Functional Atheism

Functional Atheism The Dover Church
February 27, 2011 – 8th Sunday after Epiphany
Scripture: Matthew 6:24-34


When Jesus preached this word about anxiety and worry, he was doubtless talking to people living at a subsistence level, borderline people who struggled in one set of clothes for enough food to eat every day. And yet, a world away this morning here in Dover, what Jesus says to us truly is Good News, a word of salvation, for us.
I probably don’t need to tell you that our lives here in Dover are also borderline, borderline unrealistic, borderline insane, certainly stressful and anxiety provoking, not restful or reflective at all. We are into consumption, consumption as in our being consumed by our lives. We think we’re really living the good life when our lives are either chewing us up or swallowing us whole.
Those of us who regularly feel overwhelmed and dissatisfied with what we have made of our lives may hear Jesus’ word, “do not worry, do not be anxious,” as that word of salvation. Anxiety and worry are the very things many of us most desperately would like to be set free from. But how? How can we possibly not worry or be anxious when there is so much to do and get done, so many competing obligations, responsibilities and opportunities? When we have to balance ourselves, our families, their lives, our life, work, fun, the home or homes, our finances, our future? I think that we have been conditioned by the world we have created to frame the question in this way: how do we do the impossible? For that reason, any other alternative, let alone Jesus' alternative, is, by definition, out of the question. Truth be told, even the most anxious and worried among us would find the prospect of simplifying and letting go downright unattractive. Think of what we might be missing out on! We are addicted to our busy-ness. That’s who we are, how we live, and, we think, one of the main reasons for our success which has enabled us to live in a place like Dover. So while we may sigh to ourselves as we get up in the morning and go to bed at night, wishing it weren’t so; while we may whine and complain to our spouses, friends, and pastors, we don’t really see any viable and attractive options. Anything else is out of the question, so we give up and go on feeling oppressed. But we go on.
Then there are those of us who like this level of intensity. We are ambitious and this life is the life of the ambitious. I'm ambitious, so I know of what I speak. Fair enough, but let me ask some questions about your ambition. What drives your ambition? Is it because this is fun? Is it because you feel called by God to do what you do the way you do it? Success, achievement and advancement are fun for you? Your vocation? Or are you driven out of anxiety? Anxiety over failure? Anxiety over being swallowed up, taken for a ride, or left broke and behind by life? Anxiety about not having enough? Anxiety of not being someone? Those are good questions to ask, and not idle ones either in my opinion as I ask them of myself to good effect. Most of us do have high overheads to support and important professional responsibilities to keep us on our toes. But when is it fun or spiritual, and when is it driven by fear, anxiety, and a sense of insufficiency? When is enough enough?
For some of you, what I am saying may sound like a lot of drivel. You are wealthy and powerful enough that you feel untouchable. Or you may have reached the point in life where you have lived through just about anything and everything life can throw at you and you’re still here, chugging along in one piece. You are enjoying the blessing of perspective which comes with a long life or a lot of living. Or you may actually be a saint who just floats serenely above it all. If that's you, come tell me what that’s like after worship.
Believe me, I am not downplaying worry and anxiety. Most of us have plenty of reasons to be anxious. For one thing, our lives are full of other people. Who knows what they’ll do next to blow up our lives? And then there are all the other uncontrollable and unpredictable people out there whom we don't know, the folks pulling the strings of our financial system, our political system, who are making the decisions about wars, the environment, technology, the direction of our society and our world, and all the other seemingly beyond our control madness we hear about. It’s enough to drive any sane person to real anxiety.
And, of course, I haven't mentioned the deepest source of anxiety for most people, our health and our inevitable deaths. When I was a chaplain at the Brigham in Boston, I would visit folks to talk about their conditions and to pray with and for them if they so desired. I would visit patients whose charts said they were going to get better and go home. That's what we'd pray for, expressing our thanksgiving, and sure enough, our prayers would be answered. But then there were the patients who were not going to get better and knew it. As you can probably imagine, many of these people were often overwhelmed with fear and dread, anxiety and regret, anger and bitterness. Feeling quite insufficient, even trivial, I asked my supervisor what I could possibly say to these folks and I have never forgotten her answer. "Max, you are there for these people to help them find hope exactly where both of you know they really are. Help them find God in this with them."
As I took the elevator back up to oncology, I realized that I had been ministering as a functional atheist. The world is full of atheists like Richard Dawkins, who dispute the facts of God, the factuality of our sacred stories, and the logic of holiness and belief. And then there are the functional atheists like me sitting in my supervisor's office that day. True faith is not facts which can be scientifically proven or disproved. At it's most important level, faith is trust, trust that God is in here with me, in here with us, in everything with everyone, bringing life out of death even when some physical life comes to an end. Trust coexists with doubt in the hearts of all faithful people. Doubt is inevitable if you allow your faith to lead you into places where your trust is challenged in new and previously unimaginable ways, like when you are facing death. Jesus himself cried out his doubts from the cross, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" But doubt wasn't the last word from Jesus' lips.
Jesus' last words, spoken in his agony of death, were words of trust: "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit." Not his body, which was truly finished, but his spirit, which would return to his body on Easter and break the bonds of death.
How, then, are we to move from our functional atheism, where we profess to believe in God but do not trust in God, living lives choked with anxiety and worry, dogged by fears of failure and insufficiency, or sitting gloriously on our thrones of self-sufficiency, all symptoms of functional atheism? How can we live enough being enough? Jesus himself said, "for humans it is impossible but for God all things are possible." If you insist, you can continue to do all that you do, but in a very different way. Instead of striving and doing out of fear and worry, live worship. All life is worship, the great and the seemingly insignificant: our work, our play, our certainties and your doubts, all of it. All life is worship to be offered to God in whom we trust to be in all of it with us. Transform the focus and intent behind all that you do from self striving to acts of worship.
And then, in all things, in all circumstances, in the face of life and in the face of death, commit your spirit to God. Make these words your prayer as you do you work, play your games, make your plans, count your blessings and acknowledge your doubts, savor victory and face defeat. "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit." Speak them with your lips and with your heart. Bring yourself back to them repeatedly every day until they are the truth guiding as you walk forward into life.
In the Gospel of John, Jesus says, "If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free"(8:32). This is the truth which will set you free, "seek first the kingdom and God's righteousness, and all the rest will be added unto you." Thanks be to God. Amen.