Keep Calm and Carry On

Isaiah 65:17-25; Isaiah 12; 2 Thessalonians 3:6-13; Luke 21:5-19

Friends, do you ever worry?  Do you ever let your worries get the best of you?

Have you ever stayed up all night before a conversation you were dreading?  Were you up all night preparing your brilliant defense, so to speak, your witty, sure-fire presentation?  Did you find that when you finally got to that moment, after being up all night, that you were so tired and overwhelmed when you opened your mouth you could only say, “uhhhhhhhhhhh?”  Yep, I’ve been there too.  It would’ve been better to have gotten my sleep and not stressed so much over it.

Let’s take this up a notch:  Have you ever heard of “preppers?”  They were in the Cap Times a few weeks ago, I think, folks that are prepared for nuclear apocalypse, or zombies, or whatever, complete with their own bunkers full of weapons and non-perishable foods, and they draw great security from this, that they feel prepared for any eventuality.

Ah, bless them.  I do keep a little canned food and a flashlight on hand, but I’m not ready to build a bunker just yet.  I don’t even do extreme couponing, even though it’s quite popular with my friends!

Perhaps while I’m a little prepared, like maybe for a big snowstorm or a power outage, I’m not as prepared as I could be, and maybe that’s because I haven’t been that worried about it so far.

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Each of the Scriptures today addresses people who are worried.  Whether in the time of Isaiah, or the time of Jesus, or the time of Paul, these folks were worried their whole world was about to cave in on them.  And they had good reason to be worried--whether it was war, or famine, or persecution, losing the people they loved, their homes, everything they knew.  And sure, we know situations like that can happen today--how often have they happened, just even this week in the Philippines, or last year in Superstorm Sandy?  We know life is precious, and fragile.

But you know what I love?  I love that these passages today are some of the best passages of comfort and strength out of the whole Bible.  The Bible knows how to talk to worried people!

We can find so much comfort in these verses.  My favorite is in Isaiah 65, “They shall not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain, says the Lord”--that gives me great comfort.  And Chris in the choir has talked about how much she loves the verse in Isaiah 12: Surely God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid, for the Lord God is my strength and my might; and will be my savior.  --And indeed, what a beautiful mantra we could hold onto throughout any difficulty in our lives!  And it’ll definitely stick with you today, with the choir anthem and the hymn we’re going to learn later.  It’s been in my head for weeks.

Jesus tells his audience, and us, when you hear of these things,  to not be terrified!  Granted, Jesus doesn’t want us to be naive either, because bad things may indeed happen, then and now, but we shouldn’t become petrified, unable to function or enjoy our lives in the meantime.  When these times come, we can also trust in the Lord and find we are given words and wisdom sufficient to the task, no matter what might happen.

All of the Scriptures tell us today, don’t sit around and do nothing, but also, don’t get obsessed over what may happen.  That’s a great paraphrase of the popular saying, “Keep calm and carry on.”  We can make reasonable preparations, but you can only be and do and respond as best you can in any given moment with what you’ve got.  Since we simply cannot predict the future, neither can we fully prepare for it.  Sometimes we just have to pray, and trust, that we will have what we need when we can’t possibly predict the outcomes.  And in the meantime, don’t get too riled up by all the doomsday prophets and the like, otherwise, we will miss out on the real joy in our lives!  God gave us a good world and we are to care for it and enjoy it with one another!

So I got wondering the other day, do you ever picture Jesus stressing out over something like the feeding of the five thousand the night before?  Do you think he was up all night thinking, “oh, gee, we’ll be so far from town, and which disciple should I put in charge of dinner, and do you think people will know to bring potluck…?”  I don’t know if he did that.  But I will tell you we do have a Bible story of Jesus staying up all night, in the Garden of Gethsemane, when his life was truly at stake, and he was worried.  He was fully human, after all!  At the end, he released control to God and went forth from the garden to the crucifixion.  And God responded by raising Jesus from the dead three days later.  Now really, who else saw that one coming?

Truly, there will be difficult times in our lives, enormously difficult times, when we wish we didn’t have to go through things the way they might play out, when we wish we didn’t even have to get up and face the day.  Sometimes no matter what we do, those trials are inescapable.  But even in such times, remember, that God wants good for us.  God wants healing for us, and wants us to know and be comforted by God’s own presence surrounding us and in us.  Our world isn’t perfect, isn’t always easy, and isn’t always loving, but our God loves us.  Let’s give thanks always for this, that God loves us even when we aren’t always perfect, easy to live with, or all that loving.  We are God’s beloved children; let’s rejoice and be glad!  Thanks be to God!

Prayers This Week:

For all affected by the typhoon, especially in the Philippines

For all who are seeking affordable healthcare

For all who are coping with the aftermath of disasters or violence