Dear Friends,
Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
Those might be my favorite words from Jesus. They appear in the Gospel of Luke (chapter 12), and we will hear them this Sunday. Though I like the notion of being given the kingdom, what grabs me is being told not to fear and that I am part of God’s “little flock.”
These words follow a beautiful, comforting, and spine stiffening passage that for some reason is not included in the Sunday readings:
- Can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? If then you are not able to do so small a thing as that, why do you worry about the rest?
- Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds!
- Consider the lilies, 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.
Here Jesus commands us not to worry and to trust God.
Easier said than done! Many of us are afraid and feel we should be DOING something (but what?).
It may be impossible not to worry, but I wonder if there is something to be said for accepting that humans and the world are always a mess. Sometimes things are better, sometimes worse, but perfection is out of reach in our time. That acceptance doesn’t mean compliance or passivity; it means being realistic about the state of the world and then putting our shoulders to the wheel, worrying less about outcome and more about following God in mercy and love.
Trusting God doesn’t mean we assume God will reach down and fix things but acknowledging that, somehow, ultimately, we just aren’t in charge and that we have to trust God’s providence. That doesn’t mean we don’t get angry at and question God’s purposes and will at times! But sometimes, like an exhausted toddler, it helps to go limp, give up, and let our loving Parent take over.
These are imperfect answers; I reserve the right to change my mind! But here’s the little I know: I just have to hear the words “Fear not, little flock” or “Consider the lilies,” and my shoulders un-hunch, my spirit stills, my heart opens, and am ready to approach the world in love rather than rage.
See you in church!
Faithfully, Suzanne+