Time of Crisis: Do Not Worry! Do Not Be Afraid!

Do Not Worry! Do Not Be Afraid!

A. Not long after I first came here, I bought an altar book for our church. I remember paging through it and seeing "Prayer in time of war" (Christian Worship: Altar Book, p. 250, #50). At the time I thought, "When will we ever use this?" I was feeling too secure. I never would have guessed that within a year of buying the book and seeing the prayer that our nation would be the target for the worst act of terrorism ever seen. Thousands have died. Thousands more grieve. Millions stand in wonder. We all watched it happen. We saw the video of the crashes played over and over. Everything has changed for the United States. Things that were routine, like flying in an airplane, are now more complicated. We did live in a world that was numb from certainty and smugness. Everything was perfect. When gas went up a dime a gallon, we thought it was just terrible. Last Wednesday morning, you were fortunate if you found a station that still had gas. Now we live in a world that is on edge with uncertainty and fear. If terrorists can fly airplanes into our tallest buildings and into the Pentagon, what else can they do? What else will they do? Is it better to know, or not to know? I was reading internet news yesterday--there is so much speculation about what may be next, none of it good, that it only discourages us more.

B. In today's Gospel, we hear Jesus speaking to his disciples about living with hardships and uncertainty. All of the disciples would face hardship as they went out to make disciples by baptizing and teaching (Matthew 28:18). As far as we know, only one out of the Twelve died a natural death. His words to the disciples prepared them for what was to come--and his words helped them to see the importance of keeping life's happiness and trouble in perspective.

I. Because there's little we can do,

A. We live in the "information age." Those of us with cable or satellite can watch CNN around the clock if we want to. In times of disaster, even ABC, CBS and NBC are broadcasting around the clock. We see the planes crash into the buildings, over and over. We see the buildings fall, over and over. We hear tidbits of news as they are released. Last week we learned that not everything that is reported is correct. People want to be informed. And people feel helpless. There's a connection, isn't there? We want to know everything so we can worry about it!

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