From the Daily Lectionary for Monday in the Seventeenth Week after Pentecost
Matthew 6:25-34
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you—you of’ For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
“So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.”
So much easier said than done, right?! How can we not worry amid all this pandemonium? Racism, that has so longed plagued our country, has reared its head anew; the rule of law, in a country founded on the rule of law, is being undermined by the powers that be; we are coping with a virulent pandemic still out of control; our economy teeters on the edge of collapse; our government is in the hands of tyrants who would suppress our right to vote, and even attempt to steal an election; fear and hate seem to be the new normal in our common life. Hope seems a fading dream.
Anna Jane Joyner, climate activist and presenter at our Gulf Coast Creation Care conference this past Sunday, suggests that now is not the time for hope, but a time for courage. I think the point she’s making is that hope is passive, while courage moves us to action. Hope may be a balm for worry, but courage gives us a singleness of heart for the difficult work that we must do.
I remember a particularly difficult time in my business career many years ago. It was the only time in my life wherein I actually couldn’t sleep at night. I was strangled by worry. My mother, sensing my dis-ease, told me that it was time “to call on the warrior within.” Courage was what was needed. And that is a choice, an act of the will.
Now is the time in our common life to “call on the warrior within.” In Bob Donnell’s sermon yesterday at Compline, he alluded to the so-called “Great Invitation” issued by Jesus: “Come unto me, all you who labor and are overburdened, and I will give you rest. Shoulder my yoke and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble of heart…” The word for “humble” is not what we think. The word in the common Greek is ϖραυϛ (praus). In the philosophy of antiquity, it is the cardinal virtue of a good king, or a valiant warrior. Praus is gentleness, empathy, honesty, compassion… and not least of all, courage. Our English word “humble” is just not a satisfactory translation.
When we are overburdened with worry we call on the “praus” within. It is the means by which we engage with meaning and purpose the slings and arrows of this life. Praus is love in action. We may be called on to be warriors, but we are warriors for truth and justice under the auspices of love. We go into battle against the evils of our world, not with vengeful hate, and never afraid, but with love and joy and assurance. God’s ways are not the ways of power-besotted men. The promise is… that in the grand vision of God, all things are being made well and whole. Ironically, to believe such a premise, such a promise, takes no small amount of courage. Choose well, dear friends of God; we are needed now. And don’t worry. Rest will surely come in its own time.
A Prayer in Times of Conflict (BCP p. 824)
O God, you have bound us together in a common life: Help us, in the midst of our struggles for justice and truth, to confront one another without hatred or bitterness, and to work together with mutual forbearance and respect, through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
