Don't Worry - Yeah right.

This week’s gospel reading (Matthew 6:24-24) makes me want to break out and sing “Don’t worry, be happy.” But I also want to say, “it’s just not that simple.”

Over the last few weeks we have heard Jesus teaching us in the Sermon on the Mount. He has invited us to be perfect, righteous, blessed. By this he did not mean morally pure or without fault. He means being image bearers of God. Several years ago I suggested the three big questions are: whose are we (or who is this God we seek to follow); who are we (in light of the character of this God); and what is ours to do? In the Sermon on the Mount the answers are – God is love; compassionate, generous, merciful beyond measure; and we were created to be the image of God’s character in this world and in our community. To be righteous, perfect, blessed is to enflesh Go’s compassion, generosity, aroha.

This week Jesus tells us not to be riddled with anxiety and fear. Because when we are we forget who God is, and we forget who we are, and we get distracted from our task of being image bearers. Instead we become filled with fear. We seek to preserve what is ours instead of living generously. We judge others as less than us. And we no longer trust God’s infinite compassion and love for us and all people.

As we meet for our AGM and enter into Lent, what sources of anxiety and fear, both as individuals and as a parish do we need to let go of?