Readings for the Day:
Sermon:
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Original Manuscript:
Worry is such a difficult and terrible thing in our lives. Whether it is about paying our bills, looking towards the next steps in our lives, or what the future of the world will be, when it seems like there is no way out from the difficulties that plague us, our worry can overwhelm us. It can make it all seem so hopeless.
That's why we need passages like the one in our Gospel reading. Our worry makes us short sighted. It keeps us from seeing that there is, in fact, a way beyond whatever we are going through.
Our passage in Luke tells us that no matter what happens to us, we do not have to worry. God will always provide what we need- not what we want but what we need. Our worry can blind us to remembering that. I can say for myself, as a worrier, when I stop and think about my life, God has always provided a way out in the difficult times. No hardship ever lasted forever. It may have lasted a long amount of time, but never forever. With God's help, I've been able to make it through eventually. Thanks to God's help, I am able to have hope in the future.
Thanks to God's help, I'm able to have hope in the future because not even death will be the end. We are able to have hope for the future because our life here is not the end of things, not ultimately.
Whatever your worry is, whether for yourself, your family, the church, or the world, just consider the lilies. God looks after them. God will look after you too. No difficulty is ever the end. No matter what we have hope. We have Jesus.