For years, when I get a little tense, Donna says to me,
“Reeeeeee-lax!”
It’s not always so easy to relax.
I fret and I fuss.
Get edgy.
Uneasy.
Irritable.
And that never helps anything.
So, Donna says to me, “Reeeeeeeee-lax!”
Puts a smile on my face.
I take a deep breath.
Tension drains away.
I feel better!
I wrote the first part of today’s message on Monday.
Later in the day, grocery shopping.
Got what I needed, put it in the trunk, got in behind
the wheel, pulled out of the parking space … when, I REALIZED, I still need
milk and OJ.
*choice words* … I said to myself, “Eggebeen, practice
what you preach; REEEE-LAX.
Pulled back into my parking space.
Back to the store.
Got what I needed.
And, you know what?
It made no difference.
I got home in a timely manner and made dinner.
And now there’s milk and OJ in the fridge.
REEEE-LAX!
Over the years, I’ve learned a few things.
Donna would say, “VERY few things.”
Oh well.
But a few things, indeed.
I’ve learned:
1.
Most of the things that send my emotional thermometer into the
red zone are of little consequence, and will pass in 5 minutes or less. The guy cutting me off on the 405; the busy
check-out lane, when someone has an unmarked item; the clerk has to do a
price-check, and no one answers the phone, so the clerk steps away, and it’s an
item on the other side of the store, a least a mile away. Things like this pass
quickly!
2.
Hard things rarely last more than five days – a difficult encounter with someone, and we go
home and rehearse what was said, and we think, “If only I had said thus and so
…” and we think of all the clever things we could have said, or at least ways
of saying it differently. Or maybe we plan an ambush; how to get back at them,
return hurt for hurt. Come on now, fess up; we all think like this, don’t we?
But I’ve learned: hard things rarely last beyond five days. And if we go to
work with hurt or anger, it’s only gonna get worse. We have to let things go.
We have to trust. Because hard things last only a few days.
3.
Even terrible things work their way through our lives … it may
take months, maybe years … some things, like the death of spouse, or the death
of a child, never fully leave us … but time does ease the pain. At the moment of our loss, at the time of our
tears, none of us want to hear, “Time heals all things” … we don’t want our
sorrow healed … we don’t want cheap comfort … but a couple of years down the
road, we know it’s true, “Time heals every wound.” Scars remain; memories flood
back like it was yesterday; but time heals the soul. Even the most terrible
things work their way through our life.
The rule of 5: five minutes, five days, five years.
But I find again and again: it’s the five-minute things
that really trip me up.
Did someone misunderstand me?
Did someone say something unkind to me?
Was I humiliated?
Was I hurt?
Sure, all of this and more.
Happens all the time.
And I get angry about it.
Maybe you do, too.
Maybe the other person IS at fault.
But we need to keep in mind: “Maybe I’m the other person
now and then. Maybe it’s my fault.”
A quick apology is always in order.
Even if we think no apology is
needed.
Offer an apology anyway.
An apology never hurts anyone.
And it might help.
It’s good for the soul to
apologize.
And if it’s the other person’s fault, and no apology is
offered, we might just have to let it go.
Don’t stumble over five-minute things.
You’ve got bigger fish to fry.
Interim pastors had a meeting this week – we share
stories, laugh a lot, and pray a lot for one another.
One of my friends told of being at the Hollywood Bowl
recently, sitting in front of a lady whom he recognized, but couldn’t place.
During intermission, he turned to her, and asked, “Do we
know each other?”
She replied, “Are you an attorney?”
He said, “No, I’m a Presbyterian pastor.”
“Oh, “ she said, “You’re the one who fired me 25-years
ago.”
She never let it go.
Sometimes our memory is too good.
REEEEEEE-LAX, says Jesus.
Issues of trust are a big part of learning how to
relax!
Maybe we’re not sure that anyone else can do the job as
well as we can do it.
And why do we feel this way?
Because we care!
But care, unmanaged, evolves into control.
When care becomes control, look
out!
Control is not a pretty
picture.
We call people who control,
“control-freaks.”
If you’ve ever worked with a
control-freak, you know what I’m talking about.
It’s doesn’t work.
Control-freaks never let go.
And it’s likely to end badly.
If I want someone else to do a job I’ve been doing, I
have to let go, and let God.
I have to step back and trust.
Things will get done.
Maybe not the way I want them to go.
But things will get done.
Even if the ball is dropped, it
won’t be the end of the world!
And when I’m dead and gone,
guess what?
The world will go on without
me.
Jesus tells the disciples, REEEEEEE-LAX.
Because edgy disciples are no
good for the kingdom of God.
Disciples hot and bothered by
the weeds only make things worse.
I wish I had known this weed parable when I was young.
Mom or Dad would tell me to go pull weeds in the
flowerbeds.
If I had known this parable, I would have told them,
“Jesus doesn’t want me to pull weeds. I’ll pull up the flowers, too. We’ll have
to wait!”
Wish I had known that years
ago.
Christians needs to know this story, too.
Lest we panic about the weeds.
And there are weeds, of course.
Plenty of them.
But Jesus tells the disciples to cool their jets, settle
down, and REEEEEE-LAX.
Dear friends, this is a big problem for some
Christians.
They’re bent outta shape over the weeds!
They wanna get into the field,
pull up the weeds, and throw ‘em into the fire.
They love images of hell,
Armageddon, destruction and calamity.
All they see is loss and
decline, everything going to hell in a handbasket … their world full of
conspiracies and evil forces … they believe themselves to be persecuted –
paranoia is the order of the day.
Their list of enemies is long:
secularists, humanists, liberals, the United Nations, President Obama, public
schools, scientists who teach evolution, Hollywood, radical Islamists,
progressive Christians, Communists, socialists, those who support choice for
women, the ACLU, gays and lesbians, immigrants, labor unions, Mickey Mouse and
Donald Duck.
Their list of friends is short,
and getting shorter every day.
Because all they see are the
weeds …
Some of these Christian groups
are deeply involved in heresy trials.
Finger-pointing … Judgment …
Exclusion.
Because all they see are the
weeds …
Their preaching is filled with
fury and threat and damnation.
They’re edgy, angry,
aggressive, frustrated, belligerent and condemning.
Because all they see are the
weeds …
Sledge-hammer Christianity.
Christianity with a snarl on
its face.
Because all they see are the
weeds …
And they’re afraid.
They’re afraid of the weeds.
Fear is never any good for the Kingdom of God.
Fear distorts everything.
Remember the children of Israel
at the borders of the Promise Land?
The spies return and tell the
people, “It’s a fair and beautiful land, but the people there are like giants,
and they will defeat us.”[1]
Fear makes things seem worse
than they really are.
Fear creates judgment and
division:
Who are the weeds and who is
the wheat?
Who are “real” Christians and
who are “false”?
Who are “true believers” and
who are only pretending?
Who’s orthodox, who’s
heretical?
Who’s saved, who’s damned?
Who’s in, who’s out?
Who’s gonna make it, and who’s
gonna burn (woo hoo) forever?
The kind of judgment Jesus
forbids us to make.[2]
When Jesus and the disciples enter a Samaritan village,
and the people find out that Jesus is headed toward Jerusalem, they turn Jesus
away.
The disciples ask, “Shall we call down fire from heaven
and burn ‘em all up” - just like Sodom and Gomorrah?
Jesus rebukes them, and they go on their way to another
village.
Fearful, angry, Christians need a good dose of
Presbyterian confidence in God.
God’s sovereign work, doing just fine.
God’s love, wide and deep and broad and sure.
Where’s there’s sin, grace abounds.
God is victorious, and we have peace with God.
God still does the converting and does it very well.
The Lamb of God is truly the Lamb of God who takes away
the sins the world![3]
Jesus builds the church, and not even the gates of hell
can prevail.[4]
The Kingdom of God unfolds as it should.
God’s timeline is right on target.
Faith, the size of a mustard seed, is more than enough
to move a few mountains.
Oh, there will be a time when things are sorted out.
But that’s up to the angels.
At the end of time.
Not now.
Not us!
Not even God pulls weeds while things are still growing.
The Apostle Peter writes: With the Lord one day is
like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day. The Lord is not
slow about his promise, as some think of slowness, but is patient with you, not
wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance.[5]
“REEEEEEEEE-LAX,” says Jesus!
Don’t be afraid of the weeds.
Rejoice in the wheat, instead.
Be positive.
Confident.
Peaceful.
Stand up and sing The Star Spangled Banner.
And write some poetry.
It’s better than you think.
The sky isn’t falling.
The house is just fine.
It’s not always easy, but don’t make things worse by pulling
up the weeds![6]
Trust in God always!
Trust also in me.[7]
The world is being saved!
Creation redeemed.
From top to bottom.
Inside and out.
As God has promised.
I am with you always, to the end of the age![8]
I will never leave you or forsake you, so we say with
confidence, the LORD is my helper, I will not be afraid.[9]
And that, dear friends, is the news from Calvary on the
Boulevard, where all the women are strong, all the men are good looking, and
all the children are above average.[10]
Amen and Amen!
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