Weekly Sermon

Peace of Mind and Heart: December 23, 2001

The Reverend Anne Benefield

Isaiah 11:1-10; Philippians 4:4-7

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Prayer: As you touched the world in giving your only begotten Son, touch our souls with the words of this passage that we might be open to your peace. Amen. I am not a Greek scholar. As a Presbyterian seminarian, I was required to take Greek and Hebrew and to pass an exam to show I understood something about those languages. I quickly forgot most of what I learned once I got past the ordination examination. Therefore, while I read a lot of books and articles about a passage before I write a sermon, I don't try to translate it from the original language. However, in my studies for this passage, I found an interesting article in which I read: "For getting Paul's point across with both power and poetry, the best, if not the most linguistically literal translation of this text has to be: 'Anxious in nothing, prayerful in everything, thankful in anything…then the peace.'" ["The Apostolic Formula for Peace of Mind and Heart," Homiletics, 12/11/1994] The author goes on to say, "Only when a Christian has achieved a state of faith that allows those three attitudes to guide his or her life does the 'peace of God' settle quietly over the mind and heart." [Ibid.] I have noticed that I have to remind myself to be anxious in nothing, prayerful in everything, and thankful in anything. So this sermon is going to be as much for me as for you. The timing couldn't be better. I figure it is about 43 hours and 15 minutes until three little boys will be tearing down the stairs and grabbing any pretty package regardless of the name on the gift tag. I think it is time to talk about being "anxious in nothing." What would it take for us to feel God is with us, to believe that we don't need to be anxious? Max Lucado, one of my favorite authors tells a story about his daughter, Jenna. When she was six years old, he found her standing in front of a full-length mirror. She was looking down her throat. He asked her what she was doing, and she said, "I'm looking to see if God is in my heart." He laughed gently and turned. Seconds later he heard her ask, "Are in you there?" When no answer came, she grew impatient and spoke on God's behalf with a voice deepened as much as a six-year-old can, she said, "Yes." [Max Lucado, When God Whispers Your Name, (Nashville: Word Publishing, 1999) p. 121. There is only one way to overcome our anxiety. That is to put our trust in God. After all, if we can't trust God, whom can we trust? Be anxious in nothing because God is God, today, tomorrow, and always. God is with us. That is the miracle of Christmas. An Anglican priest in Bixton, England, tells a delightful story about a woman in her church. The woman had serious surgery although her chances of survival were slim. She did survive. "As she opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was the blurred image of her doctor dressed in the typical white doctor's jacket. She smiled and said, 'Hello, God! My name is Mary!' That's the kind of assurance of eternal life we can all have through faith." [Tony Campolo, Let Me Tell You a Story, (Nashville: Word Publishing, 2000) p.204] What faith she had! She knew what it meant to be anxious in nothing. It is likely that she already mastered the second step in Paul's list that leads to peace. That step is to be prayerful in everything. A classic Dennis the Menace cartoon shows an angry Margaret haughtily proclaiming to Dennis as he walks by, "I'm not speaking to you, Dennis Mitchell!" The next frame shows Dennis, his eyes rolled heavenward, breathing a heartfelt, "Thank you, Lord." Is thanksgiving our first reaction to an unexpected grace? Most of our prayers are requests, but Paul is telling us to live in prayer-unceasing prayer. If we can discipline ourselves to be praying in everything, we'll find we have time for prayers about other things, not just requests. When we feel spiritually strong, our souls can turn toward God in true prayer, seeking nothing more than a feeling of the holy presence. Corrie ten Boom tells one of the most incredible examples of prayer in all situations. She and her sister, Betsy, were in a concentration camp because they had hidden Jewish people in their home from the Nazis. In their building, they were plagued with lice. As they said their prayers one evening Corrie heard Betsy thanking the Lord for the lice. Afterwards, Corrie asked her sister how she could thank the Lord for the miserable lice. Betsy explained that because of the lice, the prison guards didn't come to their building as often and so they weren't tortured as often as others. Betsy found peace even in a concentration camp where she died because she was anxious in nothing, prayerful in everything, and thankful in anything. Being thankful in anything is the third step that Paul outlines on the way to the peace that passes all understanding. It isn't easy to be thankful all the time, but we can try. As many of you remember, a year ago now, my sister Maisie was undergoing treatment for breast cancer. I'll never forget something her husband said the night after her surgery. I had asked him how he was doing and he said, "I'm all right. You know it could be worse. Some couples fall out of love, but we're still in love." In a difficult time, he was thankful. Maisie has done well with treatment and is cancer free, which is wonderful. Perhaps just as wonderful, she and her husband are still in love. Paul says "anxious in nothing, prayerful in everything, thankful in anything, then peace." It is in Christ that we finally experience the miraculous gift of the peace of God. As long as we are in Christ, the peace of God will guard our hearts and our minds. Today is December 23. There are just two days to Christmas. We can get frazzled and crazy these last two days or we can remember that Christ is at the center of Christmas. The better path is to be anxious in nothing, prayerful in everything, thankful in anything…then the peace will come. Amen. "For getting Paul's point across with both power and poetry, the best, if not the most linguistically literal translation of this text has to be: 'Anxious in nothing, prayerful in everything, thankful in anything…then the peace.'" ["The Apostolic Formula for Peace of Mind and Heart," Homiletics, 12/11/1994] The author goes on to say, "Only when a Christian has achieved a state of faith that allows those three attitudes to guide his or her life does the 'peace of God' settle quietly over the mind and heart."