Acorn Anxieties – Rev. Doug Cue
Friends, I’m Doug Cue, Superintendent for the Southwest Region. I’m honored to bring you the word for the celebration.
God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change … though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea … though its waters roar and foam … though the mountains tremble with its tumult. The nations are in an uproar … the kingdoms totter.
God’s voice resounds, the earth melts. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Come, behold the works of the Lord. He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; he breaks the bow, and shatters the spear; he burns the shields with fire.
‘Be still, and know that I am God! I am exalted among the nations, I am exalted in the earth.’
The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. –Psalm 46:1-3,6-11
From the letter to the church at Philippi. Philippians 4:4-7
Be anxious for nothing, 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 minds through Christ Jesus. –Philippians 4:4-7
Friends, this is the word of God for we the people of God. Thanks be to God.
Folks both these passages will find expression in what we share here, but there’s also a third passage that I’d like to lift up as we begin. And it may be somewhat obscure for some of us. May have been some time since your last hearing of it. Quite possible that you’re not at all familiar with it. Familiarize yourself with it now. And I want to start with chapter one, verse one of the Book of Chicken Little.
Chicken Little liked to walk in the woods. One day as you are acorn fell from a tree, hit her in the head and Chicken Little exclaimed, “BOOOOOOCK” (Doug pulls on string of his chicken friend to create the noise)
Because that’s what chickens do, they, “BOOOOOCK”
But thank goodness the text translates it for us. Chicken Little exclaimed, “The sky is falling! I must run and tell the king!”
As she runs, she meets Henny Penny.
“Where are you going?” says Henny Penny.
“Oh Henny Penny the sky is falling! I’m going to tell king.”
“How do you know this guy is falling?”
And Chicken Little says, “Well I saw with my little eyes heard it with my own little ears and a piece of it fell on my poor little head.”
“Well,” Henny Penny says, “We must run and tell the king at once.
As you know, as they’re running, they meet, Lucy Goosey. Lucy Goosey, asked them, “Where y’all going?”
“This sky’s falling and we’re running to tell the king,” says Henny Penny.
“Well, how do you know the sky is falling?” asked Lucy Goosey.
“Chicken Little told me,” said Henny Penny.
Chicken Little said, “True. I saw with my own little eyes and a piece of it fell on my own little head.”
Lucy Goosey says, “We must run and tell the king at once.”
As they was a running they meet, Turkey Lurkey, who asked them, “Where y’all going?”
“Sky is falling we’re running tell the King,” says, Lucy Goosey.
“Well, how do you know the sky is falling?” asked Turkey Lurkey.
“Henny Penny told me,” said Lucy Goosey.
“Chicken Little told me,” said Henny Penny.
Chicken Little said, “True. I saw with my own little eyes, heard it with my own little ears and a piece of it fell on my poor little head.”
“Well, we must run until the king at once,” says Turkey Lurkey.
As they’re running, wouldn’t you know it, they meet Ducky Lucky, who asks them “Where y’all going?”
“Sky is falling and we’re going to tell the king,” says Turkey Lurkey.
“Well how do you know the sky’s falling?” asks Ducky Lucky?
“Lucy Goosey told me,” said Turkey Lurkey.
“Henny Penny told me,” said Lucy Goosey.
“Chicken Little told me,” said Henny Penny.
Chicken Little said, “True, saw it with my own little eyes, heard it with my own little ears and a piece of it fell on my poor little head.”
“Well, we must run until the king at once,” said Ducky Lucky.
As they’re running, they meet Foxy Loxy. Asks them, “Where y’all going,”
“Sky is falling we’re going to tell the king,” says Ducky Lucky.
And this is where the litany changes folks. Notice how Foxy Loxy responds here.
“Well, do you know where the king is?” Foxy Loxy asks.
“Well, I do not,” said Ducky Lucky.
“I do not,” said Turkey Lurkey.
“I do not,” said Lucy Goosey.
“I do not,” said Henny Penny.
Chicken Little said, “All I know is I saw it with my own little eyes, I heard with my own little ears, and a piece of it fell on my poor little head, and I do not know where the king is.”
“Well, I do,” said Foxy Loxy. He says, “Come with me and I’ll show you the way.”
And they run on and on until they come to Foxy Loxy’s den and “Run right in,” Foxy Loxy, he says, and they all ran in, but they never ever never came out again.
Folks there are three morals to this story. First is, be brave and do not panic when the acorns of life, take you under your poor little head. Second is always be careful that we don’t get caught up in other people’s hysteria when the acorns hit them in the head. And the third is that whenever we do tend to get collectively hysterical, there is always gonna be a Foxy Loxy around taking advantage of us.
In the fourth chapter of Philippians, Paul writes these words, be anxious for nothing, 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 minds who praise Jesus. Don’t you think that’s some information that Chicken Little could have used?
Now I don’t know what got stirred up when that acorn hit Chicken Little in the head. Maybe
Chicken Little had a boring little life, and he wanted to spice it up a little bit. Maybe Chicken
Little had little control over anything and worried about every little thing. Then again, maybe Chicken Little was a little less of a chicken than she thought, and a little more human than she appears. But my hunch is there’s some Chicken Little in and all of us.
Y’all remember that passage to the church in Philipi: Be anxious for nothing. Y’all got anything that’s kind of escalating your anxiety right now?
Largest wildfires that the state of California has ever seen going on right now. Historic wildfires raging in Colorado, right now. Hurricanes hammering the Gulf Coast, the number of them being so high this year that the World Meteorological Organization has had to resort to the Greek alphabet for the names. And the last two that hit the Gulf goes made landfall within 13 miles of one another. Y’all got anything else that’s kind of escalating your anxiety right now. Oh, that’s right, a global pandemic.
Folks it’s a brutal season. Our anxieties have escalated, it is almost as if they are in each of us, all of us in the midst of doing the best we can.
It’s not that we are unfamiliar with anxiety, we have mechanisms to deal with it, tools to address it. We weathered anxiety, but it’s the rapid escalation coupled with the inability to see the far horizon that drives our reaction. And I hope you all heard that. It’s the rapid escalation of our anxiety that drives not our response, but our reaction to it. And that’s when it becomes toxic. When we move from response to reaction. And all of a sudden that anxiety, much like a virus, don’t know if y’all have heard that word lately, much like a virus sets in.
Y’all remember Chicken Little. And y’all remember chicken littles friends? Unchecked, escalating anxiety, and it became infectious and they all caught it, and it became a pandemic. And their hysteria leads to their own undoing.
There’s more than just a little bit of Chicken Little in all of us.
Be anxious for nothing, 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, it’s going to guard your hearts and your minds, through Christ Jesus.
So, how is that working for you?
Is the peace of God, guarding your heart and your mind over the long haul in the better part of a year? What does this even look like for us?
Maybe, just maybe, it looks something like this, and we turn to Psalm 46, that God is our refuge and strength, very present help in trouble. Therefore, we will not fear. Though the earth should change, and there’s a word for you: change. Where I’m from, that’s a word that will get the choirs, clucking in the Southeast District I’ll tell you. Though the mountain shakes in the heart of the sea, those waters roar and foam, those mountains tremble, more nations in an uproar, kingdoms totter.
All this anxiousness.
And yet, he gathers us with his voice, and the God of Jacob is a refuge. Come behold the works of the Lord. He makes war cease to the end of the earth, he breaks the bow. He shatters the spear, he burns the shields with fire.
One of the tragic twists of the Chicken Little story is that it, it took so long for Chicken Little and his friends to travel to the king. They had confidence in the king’s ability to do something about the falling sky, they just had trouble finding the king.
In that Psalm 46 God says, Be still and know that I am God. I’m exalted among the nations, I’m exalted in the earth.
Where’s the king?
Well, the Lord of hosts is with us. God of Jacob is our refuge. God is our refuge and strength, very present help in trouble. Therefore, we will not fear as a people of faith. That is what we are called to remember. That we are not driven by our fear. And we are not called to overreact to our anxiety. But do hear the disclaimer here, to not be driven by our fear, and to not react to our anxiety is not a license for selfishness, or poor decision.
Don’t go running off into Foxy Loxy’s den, which is to say, don’t plan a vacation in a wildfire area. Don’t go swimming during a hurricane, and for goodness sake if you go out, were a mask, social distance, wash your hands, and do no harm.
But don’t be driven by your fear and anxiety.
Lord of Hosts is with us. Got to Jacob is our refuge. God is our refuge in strength a very present help in trouble. We don’t have to go looking for the king. God is close. God is at hand. God is very present. Sometimes we forget that.
There is a video clip that went viral several years back and I was unable to secure the permission for its use, but I do want to describe it for you. My hunch is that many of you are already familiar with it. It’s a video of two people stuck on an escalator. And if you were to Google search it, it would be one of the top results you would you would receive. Check it out.
Two people are waiting on an escalator. And it breaks down, a man and a woman stuck on an escalator. Man says out loud, “Oh that’s not good.” The woman comments, “Wouldn’t you know it, I forgot my phone.” They look around, and they finally begin to yell. “Hello! There are two people stuck on an escalator!” And the scene pans out and fades away as you see the two standing right on the escalator.
And as the scene fades back in a repairman with tools is coming to their aid. He gets on an adjacent escalator to right to the top. Everyone is relieved. They’re happy until the repair man’s escalator breaks down, and the video fades out to black
Folks, y’all want to know how to get off of a broken escalator? Pretty simple thing. Take a step. Y’all want to know what to do when lifes acorns keep falling on your head? Look up. If you’re under the oak tree, take a step. In the book of Jeremiah, God says you will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. All your heart, not just some half-hearted seeking where we keep one eye on our fear and the source of anxiety, and the other eye on God, no seeking God with all our heart. By moving from anxiousness to a less anxious place by taking a step toward God who is close, who is in hand, who is very present.
You know, several years back, I took a continuing ed class with Bill Selby, and it had to do with systems theory and anxiety and being a non-anxious presence. But as he ramped up that track one experience, I don’t know if he does this with every class, but we gathered around and he began to tell the story of Julian of Norwich. In the Norwich church in England, she was a Christian mystic, and was an anchoress, which is to say she lived her life in a cell with a window and was taken care of, but was devoted to prayer and contemplation and spent her life in that cell in the church in Norwich.
He had shared how he would often wonder how it might have been when she was sitting in the cell those days and looking out the window and she looked down upon the congregational setting and the sanctuary of the Norwich church. And the things she would have seen and what she would have done. Julian of Norwich was is widely known for her prayer, which is namely All Will Be Well. And my hunch is as she looked out that cell she probably started praying.
And she probably prayed,
(Doug singing and playing guitar)
All will be well,
All will be well,
All manner of things shall be well, All will be well.
I have a hunch every day she looked at the cell of that window and looked into the sanctuary and maybe, maybe got a glimpse of a room perhaps beyond that sanctuary. If there was a window or a door that happened to be open, or a curtain that was pulled, and if she was taken to another place within the church and seeing the things that folks were burdened with and in their place. The anxieties that they had and as they would jockey for position, and they would have their routines and their agendas and they would play their games.
(Doug singing and playing guitar)
All will be well,
All will be well,
All manner of things shall be well, All will be well.
Maybe there were even days where she looked out that cell window and looked through the doors of that sanctuary and look through the doors the gathering area and got a glimpse of the wider world and saw folks were busy about.
Hurricanes in the Gulf. Wildfires out west. Pandemics and finances and jobs and loss and grief. Isolation.
And I have prayed.
(Doug singing and playing guitar)
All will be well,
All will be well,
All manner of things shall be well, All will be well.
Take a step.
Take a step from the fear that drives you into a piece that embraces you. Take a step from anxiety that escalates to a presence that is not anxious. Take a step from isolation and step into the God who is close, who is at hand, and who is very present.
All will be well.
Thanks be the God. Amen.
Armchair Sermons 