Anxiety is the epidemic of our age, isn’t it? We are stressed by time pressure, unmet expectations, a faltering economy, gloomy predictions for the future … and too many personal things to even begin to mention. For me, the current stressor is the budget for the church and her ministries. We are closing our fiscal year in a couple of weeks and planning for the coming year in this economic climate is not fun! But, I would be in sin if I failed acknowledge the way that the Lord and His people have provided so that the church’s work continued with enough resources through this present year. He has been Yahweh Yireh (The Lord, Our Provider; Genesis 22:14), and I am deeply grateful.
In the second half of John’s Gospel, we read an extended conversation between Jesus and His disciples over the final Passover meal as He prepared them for His imminent arrest and death. It’s a sober, yet at times almost comedic, exchange in which they just don’t get it. They are confused by His words, unable to grasp His promise of a new Comforter that will come to live in them, the Holy Spirit. Jesus does not sugarcoat the future. He warns them that they will be persecuted by the world who will not like them any more than they liked Him. He tells them that when they do good, they will be hated. He says that troubles will come their way. We need to hear those words!
A silly brand of Christianity is ballyhooed by thousands of preachers that implies that becoming a follower of Christ Jesus will bring bright skies, endless horizons, and days of bliss! Those who hear those false promises often conclude that they must be ‘bad’ or have ‘no faith,’ because trouble and trials continue to be part of life. Certainly, we do bring some trouble on our own heads by walking willfully, out of step with the Spirit. However, if we are deeply committed we will be up to our necks in difficulties! Why? Because we are called to serve in hard places, commissioned to live against the current, resisting the Devil and his evil works – even to the point of death!
But…. (don’t you love that conjunctive word?) peace is possible. Yes, serenity is God’s gift to us. Here’s what Jesus said at that supper to men who were confused and stressed by what He had told them about their future:
“Fix this firmly in your minds: You’re going to be in deep mourning while the godless world throws a party. You’ll be sad, very sad, but your sadness will develop into gladness. “When a woman gives birth, she has a hard time, there’s no getting around it. But when the baby is born, there is joy in the birth. This new life in the world wipes out memory of the pain. The sadness you have right now is similar to that pain, but the coming joy is also similar. When I see you again, you’ll be full of joy, and it will be a joy no one can rob from you. … I’ve told you all this so that trusting me, you will be unshakable and assured, deeply at peace. In this godless world you will continue to experience difficulties. But take heart! I’ve conquered the world.” (John 16:20-22, 33 The Message)
Those men were going to enter into a greater darkness than they had ever known, but in three days the Resurrection would let them put the puzzle together, give them the assurance they needed, and prepare them for the future.
Disciple, we must grasp the promise and the assurance that leads to serenity; to peace in the middle of the storms. “Take heart! I have overcome the world!” is still a promise for you and me. Jesus knows about the budgetary needs of my church, so I need to be as wise as possible, obedient to His leading, and trusting that come what may He still leads. Death, divorce, disappointment, temptation, unemployment, failure, missed expectations, overcoming addictions – there is serenity for those who give their lives into His care.
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God, give us grace to accept with serenity
the things that cannot be changed,
Courage to change the things
which should be changed,
and the Wisdom to distinguish
the one from the other.
Living one day at a time,
Enjoying one moment at a time,
Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace,
Taking, as Jesus did,
This sinful world as it is,
Not as I would have it,
Trusting that You will make all things right,
If I surrender to Your will,
So that I may be reasonably happy in this life,
And supremely happy with You forever in the next.
Amen.
Original Serenity Prayer
by Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971)
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