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Casting Our Cares!

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“Casting Our Cares!”

1 Peter 5:6-11 – May 21, 2023

            I have a friend – really, several friends – who all have a major challenge in life. Imagine, feeling off kilter much of the time. They haven’t been to a doctor, and a few haven’t even gone to the emergency room when they have a flare up. Several of my friends don’t have health insurance and cannot even afford medical care. This is the situation for many, many people across the United States.

            Except – the situation with several of my friends is not physical illness, like a broken bone or having gallstones or needing a knee replacement. Those are all conditions that are straightforward, and can be readily fixed. No, the situation with several of my friends – and several relatives in my extended family – is mental illness. Invisible illnesses like major anxiety disorder, or one of many forms of autism, not to mention schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. This kind of affliction is a very real illness, just as real as diabetes, or spinal stenosis, or heart disease.

            The apostle Peter did not have the kind of understanding that the medical workers of today have. At least, not about the medical intricacies and interrelations of the human body and the human mind. He did not have medical understanding concerning diseases and health histories. However, Peter had significant spiritual and relational understanding, especially concerning his risen and ascended Lord Jesus Christ and Christ’s relationship with us.

            As I have reminded us all during the past weeks, Peter concentrates on suffering a number of times in this short letter. He raises it again in today’s matter-of-fact reading.

Everyone will suffer at one point or other in our lives, frankly. It just depends when and how much we suffer, whether we suffer physically, mentally, emotionally or spiritually. Sure, we can be afraid! Who wouldn’t be afraid? It only makes sense for us to fear and have concerns!

If we step back and take a look at the beginning of chapter 5, I know that Peter was thinking more about suffering in a physical sense.  But, I want us all to consider people with mental illness, especially untreated mental diseases. Peter’s words about suffering surely can apply to people like these, people like several of my friends and several in my extended family.

Perhaps, you are thinking of someone you know, someone in your circle of friends or your family. Thank goodness here in the Chicago area we have a large number of therapists, social workers, psychologists, and psychiatrists. Even though we have all of these professionals here in this area, all of these people who can diagnose and assist those with mental illness and cognitive impairment, many, many people still suffer. Just like there are many people who suffer with heart disease, or diabetes, or many other physical illnesses.  

The apostle goes into more detail here in chapter 5, when he talks about suffering. “Peter does such an amazing job of describing the human condition in such terrorizing detail. From fiery ordeals to facing a lion prowling around looking for someone to devour, yikes! Sure, it feels like that on a regular basis, but seeing [the fears] there in print makes me want to cling to those fears even more tightly. They are real; they are overwhelming; and they are mine.” [1] I think those fears might be yours, too. Except, the apostle gives us a welcome relief! A welcome refuge from all of these anxieties and fears, too!

            Let us look at verse 7. “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” Another translation of this verse says “Cast all your cares upon him.”

            Yes, we are beset on all sides by suffering and strife, sometimes! Yet, we have this Godly solution to our problem. If you will, we have a medicine for our spiritual diagnosis. “But here’s the real question – “How do you do it?” Or even – “Can we do it?” Is such a thing humanly possible? Well, of course it is. We wouldn’t be presented with a task that is beyond human capabilities. God isn’t in the frustration business.” [2]

            Our opening hymn today, the gospel song “I Must Tell Jesus” gives us some direction. “In my distress He kindly will help me, He ever loves and cares for His own.” And the chorus gives us reassurance, too: “I must tell Jesus! I cannot bear my burdens alone.” That is just the point! We cannot bear these burdens all alone, ashamed and in silence. We need each other to assist. We need each other to come alongside, to encourage, to comfort. And, often we need the additional helps of therapists, counselors, social workers, psychologists or psychiatrists.

            I remember praying with a dear senior, some years ago. This senior had a heavy burden of the spirit that she had carried around inside of her for decades. I was finally able to have her talk about it, a little. I hope that she was helped when we prayed together. I pray she was able to let this psychological burden go. Just a little bit, at least.

            We can confide in a good friend, too, or ask for prayer. We can write in a journal and set down our fears, frustrations, and anxieties. However you and I hold these cares about mental illness, there is help! This is just one of many resources, and it’s available locally in many places throughout the United States. NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness is supportive and welcoming to individuals and families living with mental illness. (www.nami.org)

I don’t know how it’s been described to you: depression, anxiety, compulsion, addiction, autism, Asperger’s, disorder, syndrome. I invite anyone who would like to have Jesus come alongside of them, to help them bear their burden to come forward and light a candle. For your loved ones, or friends, or yourself. And, we can all help bear each other’s burdens, too.

At this tender moment, this moment of release and encouragement, we can indeed cast all our cares upon the one who truly understands. Hand over our anxieties so they burden us no longer. We can cast all our cares upon Him who cares for us immeasurably more than we can ask or think or possibly understand. And, that is a sure promise from God.

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] https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/a-living-hope/seventh-sunday-of-easter-year-a-lectionary-planning-notes/seventh-sunday-of-easter-year-a-preaching-notes

[2] https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/a-living-hope/seventh-sunday-of-easter-year-a-lectionary-planning-notes/seventh-sunday-of-easter-year-a-preaching-notes

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Our Mighty Fortress

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“Our Mighty Fortress”

Psalm 46:1-7 (46:7) – October 30, 2022

Here we are at Reformation Sunday, the week of the year when we remember Martin Luther posting his list of grievances against the church establishment of the Catholic Church, more than 500 years ago in 1517. These 95 grievances against the Church sparked a movement of protest that was felt around the world. And thus, the Protestant Church was born.

Our psalm reading today was Martin Luther’s favorite psalm. And, what a marvelous psalm to choose! Martin took this psalm to heart, for a whole host of reasons! These were literal reasons, too. The Lord was indeed his fortress, helping him to stay safe through all danger.

The official Catholic Church hierarchy certainly had it in for Martin Luther! After defending himself against strident criticism from scholars and theologians, and legal challenges for years, the official verdict registered by the Catholic Church was not in Luther’s favor. He broke with Rome in 1521. Because he would not recant his views on God, salvation by faith, and the Bible, Luther was officially on the run from the Catholic establishment.

I think of Martin on the run, like young David, after Samuel anointed him king. Martin Luther needed the Lord to be a strong and secure refuge for him, what with all the military and operational might of the Catholic Church coming after him! Looking at the first verses, “God as a Fortress against the threats of nature (verses 1-3). The dominant theme of the psalm is trust in God, first sounded in verse 1, “God is our refuge and strength.” [1] A mighty fortress indeed!

This brought me to thinking, how do you and I trust? Do we – do you trust God to be a secure protection for us and our families? If not, why not? Just like King David, we can see time after time where people from the Bible – both the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament – trusted in God to be their refuge and strong fortress, as Martin wrote in the hymn we sang today.

We also remember Father Martin Luther – for he was a Catholic priest – as a sincere, devout follower of Jesus Christ. He thought long and hard about sin and confession, faith and grace. He thought a lot about God’s Word, and eventually translated the whole Bible – both Old and New Testaments – into German, the common tongue of his day and area of Germany. And, thank God that Martin was not only a theologian, but a skilled writer, translator, preacher and musician, too.

The Catholic Church hierarchy did not approve of the Bible translated into the common tongue, which was one of the reasons Martin was on the run. As we examine Psalm 46, one big feature of this psalm is the word “help.” “’Help’ has a more active sense, identifying God as one who takes action to assist those in trouble. Verses 2 and 3 indicate that God’s people need not fear the worst that nature can hurl at them, whether it be earthquakes or floods. Because no matter what, God will be with them.” [2]

Like Martin Luther on the run in parts of Germany, like King David in the wilderness of Israel, God can be our help and refuge, too. Let’s be clear: this psalm is not talking pie-in-the-sky, or looking at the world through rose-colored glasses. This psalm is clear and realistic. It does not promise “we as God’s people will be free from the ravages of nature or of war or of individual suffering. But they do promise that we will not have to go through these things alone. ‘The LORD of hosts is with us … ‘” [3]

This precious hymn written by Luther was not only a refuge from earthly disasters, but is also personal in nature. Rev. Janet Hunt, a Lutheran minister, mentions that she hears it “as much more personal now, knowing as we do that ‘the old satanic foe’ threatened him with the sorts of ‘woes’ one could only begin to understand if one has been there. The heart-wrenching, life altering death of a child, to name but one. The days and nights of struggling to hold on to faith when the Church which had borne the faith to him no longer lived up to its promises. The fear which must have possessed Luther as his very life was threatened.” [4]

Sure, with everything going on in the world today, we also have reason to be scared half to death! Yet, we have “a God who has been time-tested and, over and over again, can be trusted upon to keep you secure in your time of trouble. Either way – and in all times and circumstances – we have a God who has got us covered. That is what Psalm 46 declares. And that is what Luther wanted to proclaim in “A Mighty Fortress is Our God.”” [5]

Can we – you and I – loosen our tight grip on all we are clutching to our chests, knowing that God indeed holds everything? Including us?

This Reformation Sunday, Psalm 46 talks of a refuge, and a help in our great need.

Yes, God is indeed our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. That’s something to truly celebrate. 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] https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/reformation-day/commentary-on-psalm-46-12

[2] Ibid.

[3] Ibid.

[4] https://dancingwiththeword.com/being-still-letting-go/

[5] “A Mighty Fortress is our God” is not the only English translation of Luther’s “Ein Feste Burg.” Thomas Carlyle, the nineteenth century Scottish commentator, offered this version: “A safe stronghold our God is still, a trusty shield and weapon.” Carlyle’s contemporary, George MacDonald, rendered stanza one, verse one, in this way: “Our God he is a castle strong, a good mailcoat and weapon.”