Casting Cares

from my message on June 1, 2014, from I Peter 5:6-11

Breathe in.  Breathe out.  As you breathe in, "Cast all your anxiety upon him."  As you breathe out, "For he cares for you."  Please keep breathing!

This is my gift to you today...a breath prayer.  I can't tell you how many times I have used this scripture as a breath prayer.  Especially at night.  I know that I am the only one who wakes up in the middle of the night...my mind racing, my breath racing, my heart racing....tossing in bed...turning over thoughts in my head....where I failed...how much I have to do...worries...concerns...cares.  Anybody else ever do this?

What I sometimes remember to do is to pray.  I start slowing my breath down. I start to say this verse from I Peter, Cast all your anxiety on him, for he cares for you.  My heart rate goes down.  My blood pressure goes down.  When the particular anxiety comes to me, I throw it to God.  I visualize the anxiety and toss it to God who cares for me.

Try it.  This is my gift to you.  And that would make a good message, just that alone, a breath prayer, casting our cares to God who loves us.  That would be a witness to our faith also, that we would spend as much time and energy in praying to God as we do focusing on our anxiety.  That was all I was going to say, a simple message of tossing our cares to God.

But I went deeper.  I got to reading the commentaries.  They gave me the context for this letter.  In the year 64 A.D., there was a big fire in Rome.  Nero, the emperor, blamed the fire on the Christians.  Until this time, Christians were considered to be sort of a branch of the Jewish faith, and therefore protected under the government.  By being made scapegoats for the fire, the Christians came to be persecuted.  Some were harassed.  Some were killed.  Peter is writing to them to maintain hope during a time of trial. He says, Cast all your cares upon him, for he cares for you.

This may be our context today.  You may get bullied at school for your beliefs.  People at work may treat you unkindly for your faith stance.  You may still need to claim this breath prayer as you deal with persecution for your faith today.

However, there are some places where it is difficult to be a Christian today, where persecution is very real.  Can you imagine trying to live as a Christian in North Korea, or Iraq, or Egypt?  Maybe our breath prayer today is to remember them when we say, Cast all your anxiety upon him, for he cares for you.

That would be a good message also.  I could have quit there, but I went deeper.  I got to reflecting on who I am today.  I am a rich, white, male, leader of church. I get to stand here and lead worship.  I have a lot of power.  I wondered if I had ever hurt others by my stance.

I am not mean or vicious.  I don't go out of my way to make life hard on others.  But I was at a meeting on Thursday.  Fourteen of us United Methodist pastors had gathered for lunch.  We are all in various stages of becoming affiliated with the Reconciling Ministries Network.  This is a group, a movement within the United Methodist Church to be totally accepting of  all persons, especially those of the gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender community.  We had to confess.  I had to confess. I had often been silent when I should have spoken up.  I stood by silently while others were hurt for their stance.  I realized as a leader in the church I had gotten on the other side of the power differential where I was persecuting people by my passive position.

Here I had to take a really deep breath.  Cast  all your anxiety upon him, for he cares for you.  I have been pushed recently to take a leadership role in the Reconciling Ministries Network.   I am now the coordinator/convener of the Austin area pastors.

I realize my need for forgiveness. The passage from I Peter says to humble ourselves, to turn to the God of all grace, who restores, strengthens, and establishes us.

I realize that this breath prayer is not just for me.  The pronouns are all plural.  It is "you all."  That is what we are praying for "All of you cast your anxiety upon him, for he cares for you all."

That's the good news I have to share today.