t belong in the Catholic religion. For what he did to Americans, he doesn’t belong anywhere. It’s unconscionable, it’s sacrilegious.” The priest of the church has shown understanding and compassion for the congregation, while noting that the church has never turned down a prayer request. He concludes, “Jesus tells us, love and forgive.” [St. Petersburg Times, 5/19/11, “Church split over bin Laden prayers”]
This story reminds me of the service we had here in this sanctuary on Sept. 11,
2001, where we gathered to pray and one of the first prayer requests lifted up from
someone in the group was prayers for our enemy, Osama bin Laden.
Regardless of our feeling about bin Laden, the Way of Jesus, the ethical imperative of the one we follow, is love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. We have the example of Jesus from the cross. And Stephen as he is being stoned. In the face of hatred, anxiety, violence and fear, are we going to lash out or love? Jesus made the way clear. Love. As Mahatma Gandhi put it, “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.”
While we may not feel that our lives are being directly threatened at this very moment, we have our share of reasons to feel anxious and fearful and worried. The teachings of Jesus still speak to us today with reassurance. Trust love, forgiveness, and compassion. Invest in generosity and service to others. Pray for your enemies and forgive them. If you can’t think of emulating Jesus because he is the divine son of God, think of Stephen. One of the multitude of followers of Jesus. A regular guy, who chose to follow the Way of Jesus because it is a path to serenity and peace. To a calm heart and a joyful life.
Earlier I mentioned the woman who was involved with stealing the keyboard from the church. She was motivated by fear and anxiety about how she was going to provide for her child. The irony is, if she had come to church, explained her situation, and asked for help, we may very well have given her the $100 she needed from the Special Needs fund. By stealing from the church, she ends up with more anxiety, not less.
In the face of fear, dread, and violence, may we not close our eyes to the power of love, compassion, generosity, and forgiveness. It is the security and serenity system that cannot be breached. As we confront the anxiety of our days, may we hold fast to the way of Jesus; the antidote to anxiety. Amen.
A reasonable effort has been made to appropriately cite materials referenced in this sermon. For additional information, please contact Lakewood United Church of Christ.
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