Matthew 5: 1-12
Are we frustrated? Overwhelmed? Frantic? Too much clutter? Not enough time? Don't know where to start? Are we ready to streamline our lives? Downsize? Simplify? If so, we may need an expert who can come in and restore order to our living. These experts are called "Certified Professional Organizers." CPO's are trained, certified through a national exam, and must prove every three years that she or he is a serious full time, professional organizer and not just a part time hobbyist.
What will a CPO do for you? He or she will help us get control of our stressful living and working spaces, helping us organize our closets' and kitchen and work spaces. These CPO's will also teach us techniques in stress free living.
So what do you think? Should we call?
How does one live a stress-free life amid urban sprawl, crowding and congestion, gridlock and noise, smog and pollution, global warming, poverty and despair — and boom cars with turbo-charged sub-woofers stashed in the trunk that thump in the traffic,
It's so bad that some subscribe to the hypothesis that our environment pushes us into such stress that we perform acts of rage. For example, in Pennsylvania, John Bereznak shot and killed a young dirt biker who was riding on mounds of coal only 200 yards from his house. After confronting the young man over the course of several years, calling police and appealing to the young man's parents, Bereznak, 70, shot the young man early one morning then went into his house and killed himself. Was it rage?
The noise and stress of urban living, on top of the anti-social, narcissistic and passive-aggressive behavior of its citizens, the worst of whom are — in the opinion of some — knuckle-dragging cretins, have led many communities to adopt innovative approaches to control the noise, including noise abatement barriers, noise pollution statutes and regulations limiting the hours construction crews can be on the job.
But no one has been more creative at tackling the problems of urban stress than Jeff Peckman. He was responsible for putting stress on a municipal ballot in Denver over ten years ago, which — had it passed — would have required the city to "ensure public safety" by utilizing "stress-reducing techniques or programs."
The anti-stress proposal on the Denver ballot was the first of its kind in the nation and at the time attracted attention from media outlets such as USA Today, and national television networks. In the community of Denver the proposal was greeted with consternation by some, hoots and hollers by others and thoughtful consideration by a minority.
With all due respect to CPO's and their profession --- dealing with stress perhaps need not be so stressful. I am not an expert but I wonder if the question "How can I get rid of the stress in my life?" should not be "How can I live in such a way as to experience peace, meaning and fulfillment?"
Just look at the stories of people of faith in the Bible. Some try to fight stress … others try to flee it. Elijah fled from Jezebel and the prophets of Baal in the north for a bush in the desert of the south. Yet, he still wasn't at peace. Then there are the stories of the lives of Christians. St. Augustine of Hippo the philosopher and theologian and convert to Christianity in the late 300's and early 400's fled North Africa and Carthage, a city he called a "boiling cauldron of lust" for Rome, and was equally uncomfortable there.
St. Jerome, who translated the New Testament into Latin, fled Rome for the desert to be free of the temptation of those "dancing girls," only to find that the stress full temptations followed him there, too.
Well, Jesus in the gospel may be suggesting that finding peace is not a question of site; it's a question of sight. It's not a matter of geography; it's a question of spirituality. It's not an issue of location but relationship.
The question Jesus may be asking is: Do we have the vision, do we have the spirit and soul, and do we have the connection with Christ that will ensure a calm-in-the-storm kind of peace? What is known as the Sermon on the Mount may provide us some "in-sight" for peace and calm.
In the Gospel Jesus offers us REST POINTS rather than STRESS POINTS:
Rest Point One: These words are addressed to the very stressed: the poor in spirit, the mourning, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, and the pure in heart, the peacemakers, the persecuted and those who revile you. In response to the stressed, Jesus is reminding us that it's always helpful to remember who we are. When we are having full time stress with our partner, when we're sitting in rush-hour traffic, when we're coping with the complexities of our job, when we are trying to find good in difficult situations, when we are struggling with illness, when we are trying to find meaning — it's easy to forget who we are.
Blessed is a funny word, a strange word to find comfort. It comes from an old English verb meaning "to consecrate with blood." Therefore whatever is challenging us, the first thing in which we are to find rest and comfort is that we are consecrated in blood through Jesus Christ, set apart. God loves us. That is the basis for our meaning. To us, then, who are saints and faithful, children of God we are blessed.
Rest Point Two: Because we are consecrated, blessed because we are stressed, Jesus gives us help to --- in a sense --- surrender, enabling us to trust that we can always fall back into the hands of God, like crashing — exhausted — into the depths of an overstuffed chair. Because we are blessed, we can trust in God for… everything. I don't know about you but the realization that we can trust in God goes a long way on the road to peace, grace and stress-less living.
Rest Point Three: Come what may, as the writer of Revelation reminds us, "They will hunger no more, and thirst no more." (7:16) As beloved, as blessed, Jesus assures us that as stressed God's children we have hope because we have the promise that things will change.
In the first letter of John, we hear the promises of hope for us who are in the midst of great "ordeal." "All who have this hope in him purify themselves (3:3)," he writes. The "ordeal" the writers suggests is the pressure on us to renounce our faith. Sometimes the pressure is violent. Sometimes the pressure is subtle.
There's no denying that outside forces continually conspire to afflict us with pressure, temptation, stress and disease. These pressures are enormous. No one would deny that. We live in a warp-speed culture where the foot of the oppressor is too often and too quickly lodged against the neck of the oppressed; a litigious culture where commitments have no more staying power than a Kardashian marriage.
Certainly, we go through cycles of compassion fatigue. We fight for instant upgrades amid a media-centric world of deregulation for the benefit of the powerful and rich. We struggle with politicians hyperventilating, living in an increasingly complex globalized world, troubled by loss of jobs and wardrobe malfunctions — and in the end we may feel as though we're simply rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. No wonder, then, that often we'd like to pick our poison and crawl into a spider hole and forget the whole thing.
That's why the words of Jesus have resonated far beyond even followers of Jesus Christ. It is always interesting to me that no matter where I have been, when I read the words of the Sermon of the Mount out loud in worship, many listeners close their eyes and it is as if everyone takes a deep breath at the words of Jesus. Perhaps that is one reason why these words are so important for this Sunday.
This is All Saints Sunday, these words from Jesus, are a reminder that the vision of the kingdom creates a community of believers in which the living and dead remain connected because we are tied together in Jesus Christ. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus speaks the consecrated blessings to the stressed, not only in words, but also in his blood, on all people. Our hearts are restless until we find our rest in God. It is there at rest, whether alive or dead, do we come to peace. It is there in the Kingdom of God that we find peace. Take a deep breath with me and let us find rest. Amen.
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