Keep Us Firm in This Faith -- Pentecost II-Year A--May 25, 2008

The Reverend David R. Williams

God of unchangeable power, you have revealed yourself to us as Father, Son and Holy Spirit; keep us firm in this faith that we may praise and bless your holy name; for you are one God now and forever.  Amen.

 “Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own,” Jesus wisely tells his followers. 

Jesus wears many hats.   He is the great prophet and storyteller; he is the miraculous healer; he is the human face of a Trinitarian God; and he is a pastor, a comforter, a provocative sage.  In today’s Gospel, Jesus assumes the role of the latter.  In a way, he is our counselor and guide.    The symptom to which Jesus speaks as we sit on his therapeutic couch is our tendency to worry.

“Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own.”

A story is told of a community of ducks who waddle off to duck church one Sunday to hear their duck preacher.  After the ducks waddle into the duck sanctuary, the service begins, and the duck preacher speaks eloquently of how God has given the ducks wings with which to fly. 

The duck preacher pounds the pulpit with his beak and says, “With these wings, there is nowhere we ducks cannot go! There is no God-given task we ducks cannot accomplish!  With these wings we no longer need to walk through life.  We can soar high in the sky!”

Shouts of “Amen!” quack throughout the duck congregation. 

Every duck loves the service.  In fact, all of the ducks comment on the profound and inspirational message delivered by their duck preacher…and then they happily leave the church…and waddle all the way home.

So, Jesus, what could possibly worry us as we begin a promising new Church season of Pentecost – as we hear your exciting message of the Spirit in our lives?

What are we talking about these days?  Often, we are concerned about the strange extremes of the weather.  We’re aware of rising conflict on our streets, schools, and between tribes and nations. Recently, we have had interesting conversations about the election – primaries, presidential candidates.  There seems to be some anxiety in that department.

What about oil and the price of gas?  Has this not been the most common “worry” topic of the past few months—and even of many years?  Now, on a daily basis, we see the price at the pump not only vacillate-but rise. We read of the price of oil, internationally--moving upward, $120 to $135 in a week--conceivably reaching $200 a barrel within a few more weeks.  We might be paying $5 for a gallon of gasoline soon.  Some alarmists say – maybe even $10 to 12 a gallon.  Kiplinger forecasts that the price will fall back to $3 a gallon by the fall.  Nobody knows. 

Oil, a limited resource, is the international manna from heaven demanded by all nations of the world.  Developing nations such as India and China are joining Western nations in a seemingly boundless need for energy – oil topping the list.  Greater demand, limited supply – a simple economic theory of higher prices and more intense worry. 

The heads of five or six oil companies sat before congress this past week.  These oil companies are doing very well, reaping loads of money these days.  The companies also know that their product is limited.  Today is good for them; tomorrow could be as dark as those days not so long ago when we Americans adapted to lower speed limits on the highways and longer lines at the gas pumps.  The international price of oil was about $33 a barrel back then. 

In those days, did we really worry? Did we really listen to our Duck Sermons--and learn any lessons about limited resources? What do we want to hear and take home with us?

Some blame the President. Our President could not convince the Saudi King to increase oil output.  The President of the United States has been turned down twice on this request. 

The Saudis know that their manna – their oil--is limited. 

We cannot blame the Saudis, nor can we blame our President.  

And we continue to feel worried…worried about keeping our cars going at the same breakneck speed, worried about the ripple effects of high gas prices on groceries, medicines and healthcare, air travel for business and family. Transportation of goods across the country and around the world is becoming much more expensive.  We don’t know how it will all play out. 

A few months ago, we worried about water.   During the drought, remember?  A limited resource suddenly becomes precious…not at all life-threatening, as in other parts of the world, but our eyes are opened.  We see how quickly a limited resource can become a dire need.

International balance of power is fragile, and sensitive to the rippling effect of oil costs. New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman offers a dark picture:

“According to Congressional testimony Wednesday by an energy expert, with oil at $200 a barrel the OPEC nations could potentially buy Bank of America in one month worth of production; OPEC could buy Apple computers in a week of production and General Motors in just three days of production.”

The international balance of power is shifting.      

The Duck Sermon has been preached.  There is nobody to blame but you and me.  We create the source of our own worry.  We demand--more and more and more.  Even those who say we could drill for more oil realize the drilling will stop one day, and there will be no more oil. 

Let us return to Jesus.  The message Jesus gives to his followers, and later appreciated by the struggling community of Christians, is that our Lord did not give the gift of the Kingdom on an incremental basis.  In other words, God did not say to God’s people, you do such and such – get to level A, then I shall guide you to level B. When you get there, I’ll take you to C and eventually to the Kingdom.  No, our Lord gives us the ultimate.  Our Lord gave us the Kingdom, the ability to fly like a duck.  In faith, we strive for God’s kingdom now—as stewards of God’s precious earth.

A philosopher guru of an Eastern religion put it like this.  He cites a visit by his friend, Jim:

“I usually wash the dishes after we’ve finished the evening meal, before sitting down and drinking tea with everyone else.  One evening, the guest, Jim, asks if he might do the dishes.”

The writer says, “Go ahead, but if you wash the dishes, you must know the way to wash them.  There are two ways to wash the dishes.  The first is to wash dishes in order to have clean dishes and the second is to wash the dishes in order to wash the dishes.”

The writer’s guest immediately hears the wisdom and chooses the second way.

The wise guru says, “If while washing dishes, we think only of the cup of tea that awaits us, and thus hurry to get the dishes out of the way as if they were a nuisance, then we are not ‘washing the dishes to wash the dishes.’ What’s more, we are not alive during the time we are washing the dishes.  In fact, we are completely incapable of realizing the miracle of life while standing at the sink.”

Maybe the oil crisis is doing us a favor by giving us renewed opportunity to learn of the wonder of walking, riding a bike, taking a train, buying more fuel-efficient automobiles, slowing down on the interstate, making use of locally grown food, planning and developing communities geared less to driving and more to walking – so that we can again realize the miracle of standing at the sink when we wash the dishes.  We can rediscover our wings.

“Strive first for the kingdom of God and God’s righteousness,” Jesus says to his followers and to us today, “and all these things will be given to you.  So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own.  Today’s trouble is enough for today.”

Amen.