Anxiety anxieties

Sermon for the fifteenth Sunday after Trinity 

We human beings

are time-bound.

We are born,

we live and we die

and our lives are divided 

into past, present and future.

At every instant

we are aware of 

our circumstances now,

our histories then,

and our expectations to come.

Each comes with 

its own dreads.

We call the dread

of things happening around us

fear.

We call the dread 

of rembering the past

regret.

We call the dread

of things to come,

anxiety.

Each of these

stunts our lives

because dread

allows something 

to take control over us

and how we live.

Our Lord says very clearly

that we have a choice between 

two masters:

God and Mammon.

The one gives us life

and the freedom to live it.

The other controls our life

and takes living away from us.

It isn't that we serve Mammon

willingly,

though some do.

But rather that we allow 

material things 

to control us.

Dread is itself 

a sign that we trust more

in material things

than we do God.

[PAUSE]

Of the three dreads

anxiety is the worst

because it is so slippery.

Because we can't see the future 

we imagine what the future 

will be like

and our imagination 

can take many forms.

If our imagination

can take many forms 

then so can our anxiety.

This is why the Ghost 

of Christmas yet to come

is the most terrifying 

of the three spirits 

that visit Ebenezer Scrooge.

For Scrooge,

the terror of what might happen 

completes his redemption 

and helps him realise

that if he lives in love 

then love will live with him

in him and through him.

The genius of the Ghost 

of Christmas yet to come,

isn't that he instills anxiety

with some vague threat

but that he gives Scrooge

something clear to focus on

and avoid 

by changing his life.

[PAUSE]

Our Lord shows us the same thing.

He shows us lives

blighted by crippling anxiety

about what could happen 

in the future:

homelessness,

pain,

starvation,

loneliness,

misery,

pointlessness,

hatred,

exhaustion.

All these nebulous fears

about what could happen 

take control 

and stop us from living.

That's not what God wants.

[PAUSE]

Jesus is so clear.

Only God knows the future.

But God values you, yes you,

so much 

that He is willing to die

for your salvation,

eternal happiness

in a good eternal home,

eternally free from pain,

surrounded by those who

truly love you,

eternally refreshed,

eternally nourished and enriched,

and eternally fulfilled.

Even in this life

God knows what we need.

He even knows our anxieties 

and their cause

and their effect

and He wants you

to give Him control,

not to enslave you

but to fulfill you.

He isn't going to guarantee 

a future without hardship 

but He does guarantee 

that whatever hardship we face

will not define us,

will not control us,

will not last forever.

But we have to trust Him 

on that 

because our little lifespan

cannot cope 

with the presence of Eternity 

just as a balloon 

cannot cope with being

filled with the entirety of the sea.

[PAUSE]

The Cross is the proof 

of Jesus' words that 

we are each one

not only lovable 

but actually loved.

We cannot let our expectations 

of the future rule us,

nor can we allow the fear

of disappointment 

cause us to turn way from God.

Through prayer,

and living the Christian life,

we come to learn

to recognise the voice of God

so that,

when things get too dark for us to see

we can hear Him call

and guide us through

into His marvellous light.

The future might be a frightening place,

with anxieties and dreads,

but Eternity with God

is longer lasting

and more certain,

and this wonderful state

promised for us,

causes Dread to dread

and gives Anxiety anxieties.