The key text was Philippians 4:6-7: 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 your minds in Christ Jesus.
On first read, we are tempted to respond, "That's easy for HIM to say..." I read about a church sign that accidentally juxtaposed two sentences: "Don't let worry ruin your life. Let the church help." With a few yucks, it does awkwardly get at the question, what is the role of our faith in helping curb or sooth our worrisome anxieties?
Paul says Don't worry about anything. Humans are born worriers. Our intellect, and the ability to assess a situation and formulate actions and responses naturally also paves the way for worry.
We tend to lump worry and fear together, yet an interesting article I read in a psychology periodical provides these pairings and definitions:
Worry and Anxiety - A set of responses to an unknown, imprecise or ill-defined threat; often anticipatory in nature and created by the imagination. It's more associated with the need to be prepared. Worry leads to feeling anxious.
Fear and Panic - A set of responses to a known, precise, well-defined threat, which can be real or vividly imagined. It's mainly about avoidance and escape. In its extreme form, fear becomes panic.
Makes sense, doesn't it? This "worrisome" thinking can easily create the conditions that make a person feel anxious. The article listed four scenarios that lead to this:
- Helplessness - Insufficient information to handle the situation
- Over-stimulation - Too much information, or information overload
- Incongruity - Conflicting information
- Unpredictability - Having an uncertain outcome
In another "worrisome" arena, some wag had posted on FaceBook a picture of a doctor's coffee mug which read: "My medical degree trumps your Google search!" How true it is that when we receive a diagnosis, we so often go right to the Internet to research it, or the meds prescribed. AND that brings on the worry and anxiety. I remember being given a prescription several years ago, and when I read about it--and its side-effects--on the Internet, I was scared to death to take it. Thankfully, I called a former parishioner who was head of pharmacy for all of UPMC Health Systems at that time, and he gave me a good scolding: "TAKE the drug--you need it! Besides the side-effects mentioned only occurred in a small population of teenage females from a mid-eastern country, so I think you're safe." It is so true that we drive ourselves to worry much of the time.
Passing through life's challenges--and related worry--is similar to a spacecraft coming back to earth, re-entering the earth's atmosphere:
1. It can just hit the atmosphere and burn up. When we don't plan ahead and prepare ourselves for some of the contingencies, this "crash and burn" may happen to our psyche. This is where the fear and panic come in.
2. The spacecraft may have an "ablative" heat shield. This is designed to slowly burn away as it enters the atmosphere, carrying the dangerous heat away from the vehicle. Might we be able to use this "gradual burn" as a way to keep from the "heat" building up to a dangerous level in our personal situations? A "controlled burn" sometimes works as a coping skill when facing trials.
3. The spacecraft may have "tiles" like the space shuttle did. These special ceramic tiles were able to "take the heat" and then dissipate it internally. I once saw a demonstration of these tiles whereby one was held by a pair of long forceps in a very hot flame until the center of the tile was literally glowing red. The person doing the demonstration then suddenly pulled the tile out of the flame and literally grabbed it in his bare hand. In that short period of time, the unique properties of the tile "snatched" the heat away from the surface, and even though it was still glowing hot at its center, the outside was already cool to the touch. Amazing. In terms of our worries and anxieties, being surrounded by a strong supportive community--family, friends, church--can act like those tiles in a time of crisis or challenge. I have observed that people who have little "supportive community," or friends who are affirming, comforting, or willing to walk along side of them during difficulties, often fall prey to the "crash and burn" scenario.
4. Finally, a spacecraft can avoid the destructive forces of friction in the upper atmosphere by a "powered descent." If it has an engine capable of balancing the force of gravity and descending slowly, no heat is generated. However, this requires a lot of power, and we haven't yet built a spacecraft that can do this. From a psychological and spiritual perspective, this is what Paul is talking about when he says--...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 your minds in Christ Jesus. Prayer and trusting in God can provide that extra power and "lift" to allow us to descend to the low points slowly, and then to begin to rise above them.
Two additional things Paul mentions here are also keys to navigating life without giving undo way to worry, anxiety, fear or panic:
Peace - he says it can "guard our hearts and minds". Learning how to practice peace, work for peace, and benefit from peace is a good assignment. The first item on this agenda is avoid being a contentious, angry or unpleasant person. Hotheads rarely experience--or can create--peace.
Thanksgiving - that "with thanksgiving" part of Paul's sentence is huge. Living with and regularly dispensing gratitude goes a long way in helping us avoid worry and anxiety!
Epilogue...at the conclusion of this particular message, we invited parishioners at St. Paul's to write their worries, fears, and anxieties on a peace of paper we provided when then arrived. Then, as they left, we had paper shredders at each door, and they were urged to drop these papers into the shredders. What they didn't know was that when they arrived for worship on Christmas Eve, their shredded worries had become the "straw" in the chancel manger bearing the Christ Child. Play with that image a bit, won't you? God cares. God really cares. And many of God's people care about you, too. Find some of them and engage a journey of faith and healthy psychological values, coping skills, and affirmations. You will be so much happier for it. And stop listening to all of the politicians...
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