Worry and Trust

St. Paul writes to the church in Philippi:

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.
Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near.
Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. (Philippians 4:4-6)

In these days of financial turmoil, many of us are finding it difficult not to worry. Our gentleness may be fraying and our confidence in the nearness of the Lord may be waning. Yet these difficult times are exactly the times that demonstrate where our confidence is. Do we trust in God’s abundant provision and the strength of our communities of trust and cooperation? Or do we trust in wealth?

We may well experience difficult times. But our call as the Church is to experience them together trusting in God’s call upon our lives to live out God’s alternative realities of generosity, love, forgiveness, and compassion.

Praying for Victory

This weekend a pastor gave the invocation at a McCain rally (before Senator McCain arrived) in which he prayed that God's reputation would be guarded by a McCain victory. The problem for God, according to this pastor, is that many non-Christians around the world are praying to their deities that Senator Obama will win. If Obama wins, they will think that their deities are bigger. Check it out at http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/10/11/speaker-at-mccain-rally-says-non-christians-want-an-obama-win/.

I suggest this pastor review the prophet Micah, who said, "[God] has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?" [Micah 6:8]