Let us pray: Bountiful and generous God, increase our joy in the unlimited riches you provide. When worry and anxiety overwhelm our hearts, enliven us with your Spirit to trust in your ways, which always put love first. Amen.

As you can discern from the hymn choices today, the theme for this week's worship which first presented itself was one of gratitude for the gift of creation along with a call to stewardship of the gift that God, the creator has given us. This, of course, is a very fitting theme, especially in this time in our life on the planet when there is much to remind us of the impact that we as human beings are having on the environment in which we live. It's a theme which has much appeal to me. I believe that the issue of climate change is the most important faith issue of our time.

As the hymns and anthems of this day's worship remind us – we are both gifted and challenged by the creator and creation. Look at the world, John Rutter writes in words even as he composes notes to accompany and evoke the same sentiments. For beauty of prairies, for grandeur of trees writes poet and hymn writer and past Moderator of the United Church of Canada, Walter Farquharson – inviting us to the same expression of gratitude for the wonder and beauty of creation, but then urging us into a deeper and more intentional relationship with creation, as he writes “as stewards of beauty received at your hand, as creatures who hear your most urgent command” echoing the same urgings of Shirley Erena Murray who calls us, in response to the bounty of God's gift in creation to Touch the Earth Lightly, use the earth gently, nourish the life of the world in our care. And finally we have the words of Fred Kaan and the music of Ron Klusmeier urging us to show devotion to the earth in touch and word.

Well, as I said, that was the theme that first presented itself. But as I reflected on the passages we heard this morning in relationship with the news that was coming to us this week, it became difficult for me to ignore the opposing messages I was getting from both sources. I wondered how would people, especially this week, hear the gospel passage to stop worrying about what you will eat and drink – as important as a message as that is to hear under more normal circumstances, when the news was full of stories of the New Zealand earthquake with accounts of death, destruction and the search for survivors in Christchurch, and stories from Libya, with the violence and protest amid the growing call for reform and revolution in the countries of northern Africa. Karl Barth, certainly one of the most prolific modern theologians has been oft-cited as saying that the preacher should preach with the bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other.

It would be irresponsible, I decided to let those passages go unaddressed, in the context of this week's news.

There is a method of bible study which I have outlined before which is interesting in that it seems counter-intutitive. It is suited to the use of the lectionary which assigns particular passages to each week in the Christian year, intending to provide a thematic framework pertaining to the particular themes suggested by the calendar. It seems somewhat less suited to address events that happen in the world which don't come with the regularity and predictability of a calendar. One might think that in response to happenings in the news it would make more sense to draw upon the resources of the bible to find a message that fits the situation. So, for example, in a time of celebration, one might find readings – perhaps among the psalms, but also in other places that speak of celebration, and similarly in times of grief, lament or anxiety one might find particular passages that suit and address those elements and the relationship between God and humanity. But, as I said, this method of bible study is counter-intuitive. Instead of finding passages to suit a situation, it consists of keeping a particular situation in mind as the assigned passages are read. The result is usually quite amazing. Because the process is in some ways reversed, there is a freshness of both viewpoint and perspective. Things that might not normally come to mind are suddenly available for consideration.

I had that method in mind as I struggled to be responsible both to the news and the gospel this week. What would happen, I wonder, if I took three important news stories from the past week and use them in asking the question about what this week's lections have to say about them. I have to admit that even though I've used the method before with the amazing results I've alluded to, I was skeptical. There seemed to be such a disconnect between this week's lections and what we were hearing, reading and viewing from the media outlets. The three news stories which I considered were the two I've already mentioned – the earthquake in New Zealand, the protests in Libya and one more local issue which was much in our news this week, namely the news from the gathering of aboriginal leaders in Dettah in response to the devolution agreement of our territorial government.

The biggest leap I thought would be to try and connect the three news stories with the Hebrew bible reading from Isaiah and the gospel passage. Readings from Isaiah can be quite harsh, but this week's reading had an almost pollyanna sense about it, probably chosen to fit the gospel passage which in less urgent times could be characterized as the “Don't worry - be happy” portion of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. Those themes have their place, but seemed hopelessly inappropriate as a response to the events of this week.

Was the method of Bible Study which had proven itself in other times and places going to show its limitations? Surely in the context of rescue efforts and national mourning in the wake of a devastating earthquake, the uprising of the people of Libya against an oppressive and clearly violent dictator, and the concerns of aboriginal leaders the call to not worry seemed entirely unsuitable.

One of the things that helps me to coalesce around a theme for the reflection each week is the choice of a title. Many people write something and then pick a title, but for me it seems to work better when I do the opposite – choose a title, which helps me then to focus my thoughts. So, my difficulty this week with the passages in relation to the news events was manifested in finding it hard to come up with a title. I really like the message that the gospel passage offers, and I recall preaching on it a number of times before, probably with a title like that of the catchy little ditty that Bobby McFerrin made popular about twenty or so years ago – the one I alluded to earlier – Don't Worry, Be Happy. But that's not something to tell aboriginal leaders in their current anger and disappointment in being left out, just as it is not something to say to the people of Libya as they finally find the courage and power to stand against corruption and oppression, nor is it a message for the people of New Zealand. The question I kept coming back to was “what was Jesus really trying to say”. The Don't Worry Be Happy message does have its place – after all there is so much wisdom in avoiding the worry and anxiety about things over which we have no control. And that became the key – over which we have no control. But that does not describe those three situations – despite the lack of control that an earthquake presents, there is much that happens in response which can be controlled – the co-ordination of rescue efforts, the call to respond with offers of aid and assistance, the collective gathering in body and spirit with people who need to hear a word of hope in the midst of terror, pain and grief. Similarly, the Libyan people are showing that they had more control than they once imagined. And the aboriginal leaders, by gathering to support each other and to air their concerns are exerting their own presence and make their point.

It all came together in one verse from the gospel. You can't worship two gods at once, Jesus said. You can't worship God and money both. Replace that word “money” with whatever other god is getting in the way. Put first things first is what Jesus is saying. Get your priorities straight. Don't worry when you can't do anything about it. And in a connection with the theme that I pointed out was the one that originally came to mind for this week – as we considered the lilies of the field and the birds of the air as described by Jesus, and the bounty of God's creation described by Isaiah, the message in being stewards of this wonderful gift of creation is the same: Put first things first. Amen.