Henrietta United
Rev.
David Inglis
Matthew
6:25-34
Learning to Pray, Learning to Live: 3. “One Day
at a Time”
Janet was played by Kate Travis
Janet plods down the aisle with a blanket slung
over her shoulder.
Pastor: Hey, Janet, it looks like you’re moving
kind of slow today. Say, what’s that
blanket you’re carrying?
Janet: What, this? Oh, this is my security blanket (sucks her
thumb for a moment like Linus).
Pastor: You carry a security blanket to
church?
Janet:
Sure. I carry it everywhere. You never know when you’re going to need it.
Pastor: It looks kind of heavy. What’s in it, anyway?
Janet (putting it down): Well, for one
thing, I carry a good insurance package (pulls out a package tied with a
ribbon, filled with rocks). You
know, if somebody breaks into my house and robs me, or my house burns down, or
I get in a car accident, or I get a terrible disease, or my husband dies, or I
get disabled and can’t work, or I lose my faculties and have to go into a
nursing home, at least I’m covered.
Things like could happen any time.
I wouldn’t go anywhere without being protected.
And here’s my longterm savings, my IRA, and my
pension plan I’ve socked away for the future (pulls out a large sock
containing rocks). I don’t want to
be one of those people who ends up living their golden years in need because I
didn’t plan for the future.
And here’s my purse. I’ve got my first-aid kit in case I get a
cut, tweezers in case I get a splinter, aspirin in case I get a headache, a
flashlight in case the power goes out, deodorant in case...you know, a little
notebook in case I need to write down the license plate of someone who hits me,
and of course I always keep my pepper spray right on top in case some man tries
to take advantage of me.
Pastor (aside): That’d be the day.
Janet: What?
Pastor: I was just saying, that’d be a horrible
day, wouldn’t it, if that happened to you.
Janet: Yes.
That’s why I carry this. And
let’s see. Oh, here’s my prayer diary. Did you know I keep a prayer diary,
Pastor, so that I can keep track of everybody I need to pray for, and keep
track of which prayers God hasn’t answered yet?
I’m praying for my best friend Ellen that she doesn’t have cancer. She’s not feeling quite herself, and you
never know when cancer can strike someone.
I’m praying for my daughter that she please God doesn’t get pregnant
until she gets married, or else hurries up and marries that guy–what’s his
name–Keith? Ken? Whatever–God knows. (Piously) And I’m praying for Greg,
our company’s marketing agent, too, Pastor, that he land that Xerox account so
we don’t end up going down the tubes like so many other businesses. (Flipping through the pages of her diary) Whatever
my worries, Pastor, I just take them to the Lord in prayer.
Pastor: What a...beautiful faith you have.
Janet: Why, thank you.
Pastor: And what’s that little black box in your
security blanket?
Janet: Oh!
You weren’t supposed to see that one.
Pastor: Well, I suppose everyone is entitled to
their little secrets.
Janet: Yes, thank you! I believe that too! So I am entitled to my little secret
weapons.
Pastor: You’ve got secret weapons in
there?
Janet: You bet.
If anyone tries to mess with me, they’ll soon regret it.
Pastor: Well, what kind of weapons would you
use?
Janet: Oh boy, am I ready for them! (Opening box excitedly and pulling out
slips of paper): First I’d fire off some biting sarcasm. Then I’d zing them with stinging
insults. Then I’d carpet bomb all their
relationships with vicious rumors.
That’s why people don’t even think about crossing me.
Pastor: Yes, Ma’am! So you carry all of this
stuff with you in this security blanket.
Janet: I never leave home without it.
Pastor: Janet, the thing that strikes me about
this blanket is that it isn’t really a security blanket.
(Janet is offended and reaches for her black
box.)
Pastor: Just listen a minute. It seems to me that it’s more an insecurity
blanket than a security blanket. It’s
filled with all your insecurities and fears, and you’re carrying them
around with you wherever you go.
Janet (indignantly): Well, there’s lots
to be afraid of, for us ordinary people who have to live in the real
world and do real jobs, instead of hiding out in a nice, safe church all
the time!
Pastor: Your secret weapons do pack a
punch. But don’t you get tired of
hauling around that heavy load of worries about all the bad things that might
happen to you wherever you go?
Janet (sarcastically): Oh, so now my
pastor is telling me I shouldn’t carry insurance or plan for the future. Great.
I’ll go home and tell my husband that our pastor says we should live
like there’s no tomorrow.
Pastor: Oh, I think it’s a good thing to plan
for tomorrow, to have insurance, and be prepared for the unexpected. I’m just saying that if all you see when you
look at the future is doom, gloom, and danger, it’s going to keep you from
appreciating all the gifts you’ve been given today. It’s like your insecurity about the future is
robbing you of the security you could be experiencing right now.
Janet: So, Rev. Know-It-All, how can you feel
secure right now when, you know darn well that bad things are happening all the
time, and you never know when it will be your turn?
Pastor: Yeah, I think I hear what your
saying. Like I could be going along
trying to help someone find some happiness in their life, and all of a sudden,
right out of the blue, I could get zinged by a sarcastic insult.
Janet: Yeah!
Just like that! And from
you, my own pastor, whose salary I help pay through my pledge to the church–or
did up till now, anyway.
Pastor: I’m sorry, Janet. I guess we’ve both been illustrating what
you’re saying. We never know when
something painful is going to happen to us.
We’re all vulnerable to those things, aren’t we?
Janet: That’s exactly what I’m saying. That’s why I need this (points to security
blanket).
Pastor: So, given the fact that the world is a
dangerous place to live, painful things are going to happen to us, and none of
us are going to escape this place physically alive, let alone with all the
things we’ve crammed into our security blankets, where can we find some real
sense of security?
Janet: If you’ve got the answer to that one, I
might even consider resuming my pledge.
Pastor: Actually, I don’t have the answer. I just try to follow Jesus’ answer.
Janet: I might have expected you’d bring him
into it. What did he know about
the world we live in today?
Pastor: Do you think his world was any safer
than ours? It certainly wasn’t very safe
for him, was it?
Janet: Yeah, and maybe if he had done more to
protect himself, he wouldn’t have died the way he did. There were lots of ways he could have
prevented it.
Pastor: Oh, you’re right. But maybe Jesus’ biggest fear wasn’t that he would
lose his life, but that he would waste his life–that he would
miss this opportunity God had given him to shine a blazing light of love, hope,
wisdom, and salvation into the world, drawing on all the powers that God had
given him to do that. His goal wasn’t to
avoid pain and death at all costs. His
goal was to open the door between God’s realm and this world by living as fully
and faithfully as he could as God’s son every moment he was alive.
Janet: Well, Jesus was God’s Son. We’re just ordinary people.
Pastor: But didn’t Jesus try to show us that
we’re all God’s sons and God’s daughters? And didn’t he try to help us shine our light
as brightly as we can into the world? Janet, wouldn’t you like your life to be
fuller and freer, lighter and brighter than it is now?
Janet: Well, sure, I guess so. But I hardly know how.
Pastor: A really good place to start is one
little line from the Lord’s Prayer: “Give us this day our daily bread.”
Janet: What?
How is that going to help?
Oh, I get it. I’m supposed to
give away all my money and pray that God somehow Fed-Exes food to me every
day. That will sure make me free and
happy and light.
Pastor: No, you can be a Christian and still
keep your grocery money. Think of your
daily bread as what you need to feed and sustain your life, body, mind heart
and spirit just for today. And think of
it as what you need to give you the strength and vitality to face every challenge the day might
bring.
To
tell you the truth, Janet, I know what
it’s like to live your life leading with your
anxieties. I used to be afraid of criticism, rejection, blame and shame.
So I used to stay away from situations
that carried the risk of failure, hide behind a facade of perfectionism, and
insulate myself from my feelings, because feelings brought me pain. My insecurity blanket wasn’t much fun to drag
around, but by golly, it was mine, and it seemed like I’d be totally naked
without it.
But I
found out that no matter how careful I was, I couldn’t protect myself from
every danger or prevent every pain. And I found it that I feels so much better
learning to deal with pain when it comes up than it did spending so much of my
energy trying to avoid it. I learned
that when I face life’s pains and challenges with trust and openness to God, I
do receive my daily bread. God gives me
what I need to face each challenge. If
somebody does or says something that hurts me or I lose someone who I’ve been
attached to, I try to just let myself be with the pain without resisting it or
being afraid of it. That way the pain
doesn’t get stuck. It gradually moves
through me. I begin to heal from the inside, and I discover that my spirit is
stronger than the pain. I can open
myself to life and love again.
I used
to live like the worst thing that could happen to me would be to get hurt. Now I see that the worst thing that could
happen to me would be to go back behind my walls and insulation and precautions
and live in the hell of my self-made prison of anxiety, and miss out on the
risky, exhilarating, challenging, poignant business of loving and living fully
in this life.
Janet: Hmmmm.
Are you saying that being afraid of pain is worse for you than the pain
itself?
Pastor: Yes, well said! That was such a big thing for me to get. “Give us this day our daily bread” invites me
not to let the fear of the future rob me of living fully the life God has given
me to live today. I still carry insurance.
But even more important, I carry assurance that, no matter what
happens, I can trust God to give me a clear mind, inner wisdom, and the
resources I need to come through any challenge with my soul intact. “Give us this day our daily bread” reminds me
to keep my eyes open to all the ways God gifts me and blesses me with
everything I need each day, day by day.
Janet: You know, I never realized there was so
much to that little part of the Lord’s Prayer.
It’s really an invitation to a whole different way of living, isn’t
it? To lead with trust that God will
provide what we need, instead of being anxious about all the things that could
go wrong. (Tries walking forward,
arms open, looking up) “Give us, this day, our daily bread.”
Pastor: How does that feel?
Janet: Kind of scary. I feel kind of naked, like you said. But it feels light, too, and open, and
free. I feel like life is right here, in
front of me, right now, waiting for me to taste it and live it. Wow, it’s all right here, today, in this
moment. I think I kind of like
this. But it is kind of scary without my
security blanket.
Pastor: Well, it’s up to you to decide what
really serves your life.
Janet (looking at blanket): Well, let’s
see. Maybe I can substitute some
assurance for some of this insurance (removes a portion of the
package).
And this sock has more than I’ll really
need. There are some good causes I’ve
always wanted to support, but never felt I had enough to spare. And here’s some for the church too. Maybe this is a better cause than I realized,
even if some of it does go for your salary.
Now I do have to carry my purse. But maybe it doesn’t have to be equipped to
handle every possible emergency. (Takes
out everything except her deodorant and puts it on the floor. Picks up deodorant, looks at it, sniffs
armpit, puts it back in purse, and then tosses it out, saying:) Oh, you
only live once.
And my prayer diary. Hmmm.
If my main prayer was “Thy will be done” instead of a to-do list for
God, maybe I wouldn’t need to write them all down.
Then there’s my secret weapons. Who was it that
said that being afraid of pain is worse for you than the pain itself?
Pastor: You did.
Janet: Oh yeah, I did, didn’t I! And you said that if you’re with your pain
and let it move through you, it doesn’t get stuck in you, and you come out
stronger. Maybe I’ll try that instead of
inflicting pain on everybody else. (Tosses
the black box on the floor).
There now, this feels better. I think I’m ready to live one day at a time,
leading with trust instead of fear. (Puts
sock in her purse and puts it over her shoulder, holds small insurance package,
and walks up the aisle saying:) Give us this day our daily bread. (Turning back to Pastor:) Say, you
really ought to preach a sermon about that some time! (Exits.)