Summary: I am a lectionary preacher. The lectionary is the prescribed readings for each Sunday in a three-year cycle. It is designed to offer readings with lengths that can be heard comfortably. But I would argue that our reading from the Gospel of Matthew chapter 6, ends a verse short. To me, verse 34 is vital to the hearing and understanding of Jesus' whole message saying, "So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today's trouble is enough for today." I like this call to take life one day at a time. I like this call, but I may not have always heeded it. I was an anxious adolescent. I worried nonstop. But with the benefit of age and experience, I can see how little worry accomplishes. I love the way that author and activist, Corrie Ten Boom, speaks of worry writing, "Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow, it empties today of its strength." I think this notion strengthens Jesus' message that worry lessens our faith. Listen to Matthew 6:25-34. "Therefore, I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you - you of little faith? Therefore, do not worry, saying, 'What will we eat?' or 'What will we drink?' or 'What will we wear?' 'For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed, your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. So, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today's trouble is enough for today."
