whatever

from my sermon on 10/9/11 from Philippians 4:1-9

Whatever.....say it with me, but you have to drop your voice as you say it...whatever. This the word of resignation, of giving up, of saying "It doesn't matter." Whatever. It reminds me of that bumper sticker, "Apathy may be our problem, but who cares?" Or the other one, "Indecision may or may not be our problem." Whatever.

The church can be good at saying "Whatever." We can be good at not facing our problems. We have had many years of loss of membership or worse, loss of discipleship. Whatever. We have a gap in relevance to the culture. Whatever. We have had a loss of trust with clergy sexual abuse and televangelist money schemes. Whatever.

Paul doesn't say, "Whatever." He says, "Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is anything of excellence, anything worthy of praise, think about these things."

You are not going to believe this but the church in Philippi was experiencing conflict. Paul loved this congregation. He had visited them at least 3 times, and they had sent him gifts while he was in prison. The conflict was between 2 church leaders, 2 women. Some may think of Paul as putting women down, but read the text carefully. He calls Euodia and Syntyche "co-workers" and ones who "struggled beside me in the work of the gospel." Paul often affirms women as leaders in the early church. Guess what? Church leaders have problems too! Does Paul run from it? NO! He sends the church a letter to be read out loud in a worship service that names names. How would you like that?

We have a conflict going on right now: our relationship with Parker Lane UMC. Did you know that there are Christians on the other side of I-35. They may of a different demographic from people around here. For the past 2 years we have explored an experiment, working with Parker Lane. We have done Vacation Bible School together. We have given backpacks to Linder Elementary which is served by Parker Lane. We have done a Children's Craft fair together. Our youth have met for youth fellowship on Sunday evenings together and done missions together. This relationship between the youth groups is now entering a cooling off period. There have been some conversations and emails about the relationship. I have a meeting on Wednesday with Tina Carter the pastor at Parker Lane. She has been invited to talk to the Fellowship Sunday school class. Our youth director, J.D., has been asked to preach at Parker Lane. I don't know how it will all work out. I do know that we are trying to focus on whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, anything of excellence, anything worthy of praise.

Then there is a second thing Paul addresses. (skit of Wee Hour Worry with married couple in bed, waking up at 3:30 a.m. worrying over sounds in the night, daughter in AP English class, braces for her.)

Alfred E. Neuman of Mad magazine asks, "What? Me, worry?" We do worry. What keeps you up at night? What do you chew on like a dog with a bone?

Last weekend I attended my 40th high school reunion. I know I don't look that old. Did you miss me? I left the church in good hands with pastor Judy, Laura Lincoln, and Diana--strong women leaders. I had not been back in a long time. I attended my 10th reunion, and nothing in between. My little town had really hurt me in my senior year when I was quarterback and captain of my football team, and they blamed me for the losing season. In my own mind it was huge, something that I had agonized over for 40 years. When I went back to the reunion, it was a non-event to my classmates. Not one mentioned it. They all talked about marriages and children and work and where they lived. What was so huge in me was so small to others. I was released from this burden.

Paul says, "Don't worry." He is in prison when he writes this. How can he say, "Don't worry" ? His focus is somewhere else. He says, "Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say rejoice." I read somewhere that the church will die from terminal seriousness! Paul looks beyond his current situation to see God at work and gives praise....like today for the rain. He says the Lord is near. He means near in time. The Lord is coming soon. Everything will pass away. It doesn't last forever. But the word "near" comes from the root word for crook of the elbow. The Lord is holding us close, in an embrace, hugging us.

That's why Paul can say, "Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God, and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus." It's not that we simply stop worrying; we replace the worry with prayer. I actually practice this. Sometimes I wake up at 3 in the morning. I bring the worry into my consciousness, then I take it before God, and then I let it go. I also start quoting memory verses, "cast all your anxiety upon him, for he cares about you," and "the LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want."

And the peace of God stands like a sentry, a guard upon you. You replace worry with whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable. We thing about...that is, take into account, consider, these things. We replace worry with these virtues. And we keep on doing them as Paul suggests. It is a spiritual discipline.

This list of virtues...Paul didn't just make up. He got them from the Greek culture around him. He met the culture where they were. How could we do that today? How could we find good, find God in the culture? Right now we have Occupy Wall Street, and to a lesser degree, Occupy Austin going on. What can we get from this protest against greed? Someone very important died this past week....yes, Steve Jobs. What an impact he has had.....imac, iphone, ipod, ipad..What can we get from this desire for connectivity?

I know our new Point movement is trying to do this...meet people where they are. The church gathers for worship and scatters for service. Today till it rained, they were going to go down on the hike and bike trail to get funds for wildfire relief.

Whatever. The word can be translated, "all that is." All that is true, all that is honorable, all that is just, all that is pure, all that is pleasing, all that is commendable.

God is doing whatever God can, all that God can to meet us where we are, and to hold us in God's embrace.