Finding Peace in Anxious Times
“There is nothing new under the sun”. By the time the wise Teacher in Ecclesiastes wrote this truth 3,000 years ago, so many kingdoms and dynasties had risen and fallen. Wars had been fought, work efforts had flourished and petered out, famines and plenty had come and gone. Peoples and nations lived in anxious times and in peace, in oppression and in freedom. Most had toiled under the hot sun. And the conclusion of it all? The Teacher in Ecclesiastes says “Fear God and keep his commandments.”
In the anxious times which many of us are experiencing right now, we can ”fear God” and see what happens. We can bend the knees of our hearts in reverence and adoration before the majesty of our loving God.
B r e a t h e in. Inhale the unstoppable beauty and intensity of his awesome love; rest in his love; trust in his wisdom; rejoice in his power to work all things together for good.
Then B r e a t h e out, and rise up radiant with the love and awe needed to love God and love our neighbors.
Fear God and Keep his commandments: Love God and love our neighbors.
Fears of the future are nothing new. Whether the fears are prescient or baseless, they are still toxic to us. In the post-reformation divisiveness of 16th century Geneva, Bp. Francis de Sales encouraged someone who wrote to him with “If God makes you fall, as he did with St. Paul, whom he threw to the ground, it is to raise you up in glory.” Indeed St. Paul seemed invincible in the midst of his countless trials. He wrote “he [Christ] said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore I will rather boast in my weaknesses so that the power of Christ may rest upon me." Anxiety can throw us to the ground; Jesus will lift us up.
In the midst of illness, concern for a loved one, even anxiety about the direction in which the country is going, Jesus asks us, “You do not want to leave too, do you?” When Jesus asked Simon Peter that question, Simon Peter responded “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy [set apart] One of God.”
Bishop Todd Hunter who keynoted the first Reawakening conference three years ago wrote the day after the election:
“The election is gone, but the unstoppable Kingdom is coming.
We all woke up this morning in a specific political context. No matter who won the Presidency or the majority of Congress, half of America would have been worried about our future, scared of worst-case scenarios that we replay in our imagination. Is there a way for the kingdom to come in America in the aftermath of the loss and grief that half the Church feels—while the other half celebrates?
Yes.
And we are not accidental or incidental to this kingdom-coming moment. We were chosen by God to be alive in these days. God knows and is present to your thoughts and feelings today—of whatever kind. You count—and you were created to count for good.”
You count—and you were created to count for good. So towards that end, I’ll add some practical advice taken from our sweet local newspaper. The headline read “How’s Your Anxiety Level?” The tips were: Be honest with your feelings, don’t accept every crisis you’re invited to, be in a community in which you can share your feelings, and ask your body, mind, and spirit what you need. As a spiritual director, I’ll augment the “spirit” part of the newspaper’s recommendations. Lean into the Holy Spirit to see the path God is lighting before you.
And… O merciful Lord, help us always remember Jesus’s calming words “I have spoken these things so that in me you may have peace. In the world you shall have distress, but have courage, I have overcome the world.”
The Rev. Wendy Dixon is a priest in the Anglican Diocese in New England and leads prayer ministry, children’s ministry, and spiritual direction at Trinity North Shore, a parish in South Haminton, MA.
