Sermon: "Earthly Anxieties"
The Right Reverend Charles G. vonRosenberg
Third Bishop of East Tennessee

[This sermon by Bishop vonRosenberg was delivered using the following notes.]

What wonderful treasures our collects are in the Episcopal Church! They usually address profoundly spiritual truths in very practical terms. And, at the same time, they manage to illuminate one or more themes from the Bible readings of the day. Wonderful treasures indeed!

Today’s collect is no exception. “Grant us, Lord, not to be anxious about earthly things, but to love things heavenly; and even now, while we are placed among things that are passing away, to hold fast to those that shall endure.” Or, in the Victorian English that rolls so wonderfully off the tongue, “Grant us, O Lord, not to mind earthly things, but to love things heavenly; and even now, while we are placed among things that are passing away, to cleave to those that shall abide.”

Our Gospel reading today provides an example of undue anxiety about earthly things on the part of Jesus’ disciples. And, by the way, we cannot help but wonder how often Jesus must have had to offer such correction to his close followers. In any event, on this particular occasion, Jesus and his band had been walking along the road to Capernaum. I suppose they were spread out a bit, in such a way that Jesus was not talking with all of them all of the time.

After the group arrived in Capernaum, we read this description of a poignant encounter: “When he was in the house he asked them, ‘What were you arguing about on the way?’ But they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another who was the greatest”(9:33-34). Jesus realized the subject of their conversation, and he said to them, in effect, “Do not be anxious about earthly things.” Indeed, there were far more important things that should command their attention. In this situation, Jesus conveyed a familiar theme – that his followers were called not to greatness but to servanthood. Therefore, “do not be anxious about earthly things.”

Here is a more personal example of the temptation “to mind earthly things.” My family designed and built a cottage on a North Carolina beach some thirty-two years ago. Through time, that special place has become our homestead. Annie and I, along with our two sons, have lived something of a vagabond life through the years, moving fairly often. Thus, no one place really claims the designation of “home” for us. Also, my parents moved out of the family home years ago. Through it all, though, the beach cottage has been our place of constancy and security, as well as serving as the repository for significant family memories.

This is a tough time of year for us because it is hurricane season. As each summer ends, we wonder, “Will this be the year that our wonderful cottage is destroyed?” Once again this week, in fact, we held our collective breath as Isabel threatened. And then on Thursday, we were able to release a collective sigh of relief. Even though there may be damage to repair and clean-up to accomplish, the beach cottage itself survived once again.

“Grant us, Lord, not to be anxious about earthly things.” In the case of the beach cottage, grant that we may cherish the love and the good times and the important relationships nourished there … “to hold fast”, “to cleave” to those things that endure and abide. And, by extension, grant that we may let go of other, earthly things. But it is hard, isn’t it? It is sometimes difficult, even, to distinguish between earthly things and things heavenly … and, then, to concentrate our appreciation on the one, while holding the other with less intensity.

And so, we come to my third and final example for this sermon. The confusion between earthly and heavenly things names one of the difficulties our church is having in the aftermath of General Convention. We need to be clear about this. What the church does at Convention is an earthly thing. We are earthly creatures, working within an earthly institution. Now, part of our confusion comes as we strive to be faithful to our heavenly Father, whose Son – for a while – lived an earthly life. Indeed, perhaps our confusion is understandable! In any event, though, our actions at General Convention are earthly things. However, about those earthly things, it is safe to say that we have indeed become anxious.

Perhaps it might be appropriate for us – at this time in history – to remember the wisdom of the teacher Gamaliel. A first century church fight provides the setting for his message to us. According to the book of Acts, one group continued to do and say things that the other group – the one in power – had prohibited. The feelings ran so strongly among those church people that blood was literally about to be shed. However, the cool-headed Gamaliel – a member of the group in power – spoke these reasonable words: “If this plan or this understanding is of human origin, it will fail; but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them – in that case you may even be found fighting against God!”(Acts 5:38-39).

In conclusion, then, Jesus and Gamaliel would agree with the wisdom and the appropriateness of our collect today: “Grant us, Lord, not to be anxious about earthly things, but to love things heavenly; and even now, while we are placed among things that are passing away, to hold fast to those that shall endure.” Amen.

Copyright © 2003 The Episcopal Diocese of East Tennessee