When I was in school the way to really remember something, REALLY REMEMBER something was to write it down on your hand. Phone numbers, names, dates … as if once on your hand, they became part of you and could not be forgotten. Today, being more technologically sophisticated, we might write such messages in our cell phones, or PDAs … but even now I've noticed more than a few names and numbers written the old fashioned way.

The prophet Isaiah writes: "See, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands." A reminder to the people of Israel who cry out, wondering if God has forgotten them – a reminder that says no way can God forget them … no more than a mother can forget her child … no more than we can forget something we have written on our own palms. So God remembers us.

Two hundred and seventy years ago there was a man who struggled with knowing the reality that Isaiah writes about. He knew there was a God, he ordered his life around preaching that reality to others, and reaching out to the marginalized; yet his heart felt like stone. He wondered if God even knew who he was. And then on May 24, 1738, he wrote these words: "In the evening I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate Street, where one was reading Luther's preface to the Epistle to the Romans. About a quarter before nine, while the leader was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ alone for salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death". (from The Journal of John Wesley, May 24, 1738) That man, was of course, John Wesley and because of his experience that night on Aldersgate Street we sit here this morning … part of that faith heritage that reminds us of how deeply God loves us and cares for us.

It is that same deep love and care that Jesus is reminding his listeners about in this morning's gospel text. We hear these words in the same context as our text from last Sunday. Jesus is not preaching to the rich and comfortable. Last week we heard how subversive the message of Jesus was – turn the power balance upside-down … if a Roman soldier commands you to carry his pack for a mile, offer to carry it for two so he is forced to beg you for it back. If someone wants your coat, give them all your clothes and force them to plead with you to keep your clothing. Jesus is still talking to the poor and marginalized in this text – it only seems as if the rich and comfortable have it all together. But they don't … God is even greater – look at the lilies and the grass and all of creation – the rich can't pull that off, only God can. He says to the: not to worry, God has your back. Once again, the message of Jesus is deliciously subversive – the power doesn't rest with the ruling authorities, it rests with God who is much greater.

We rest in between these two texts this morning – that we are inscribed on the palm of God's hands, we can never be forgotten … and that we are called to do ministry in the power of God's love as shown in the power of creation. It is the context of the texts that prevent them from being reduced to mere platitudes. Both texts are written for people in tough times. And further, they were not written by people who found themselves in the seats of power and luxury – Isaiah writes as a prophet of Israel in the midst of their exile. Jesus preaches as one who lives under Roman oppression. We have all cringed when offered platitudes in our toughest moments: "It's all part of God's plans" or "I know just what you are going through." These texts are not platitudes uttered by the powerful to keep the oppressed in their places. Rather they are words of empowerment to remind those most marginalized and hopeless that God has not forgotten them – and as a reminder just look around at the splendor of the fragile blooms of the lilies – if God can pull that off, imagine what God can do with you!

Juliana of Norwich lived in some of the worst of times. In 14th century Europe the plague spread killing somewhere between 30 and 60 percent of the population. It is no pie-eyed optimism that inspired her to reach the conclusion she was wrong to focus on the sins and sorrows of life … that God calls us to something far greater. She believed that God longs to "comforteth readily and sweetly." God does so by reassuring us that, because of the certainty of God's boundless love, "All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well." (link)

It is not wrong to worry, to be concerned, to find ourselves anxious about the state of the world. The problem is when our worry becomes self absorbing, prevents us from being aware of and reaching out to others, and causes us to hoard it all for ourselves. Our worry becomes dangerous when it causes us to forget God's love and care for us, and instead becomes our focus. It is dangerous when it causes us to cease doing ministry because we are afraid of not having enough for ourselves or worrying about "what will the neighbors think?" Consider the issue of garbage and budget deficits. We all know that as a church we struggle with having enough money to pay the bills. We are working on not running a deficit budget, while at the same time the cost of "doing business" keeps going up. Soon we will have the additional burden of paying for garbage pick up. Going with a growing trend, the boro of Red Bank has decided that non-profit organizations will have to pay for any more than the equivalent of three trash cans of garbage per pick-up. That means us – and we generate a lot of trash during the week. As a church we could find ourselves worrying about paying for garbage so much that it gets in the way of ministry. How tempting it is to say we can no longer afford the ministry of hospitality, to say to all the groups who find shelter in our space that we can no longer afford them, because they generate more bags of garbage than we can pay for. Oh, how Jesus would have a field day with that one! Can us see us written in a modern day version of today's parable: "Look at the lilies of the fields, and you worry about garbage?" While the concern for enough money, resources, people, and so on is real, it can never be greater than God's call and claim upon us. If we give into all the pressures of money and neighborhood pressure we would not hear testimony such as I heard last week from one of our ministry groups. A woman connected through one of our recovery groups shared with me how grateful she was for the home we provided them, that we had no idea of the miracles that occurred here every day because of this space.

Consider the lilies of the field … Jesus spoke these words to people who wondered if there would be enough – to the farmers, and to those at the hands of an occupying army, to those who grieved, and to those who suffered – not to trivialize or reduce any of their reality, but to remind them that God was more than and bigger than anything life could throw at them. Jesus spoke these words to people like us. The word of God for the people of God!

Go back to the 2008 Sermons page.
Go back to the UMC Red Bank home page.