Everyone Worries - Rev. Jonathan Warren

This is the day the Lord has made.

Let us rejoice and be glad in it.

I want to be sure to welcome all of our guests here and online.

We ask you to please pass the friendship pads and tell us you're here.

Following worship, these doors will open up and all are invited to the lounge for refreshments, and we'll share those with one another.

There's also a few uh notes that I want you to notice on our events.

There is a doorbell dinner coming very shortly in the month of June.

And if you can contact Penny Turner or the church office, or or Joe Anderson, or the church office if you'd like to be part of that.

And then we also have a Kids Act summer camp coming.

And it's for third graders through sixth graders.

And there's a lot of people already signed up, so there's some limited spots.

There's two weeks, it's uh in June and in August.

And Hannah Warren is leading it as part of her Gold Star uh award for Girl Scout.

So we're excited about that.

Please join me in the call to worship printed in your bulletin.

Shout with joy, for God has blessed us.

Sing with praise, for God is here.

Worship and pray.

For God is listening.

Merciful God, we confess that we have not loved you with our whole heart.

We have failed to be an obedient church.

We have not done your will.

We have broken your law.

We have rebelled against your love.

We have not loved our neighbors, and we have refused to hear the cry of the needy.

Forgive us, we pray.

Forgive us for joyful obedience through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Let us silently confess our sins.

Amen.

We come here confessing and sharing our hardships, our struggles, our worries.

And God tells us to let them go.

To not worry, to remind us and to tell us that Christ is the way and the truth and the life.

That we do not have to worry.

Know that you are forgiven and be at peace.

Amen.

To prepare our hearts for scripture, let us pray for illumination together.

Lord God, pour out your spirit upon us to bring good news to the oppressed, and let your word be fulfilled among us through Jesus Christ our Savior.

Amen.

The scripture reading is from Psalm 131.

Let us listen to the word of God.

O Lord, my heart is not lifted up, my eyes are not raised too high.

I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me.

But I have calmed and quieted my soul like a weaned child with its mother.

My soul is like the weaned child that is with me.

O Israel, hope in the Lord from this time on and forevermore.

This is the word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

Let us listen to the word of God.

No one can serve two masters, for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other.

You cannot serve God and wealth.

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 more of more value than they?

And can any of you, by worrying, add a single moment to your life?

A single hour to your span of life.

And why do you worry about clothing?

Consider the lilies of the valley, how they grow, they neither toil nor spin.

Yet I tell you, even Solomon, in all of his glory, was not clothed like one of these.

But if God so clothes you, 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 little faith?

Therefore, do not worry, saying, What will we eat, what will we drink, what will we wear?

For it's 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.

This is the word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

At this time, I'd like to invite our children forward.

Yes.

That's right.

Summer's fun, isn't it?

Okay, I have a question for you.

And I want to hear your answer.

Do you think that grown-ups worry too much?

Do you ever think grown-ups worry too much?

Not too much?

That's kind of nice, huh?

If you had advice for someone who is really worried, what advice would you give them?

What would you do during the summer when you don't have any worries or stress?

What do you do that's fun?

You go to your grandpa's house.

So maybe going to family or going to a really good friend's house, that's a great idea.

That's kind of fun, isn't it?

And it kind of makes you have fun with them.

Then maybe you wouldn't worry so much, huh?

You have a long break at school.

That's that's also really nice, huh?

Maybe we kind of take a break.

Yeah, that's good.

Any other advice about how not to worry or get uh stressed?

Kids don't know.

Because guess what?

You don't have to worry that much, huh?

What if someone took your toy or um took a spot in line before like you got ice cream and then they were all out of ice cream?

Would you be upset or worried?

You'd be upset, but you wouldn't be that worried.

Okay.

Okay.

You guys, this is the easiest advice.

How old are you?

Ten?

Ten?

Four?

Six.

Okay, I think the advice is be like a little kid.

Right?

And then you don't have to worry.

That's nice.

Be with your family.

And God says, God says some things.

Did you know what God or what Jesus said to do?

Jesus said to put our trust in God and to put God first.

And then we don't have to worry about a thing.

Because guess who carries all those worries?

God instead of us.

That's kind of nice, huh?

I think that's a nice thing.

So God tells us not, or Jesus tells us not to worry.

I like that kind of drink.

Okay, let's wiggle those fingers, wiggle, wiggle, and put them together, and let's say an echo prayer.

Dear God, we thank you that you love us.

We thank you for Jesus' advice.

Not to worry.

And we like what the kids share.

Take a break.

Be with family.

And be like a child.

In fact, telling us not to worry.

Actually makes it worse because now I'm worried that I'm worrying too much.

We live in a world that's in constant flux and things are hard.

It's not surprising that we'd worried about that we would worry about our jobs or our families or health or safety.

Even if you open our bulletin, there's a full page of request.

When I was a kid, I would go to my best friend's house and all the homework and chores, the parents, the demands, and the siblings.

They all melted away when I was with my friend.

I could just be in my twenties, I felt invincible and like I could change the whole world.

But when Jesus says, Do not worry, it's impossible because everyone worries.

Even generations of faithful people in Scripture were immune to worry.

I can't imagine how worried Abraham was when he went up that mountain with a knife in hand because God told him to.

Sacrifice his son Isaac.

I can't imagine how worried Joseph was when he was left for dead, when he was sold into slavery or thrown into prison.

Or when Hannah was struggling with infertility.

She certainly felt the weight of worry, not just crippling her body, but also her mind.

I can't imagine how Esther would have been when the king issued a decree authorizing the destruction of all Jews.

When she approached the king without an invitation, she declared, If I perish, I perish.

And then called for a communal three-day fast.

Judges Gideon or Deborah, each time the odds were stacked well against them, and yet they led armies into battle.

Or fast forward to the New Testament when the disciples are on the water and a storm comes their way and they're so incredibly worried for their lives that they wake Jesus up.

It's also easy to imagine how quickly Peter's confidence changed to worry when he started sinking into that water.

And then even Jesus worried.

Right after the Last Supper, when he was in the Garden of Gethsemane, he was worried and agitated, deeply grieved, even to death, it says.

And he prayed, asking God three times to let this cup pass from me.

So when Jesus says not to worry, it's impossible because everyone worries.

Even the Son of God worried.

One scholar says, it is too simple to just tell people, do not worry.

It sounds Pollyanish.

Is Jesus glossing over our concerns?

Do we just will ourselves not to worry, or is he offering an alternative?

He points us to nature.

Look around and see how God operates in the natural world.

Those principles also operate in the human world.

Jesus points to birds and lilies.

The Son of God used birds and lilies to teach human beings about how God operates.

Jesus' word is not overly complicated, but it is difficult to grasp.

From the pastoral perspective, we can go deeper than simply telling people, do not worry.

We have a biblical record of God providing in the midst of scarcity and crisis and failure and despair.

We also have our own stories of God's providence and grace.

If that is not enough, then look at the birds and the lilies.

We have evidence in nature that God will sustain us.

Replace the worry with trust.

That's an important concept.

It makes a lot of sense to replace worry with trust.

And while it sounds like a great idea, the question is, how do you do this day in and day out?

It's that kind of thing that's easier said than done.

And when preparing the sermon, I sat down with a pile of my books.

I wanted to see how writers and pastors told us how to replace worry with trust.

I flipped through the pages of Max Ucado and Henry Nowen, Brother Roger of To Zay, Thomas Merton.

Finally, I was inspired to go to some of our meditations of your heart, our Lenten devotionals from past years to see what some of our church folks say about worrying.

And with our permission, I want to share a few of their words.

Keith Bradbury in 2021 opened with Psalm 56, 3, which says, When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.

And then he said, My brother Ken left me, us, with many gifts.

He wrote songs, but first he wrote the poem and then added it to music.

And many of his songs stand alone as poetry.

I refer to them often.

One of his songs you may have heard sung in our church before.

It is called Whenever I'm Afraid.

Listen to its message.

Whenever I'm afraid, I call upon my Jesus, and he'll go with me through the darkest night and he'll stay with me till the dawn.

Whenever I'm alone and fears of nighttime all surround me, I reach my hand out and I touch my friend and he'll stay with me till the dawn.

Night comes around me, but your arms surround me.

I thank God you found me.

You're my friend.

Whenever I'm afraid, I call upon my Jesus, and he'll go with me through the darkest night, and he'll stay with me till the dawn.

No ordinary light I see, and when he shines his light on me, I see that at last I'm free.

And you're my friend.

No, I'll never be alone, and fears of nighttime won't surround me.

I'll reach my hand out and touch my friend, and he'll stay with me till the dawn.

I'll never be alone.

In 2025, Janae Hansen writes, a few minutes of free time, doom scroll through the news, trouble falling asleep.

It's probably because of the worries of the world trying to take up residence in your head as you attempt to unwind.

At times like these, I realize I'm hanging on tighter to things that are truly not within my control.

I operate under the belief that if I hold on tight enough, I can control it all.

I will be able to make sense of things and I will know what to expect as outcomes.

When I really challenge myself, I know that it is not true, and I know that it is during the times of heightened anxiety and worry that I need to turn my fears over to God and rely on my faith.

In Matthew 6, 25, it says, I tell you not to worry.

Easier said than done.

But if I turn to the words reflected in 1 Peter 5, 7, cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

Here I am remembered of the relationship I have with God.

A relationship that not only allows but encourages me to turn all my worries over to him, for he cares about me.

And I like this part the best.

When I allow myself to really settle in the words of 1 Peter, I can let go of the worries, stop trying to control everything all around me, and find some peace in the love and acceptance of my relationship with God.

And then Cynthia Benton says, It is Mother's Day, 2023, and I receive a random email that I almost delete because it's from a site called Story Worth.

And then I realize that this email is my mom's day gift from my three-grown daughters, Allison, Lindsay, and Natalie.

I read it more closely and I see that Story Worth is the geek gift that keeps on giving.

For an entire year, once a week, I I read further and see that all my stories will be shared with my daughters each week and will at the end of the year be printed in a book.

How wonderful.

How amazing.

How daunting.

Whose gift is this anyway?

Well, I have risen to the task and I have answered my questions every week so far.

And one story worth question I answered was what has made our faith stronger?

Faith and trust go hand in hand.

Faith is a belief system, trust is action.

All the time I spent in Sunday school as a child, and also my confirmation classes helped form the foundation of my faith in God.

Giving birth to three perfect baby girls, seeing my grandchildren come into the world so perfectly made.

How can one not have faith in some higher being?

Look at our beautiful world.

God created the heavens and the earth.

Now, fully trusting God is sometimes hard to do.

Worry, stress, anxiety, fear, doubt.

These are all the things that nag me and cause me to not fully trust God as I should.

And then I like this part.

Sometimes I think it is a journey.

Two steps forward and one step back.

Over and over again as I live my life.

He is there for me when I pray to him, and I feel a deeper sense of trust because of prayer.

Faith is trusting God even when you don't understand his plan.

It really has been an interesting journey, one involving some deep thinking, one of good and not so good remembrances, one that I didn't know I needed to take.

So there you have it, from three wonderful everyday theologians who live among us.

We understand how to replace that worry with trust, don't we?

And we know that it's not easy, that it's probably impossible, that we have to work on it again and again and again at all times.

It really is two steps forward and one step back.

But laying down our worry is worth doing again and again and again.

Queen Esther was told, who knows?

Perhaps you have come to royal dignity for such a time as this.

And perhaps this is our call for the time in which we live to replace our worry with trust and prayer and to live as God calls us to live.

So do not worry about tomorrow.

Tomorrow will bring worries of its own.

Today's trouble is enough for today.

And all these things will be given to you as well.

In the name of the Father, of the Son, of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

God always comes through.

Although it is challenging at times.

But it's also important to be surrounded around people of faith, as young as children, all the way to so much older, because they give us each perspectives, reminders of how God has shaped and been involved in their life.

And so leaning on one another, they can help us and remind us that we need to lean on God, that we can't control everything.

And I have also, at times, when I am so worried and grateful and thankful, even when I'm so worried I can't even pray.

That other people pray for each of us.

That you know that you are held and lifted up, that you don't have to worry.

Because God helps each one of us through all of life's ups and downs.

Let's give our tithes and our offerings and our whole selves to God.

In all that we have and in all that we are, may bless and honor you, and bless and honor your beloved world.

Amen.

You may be seated.

So we are having communion by intinction, and we have that during the summer months, and I just want to remind you, because it's kind of hard to remember, what do we do?

How do we do this?

Uh so there will be uh an usher coming down the aisle here, and one coming down the aisle here, and they'll dismiss you to come down to uh a communion station where there will be bread and juice.

If you'd like to have uh those ushers who are dismissing also have uh cups and juice and bread with them.

So if you'd like to, if you need communion from them, just kind of wave on them so that they can serve you in your seat.

Okay?

I think we got this.

And then you just kind of go back to your seats.

You got this?

We know how to do this.

We've done this before.

It makes a few of us very nervous because we just like to sit in our seats.

And uh, but I find it uh uh as one of those things in seminary when watching all the pastors, professors, all these uh about-to-be pastors, we all had to come forward.

And uh we all needed uh this nourishing uh cup of salvation and this bread of life.

And so we were all then all the same.

Well, I do find it comforting and meaningful and helpful, and I hope you do as well.

Friends, this is a joyful feast of the people of God, and they will come from east and west and from north and south and sit at table in the kingdom of God.

This is not a Presbyterian or a Protestant table.

This is our Lord's table, and Jesus' invitation is to all who trust in him, whatever our background, whatever.

Our tradition, whatever burdens or blessings we carry today, we're all invited to share this feast that Christ has prepared.

The Lord be with you and also with you.

Lift up your hearts and lift them to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.

It is right to give God thanks and praise.

Pour out your Holy Spirit upon us that this meal may be a communion of the body and blood of our Lord.

Make us one with Christ and with all who share this feast.

Unite us in faith.

Encourage us with hope.

Inspire us to love, that we may serve as your faithful disciples until we feast at your table in glory.

And now, as our Savior Christ has taught us, we pray, our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.

Amen.

We give thanks to the Lord Jesus Christ, who on the night of his arrest took bread, and after giving thanks to God, he broke it.

And he gave it to his disciples, saying, Take, eat.

This is my body broken for you.

Do this in remembrance of me.

In the same way he took the cup.

And he said, This cup is a new covenant sealed in my blood, sealed for the forgiveness of sins every time you drink of it.

Loving God, you graciously feed us with the bread of life and the cup of eternal salvation.

May we who have received this sacrament be strengthened in your service.

May we who have sung your praises tell of your glory and truth.

May we who have seen the greatness of your love see you face to face in your kingdom.

For you have made us your own people by the death and resurrection of our son of your Son, our Lord, and by the life-giving power of your Spirit.

Almighty God, who has so loved us, long sought us, and mercifully redeemed us, grant us grace that in everything we may yield our will, our work, and ourselves a continual thank offering to you through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

We let go of the control that we think we have.

And we know that God provides us with love and hope every hour and every day.

And now let us receive the benediction.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the bond of the Holy Spirit be with you now and forevermore.

Amen.