Obsessions and Attachments
Recently, I heard a panel of students discussing what it is like to be a young person today. They talked of many things… their work… their fears… their ambitions... their hopes for the future. Then the moderator asked them: "What does it take to get your attention?" One young man was very direct: "Bright and loud," he said. "It's the kind of world we live in, and in that kind of world, that's what it takes."
I spent some time this week thinking about that student’s response. “Bright and loud.” It rules out a lot of things, doesn't it? That student probably won’t notice the different songs of the birds… or the color of wet bark… the silent flicker of a hummingbird… or tiny stars in the night sky that may actually be many times the size of our sun. He may never see the lacey beauty of a spider web at dawn… or hear the whisper of the wind in the pine trees… or see the eagerness in a child's eyes… or trace the lines in an old woman's face. In fact, he's missing most of the treasures that have always caught the attention of artists… photographers… poets… mystics… and musicians.
How many people are like him, I wonder? How many others are missing the most intricate wonders of our environment? Is our culture breeding a generation of people who have no eye for the lilies of the field… or the birds of the air… who no longer make the connection between all of these delights and the God who fashioned the world? Has the “bright and loud” inured us to the fragile network of miracles around us… to what one Oriental religion calls the "web of jewels?" It would be a pity, wouldn't it, to live in a world of rainbows… hummingbirds… wildflowers… and summer rain… and never see them… never have our hearts lifted… never make the connection between them and the transcendent Presence that presides over our existence.
We make choices each day about the things we will pay attention to in that day. We can pay attention to the “bright and loud” or we can make a conscious choice to see beyond the “bright and loud” to other things that may have greater importance… greater beauty… greater significance in the world in which we live. We can choose differently. That is what Jesus was urging his disciples to do in this passage from the Sermon on the Mount. He was urging them to choose differently.
Specifically, there were two things that Jesus wanted his disciples to rethink. One was attachments and the other was obsessions. “No one can serve two masters,” Jesus says. “Either he will hate the one and love the other or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.” In Jesus’ time, many people were slaves to other people. They were considered property. As property, they could be passed on to a person’s heirs when the slave owner died. Frequently, slaves found themselves divided between two masters with equal shares of an inheritance. In those situations, they often found themselves drawn to one master more than another… giving greater service… greater loyalty to one than to the other.
The words that have been translated “love” and “hate” here actually have more of a sense of attachment or bonding than an emotional feeling as we use those words today. To what are we attached… what do we hold on to… what is truly sacred to us? Are they the things of this world? And yet those things… whether it is the work that we do each day… the car that we drive… the activities of our leisure time… the calendar that shows us where we are to be and when we are to be there… these are the “bright and loud” of our world… of this world. You and I may say that we give God equal time, but if what constantly pulls us away is the “bright and loud” of life, does God get short-changed?
Can we rid ourselves of those attachments… the things that hold us? Often, I have found that they are like the roots of a weed… with long tentacles that find their way into every crack and crevice in order to secure their place in our lives. We can cut away many of them only to turn around and find them growing in places we would never suspect. Like the ivy that grows in my garden, these things wrap themselves around the tiny buds of new life and choke them.
The second thing that Jesus spoke to his disciples about was obsession... specifically, worrying about the basics of daily living. When Jesus says, “Do not worry about the future,” he is not saying that we should live from day to day without making any plans. The Greek word for worry here means to be overly concerned about… or to be obsessed by… what we will eat… or what we will drink… or what we will wear. Where we devote most of our attention… that becomes the god of our lives… the thing that controls us… our thoughts… our actions… what we do and what we say. Matthew Henry says that “There is scarcely any sin against which our Lord Jesus more warns his disciples, than disquieting… distracting… distrustful cares about the things of this life." It is when our thoughts are buried in the details of daily living that we miss the rainbows… flowers… and hummingbirds that silently proclaim the glory of God to a distracted world. The next time we snap at someone because they have, in some way, disturbed our attachment to something… or our obsession with something… perhaps, it is time to take the time to study the lilies of the field… or the birds of the air.
I am one of those who gets distracted by the things of this world… buried in my “To Do” list of the day… obsessed by thoughts of catastrophes that might happen if I don’t make a phone call or finish a task. What an unexpected joy I experienced recently just sitting in the back yard with Hugh and Marilyn… watching the fish in their pond… the many different birds that flew in and out of the yard… the leaves of the trees blowing gently in the breeze. Mom and I planted irises this weekend. Thanks to Pat Petry, we had a few to plant. When we were finished, we sat on the front porch and watched the sun set… and listened to the birds. Amid all the pressure of what still needs to be done, a sense of peace came over me. God is still in charge… and God will provide.
There are times in life when God takes us back to the basics… when we are reminded of what is truly important. Sometimes, it is the death of someone close to us. Sometimes it is the loss of something that we thought we could not live without… a job… a home… the ability to see… to walk. What miraculously happens in those times is that our lives become more congruent… more focused… more “real” – if you will – than they have been before. When our Older Youth went to the “Church Under the Bridge” last Sunday, they met many people who did not know where they might sleep that night. And yet, despite the pressure of that concern, our youth found people who were more joyful… more honest… more real than some of those they knew here in Stephenville. These people had come to the “Church Under the Bridge” hungry… and they were fed… both physically and spiritually… by those who gathered to minister to them. They knew that, in all the trials of their lives, here was a place where they could be safe… where they were accepted for who they were… where they could take the time to taste the things of God… and lay down the burdens of life… if only for a brief moment in time.
When was the last time that our God stopped you in your tracks to remind you of the things that are truly important? When were you last pulled from your preoccupation with attachments and obsessions… the things of creation rather than the things of the Creator… to experience the presence of God in some small, silent miracle of life? As I work with a new team in this church who has been introduced to the Acts 16:5 Initiative of Grace Presbytery, I find myself being recommitted to the idea of “being the people of God before we do the work of God.” I have to ask myself each day, “What is it that sets us apart as Christians?” Is it not our faith in God… our trust in God’s mercy… and our belief in God’s provision for our every need? “Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What will we eat?' or 'What will we drink?' or 'What will we wear?' For it is the Gentiles… those who do not believe in God… who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
Now, admittedly, what is given to us is not always what we asked for… or what we wanted… nor is it always given in the way in which we wanted it… or at the time that we wanted it given to us… and yet, we can see the struggles of our own lives reflected in God’s creation. That flower that grows up in rocky soil wrapped around a rusty barbwire fence can still bloom… and so can we… despite the trials and aggravations of daily life… if we will put God first in our lives. And this service of worship: Is this time… in this place… a time truly set apart for God… or is it just one activity on the schedule of things that needs to be done today? What’s the difference? Do we know? Or are we too busy thinking about what needs to be done next… where we need to be after church is over?
“Strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” I wonder how our lives would change if we would truly seek God first for one day… one week… one year… and trust in God to provide for all of our needs? We might find that “bright and loud” doesn’t work for us any longer… that we truly can see beyond the present and the things of this world… to that which God has promised. We may discover God’s unique peace flooding our hearts… our minds… our souls… and laying all our demons to rest. Shall we find out? Amen.
Matthew 6:24-34