What Really Matters?

The title of my upcoming sermon for Sunday is "What really matters?" I find it an appropriate title because it is the Sunday of annual congregational meetings. And in truth, regardless of what a budget does or does not say, regardless of what the annual reports tell us about who we have been and who we hope to be, What Really Matters? I'll be preaching from I Corinthians 7:29-31 which says (in the NRSV):

29I mean, brothers and sisters, the appointed time has grown short; from now on, let even those who have wives be as though they had none, 30and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no possessions, 31and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away.

Paul has been writing about how important it is to focus on God, but that frequently sex and taking care of your spouse can deter your focus upon God. It doesn't preach really well in this day and age. ;o) However, the bigger issue is that Paul is urging Christians to focus all of their attention upon God. In verses 29-31 he sums it up by reminding us that the time we have on this earth is so very short and as such, we should live as though the only thing that mattered was God. If you are mourning, don't let that stand in the way of what matters. If you are overjoyed, don't let that stand in the way of what matters. If you have money to spend, live as though you didn't. Think only about what is important . . . what is lasting . . . what is real.

The message I'm preparing is especially real for me today. In the past hour I've been extremely irritated by gossip that is spreading like wildfire in the church about something that truly does not matter. And yet rumors abound and only one person has faced the situation head on and realized that the rumors are simply rumors. Everyone else is getting upset over nothing. And I am reminded that in the big picture, it truly does not matter. If life on earth is truly as short a period in infinity as it seems to be, why am I wasting precious energy on being angry about the pettiness around me? What really matters?

Given the fact that I spent a lot of my eary adult years in Nashville, I came to find that country music wasn't quite as bad as I had always been led to believe. In fact, occasionally the lyrics will hit a home run. Tim McGraw sang a song that has stuck with me since I first heard it. The lyrics are right in line with the scripture for today, albeit a bit more "country!"

He said I was in my early forties with a lot of life before me when a moment came that stopped me on a dime. And I spent most of the next days, looking at the x-rays, talking bout the options and talking bout sweet time. I asked him when it sank in that this might really be the real end? How does it hit you when you get that kinda news? Man, what'd you do? And he said, "I went sky diving! I went Rocky Mountain climbing! I went 2.7 seconds on a bull named Fumanchu! And I loved deeper and I spoke sweeter and I gave forgiveness I'd been denying." And he said, "Someday I hope you get the chance to live like you were dying."

On Tuesday, one of my kid's friend's father was diagnosed with cancer. At that point all of the worry about who would get the kids to school, what to have for lunch, when the church meeting would meet, who was wearing what at the game, how clean the house was, what was said or done wrong in the last few days, ALL OF THAT suddenly didn't matter. All that mattered was the realization that life is so very short and we are given but a brief window to allow God's will to be done through us. We have but a brief window to connect our stories to God's stories. We have a brief window to live in harmony with one another, to resist petty divisions and opportunities to be angry and anxious. We have only now.

So the budget this year says the same thing it did last year. There are no differences. Why? Because we didn't meet last year's budget. And truth be told, if we don't meet this year's budget, our reserves will be gone leaving only pennies in the bank. So what do we do? Do we pull back some more, delaying the inevitable? or do we live like this is the very work we have been called to do by God Almighty? Do we live as if every day left is left only for the purpose of loving and serving God? I hope we opt for the second. This year I hope we take the chance to live like we were dying. Amen.