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Pray, Petition and Request

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“Pray, Petition and Request”

Philippians 4:4-7 (4:6) –November 20, 2022

Sharing together. We share many things together. We share conversations, we share meals, we share good times together. We share sadness, we share worry, we share bad times together. We also share prayer praises and prayer requests together.

            I’m reminded of the time each Sunday we set aside in the services here at St. Luke’s Church, specifically for prayer concerns. We ask for concerns as well as praises. We lift up the joys that happen in our lives as well as the sad times. This time is a time of drawing closer together, of affirmation, and of caring and concern for one other as a community.

            We can see this kind of care and concern here in our Scripture passage for today. The believers in the city of Philippi had real love and concern in their hearts for the Apostle Paul. We see Paul had a deep and warm love for this group of believers in Jesus Christ.

            Paul was not the kind of guy who stayed in one place for very long. He was an itinerant minister, almost a circuit-riding teacher, preacher and evangelist. But, traveling around as Paul did, things came up. From Paul’s own account, a lot of things happened to him, and many of them were very unpleasant, including beatings, stonings, shipwrecks, and other kinds of dangers. If anyone here is interested, a first-person account of some of Paul’s life and journeys as an itinerant preacher can be found in 2 Corinthians 11.

John Lennon once said, “Life is what happens in between the things you plan.” I’m sure the Apostle Paul could relate. Somehow, the Philippian believers found out about the difficulties Paul was having. Without any letter requesting money, without any beneficence inquiry, without anyone from the apostolic development office asking for a donation, the Philippians decided on their own to take up a collection and send it to Paul.

They weren’t close by, so they sent a member of their community to hand-deliver their love-gift to Paul, their pastor, Epaphroditus. There was a complication. Paul was in prison. Not just in some sleepy little backwater of a town. No, Paul was in jail in the capitol city. Serious jail, guarded by career army personnel. The Philippians needed to send their gift all the way to Rome.

As Dr. McGee said in his commentary, the Philippian church was the group who came to Paul’s need when he was in prison. They sent him badly needed support! Paul was their former pastor, and their missionary, too. [1]

            One of the reasons that Paul wrote this letter in response to the Philippian believers was to send a thank-you letter. Sandwiched in among the suggestions and commands Paul gives his friends, long-distance from Rome, is this command—“don’t worry!” What a thing for Paul to say! Of all people, he had good reason to be anxious and concerned about his own situation!

He is waiting in prison—remember, in serious jail—looking at the capital charge of treason and blasphemy for denying that “Caesar is Lord.” At this point, it was quite possible that Paul was going to die, probably from beheading. From our point of view, today, just thinking about all that Paul was dealing with, how could he say “don’t worry!”??

            Worry can be insidious. Gnawing away at our insides. Like acid, eating us up. (And sometimes that is exactly the case, as in stomach ulcers!) You and I have lots we can potentially worry about: the economy, the government, fighting and violence near and far, our health and our loved ones’ health, our homes, our families, even worry about our pets.

            Now that we know a little more about what Paul was facing, let’s listen again to several verses from chapter 4: “6Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

            Wow! Paul—in prison, mind you!—tells the Philippians “don’t worry!” But instead—pray! Pray, and let your requests be made known to God! Paul says that prayer is the antidote for the problem of worry!

            I am especially intrigued about what Paul says after “Pray!” He says that God’s peace will replace worry. This peace of mind from God, from above, will guard your heart and mind. The Greek word “guard” means “will stand watch over your heart and mind.” In other words, the peace of God will come and occupy the place anxiety once held! Like a nightwatchman, or a soldier keeping watch. God’s peace helping keep us peaceful!

            How many of us know people who worry? How many of us are related to people who worry? . . . How many of us are people who worry? Such a difficult habit to dislodge when worry is so deeply ingrained. Worry and anxiety can become a terrible, negative, corrosive habit. As I said, eating us up, from the inside out. Here, the Apostle Paul gives us the antidote for worry. Prayer! And, we need something to put in the place of worry and anxiety.  

Let us list Paul’s Pointers on Worry. We’ll recap! One, Don’t Worry! Two, Pray! Three, God’s Peace will stand guard over your heart and mind! And now, Four: God is going to help us develop a new mental program, a new way of thinking that will build us up, instead of tearing us down. This new way of thinking will be nurturing and helpful, instead of negative and corrosive.    

Verse 8 tells us, “whatever is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about these things!” God doesn’t want us to be worried and anxious. That is not living life abundantly. God dearly wants us to have positive, helpful, nurturing things on our minds and hearts. To be helpful and loving, inside and out. What a command from Paul!

Don’t worry?? Yes!! And God will help us with this new way of thinking, anytime we want to start! We can leave worry and anxiety behind, and God’s peace will help us guard our minds and hearts. Then, we are freed from worry to live life God’s way. The positive way. Thinking and acting in nurturing, loving, praiseworthy ways. Lord, let it be so. Alleluia, amen!

@chaplaineliza

(Suggestion: visit me at my other blogs: matterofprayer: A Year of Everyday Prayers. #PursuePEACE – and  A Year of Being Kind . Thanks!

[1] McGee, J. Vernon, Through the Bible, Vol. V (Thomas Nelson Publishers: United States of America, 1983), 286.

No Need to Worry!

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“No Need to Worry!”

Matthew 6:25-34 (6:27, 34) – November 21, 2021

            There is no need to worry!

            What? You have GOT to be kidding. If your everyday life is anything like mine, there is A LOT to worry about. Worries at work (look at the church office roof!), worries at home (with family members sick), worries about everything under the sun, like a friend’s daughter, another’s brother, several people going through physical therapy. That’s not mentioning making ends meet, supply chain issues, and worries about healthcare. What isn’t there to worry about?    

            Our Lord Jesus was very serious here. He’s in the middle of one of His great sermons from the Gospel of Matthew, the Sermon on the Mount. This is early in His ministry; the Rabbi Jesus teaches about the Law of Moses to a Jewish audience. Lots of rabbis did exactly that! Giving their own understanding about the Hebrew Scriptures and the Law of Moses.

            Jesus spends the first half of Matthew 6 talking about prayer. He even gives us that prayer template we say every week! The Lord’s Prayer. After that, Jesus talks about the attitude we are supposed to have. How we ought to think – and act.

            Let’s think more deeply about our Scripture reading for today. Wonderful Scripture! But, not quite our usual Scripture reading for Thanksgiving Sunday. Or, is it? Commentator Rev. Janet Hunt said “these words which come to us this Thanksgiving aren’t first about giving thanks, are they?  No, they seem to get at gratitude’s opposite – or at least that which keeps us from being grateful, namely worry.” [1] Especially during a pandemic. What is Jesus thinking of? How can He say “don’t be anxious!” “Don’t worry!” and really mean it?

            Worry is invasive, like a nasty, invasive plant. Those of you who garden are very much aware of these weeds, these choking, creeping plants that wind around the healthy flowers and vegetables we plant in our gardens. That worry weed can choke the life out of the good plants, if we give them half a chance. What can we possibly do about worry?

            Janet Hunt makes a confession: “In all truth, I am a worrier.  This is nothing new.  I carried my anxiety so deep that at the age of six I had nearly developed an ulcer and my folks had me going to a therapist (in a time when that was still pretty unusual) — with whom I never did honestly share the fears that troubled my little girl’s heart.” [2] 

            I have several friends with severe anxiety, too. They worry about a lot of stuff, all the time. This anxiety can be very real, and very debilitating.

One of my favorite commentators, David Lose, notices something important about this reading. He said it hit him like a two by four! How hard is it to hear Jesus say “Do not worry about your life.” David Lose does not think it is just about him! He thinks “we live in an incredibly anxious culture. The evening news certainly depends upon worries at home and abroad to attract viewers. Commercials are constantly inviting us to worry about one more thing — usually about ourselves! — the sponsored product should supposedly solve.” [3]

David Lose wrote these words about ten years ago. Since we are eighteen months into the pandemic, with all of its attendant fear, anxiety, distress and upset, how much more is worry an everyday companion for all of us! Plus, so many people – not only across the United States, but also across the world are seeking some way out, some way to alleviate that worry. Usually by waving some commercially sponsored magic wand or using some sponsored product.

Isn’t it simpler than that? I mean, simpler, in a straightforward kind of way? Not necessarily easier, but some way that Jesus can help us not to worry?

You remember that I said the Rabbi Jesus talks about the attitudes we are supposed to have. How we ought to think – and act. What does He say here in Matthew 6, just before telling us not to worry? He gives us a choice. We can’t serve two masters: we can’t serve both God and money. Serving money is another name for looking out for security. Giving our allegiance to money and security. Making money our lord – running after security at all costs.

If we make money and security our lord – our God, in fact – what does that do to the real God, the God of the Bible? As David Lose says, “Once we believe that money can satisfy our deepest needs, then we suddenly discover that we never have enough. Money, after all, is finite. No wonder we worry – in a world of scarcity, there is simply never enough.” [4]

So, how on earth are we supposed to NOT worry? The alternative Jesus invites us to consider is entering into a real, authentic relationship with God. Live in this relationship of real, true love and trust. Is there an end to love? I think you know the answer. You have love for all your families, for other close loved ones. When one is added – a niece, nephew, grandchild, in-law – your capacity to love extends, even doubles. We love to overflowing! Even more, as God is infinite, and whose love for us and all creation infinitely overflows, as well.

Jesus’s words “do not worry!” are a command! When we live in this relationship with God, this possible life of abundance, this life of love, caring and trust, all things become possible! Even the possibility of NOT worrying, even through a pandemic.

“Suddenly, in this world — Jesus calls it the “kingdom of God” — not worrying actually becomes an option.” [5] With a loving, authentic relationship with God.

Thank You, Jesus! Alleluia, amen.

@chaplaineliza

(Suggestion: visit me at my other blogs: matterofprayer: A Year of Everyday Prayers. #PursuePEACE – and  A Year of Being Kind . Thanks!

(Thanks to Rev. David Lose and his commentary article from Working Preacher, “Picture This,”

I took a number of ideas and several quotes from that article on Matthew 6:25-34.)

[1] http://words.dancingwiththeword.com/2012/11/no-more-worries.html

“No More Worries,” the Rev. Dr. Janet H. Hunt, Dancing with the Word, 2012.

[2] Ibid.

[3] https://www.workingpreacher.org/dear-working-preacher/picture-this

“Picture This,” David Lose, Working Preacher, 2011.

[4] Ibid.

[5] Ibid.