Jesus says "Don't be afraid. I will give you the Kingdom" - prepare yourself, for if you are ready for my return, or when you meet me; basically you have nothing to worry about.

But how many of us can truly do this. Many of us spend our lives searching for something which we hope will giving meaning to our lives.

But what is wrong with that? Last week I talked of our lives being a journey of discovery, of being a pilgrimage. I think the issue we are talking about here is more to do with the ,'if onlys' in life. If only I had a good brain I could do this, if only I
could have afforded this I could do that. We let ourselves get swamped by things, which at the end of the day, probably aren't that important. Not really anything to do with what Jesus means when he talks of our preparing ourselves.

We are brought up to see life as a competition, we must be competitive, we test our children in school from the day they start, I know they don't now do so many formal tests, but they still do tests. Surely learning needs to be enjoyable not competitive, but,
and perhaps its just that I am, let's just say, getting old; that I feel we miss out a lot in life if we can't be reasonable happy with our lot. Be happy with ourselves instead of wishing we were something else.

And that is what the readings are about today: worry, So much in our lives seems to be governed by 'what we are afraid of'. Perhaps fear comes in when we realize that much in life does not make sense. It seems perhaps out of control, and perhaps it is that feeling of not being in control which creates fear. Speak to people in hospital and they will say that feeling they are not in control of themselves, they don't know what is happening, is the thing which is so difficult to cope with. We may not like to admit it but most of us are probably fearful about something, which we really don't need to
be fearful of.

So what are we fearful of, perhaps is that we won't succeed, and so we would rather not do something than let that happen. We are afraid of change, we do not want to leave our comfort zones. Here we have Jesus calling for us to be prepared and then to be liberated, but in many ways society is less liberated than it used to be.

I wrote in the mag. about how as a small child I became aware of God in the woods near where I lived, among the leaves and trees, the worms and the snails, something not many parents feel they can let their children do today. But that is God in all his glory, nature in all its beauty is somewhere where one can experience peace, perhaps
near silence, but it is being surrounded by activity - birds, insects, nature. But do we make time to experience it. Surely we need to teach people to experience the feel of God, before we can expect what we teach to make real sense.

George McLeod, founder of the Iona community, wrote talking about nature' Here is the root trouble of our lives. We all love life, but the moment we try to hold it, we miss it. The fact that things change and move and flow is their life. Try to make them static and you die of worry’ He went on to say 'This is just as true of God who is the Life of life. The only way to achieve a sense of God's presence is to put yourself in the way of Him. In our analogy, you achieve a sense of life in the presence of a flower, by a running stream, in a bracing wind, with sunbeams falling on the stream. Your come home to say you have had a perfectly lovely day, which means a lively day. It has been a benediction of a day’. He finished by saying 'You can only achieve a sense of God in a similar way... You can only find God in the now'

Isn't part of preparing ourselves, getting ourselves in a position where we see God everywhere, in all our doing, so we are aware of his presence with us. We don't lose the childlike ability of seeing wonder in creation.

When Jesus says sell your possessions, I personally can't believe, he means us to sell our homes and all we have, but I do think he probably means, look at possessions, do your overvalue them, do we spend too much time valuing our TV's, computers etc., and too little time valuing nature, creation, the kingdom in which we live now, not the materialistic world, but nature in all its glory?

The whole idea of where your treasure is, there your heart will be also, is perhaps the rearranging of priorities and just where is Jesus and the kingdom in this. Is that something society today is fearful of, do many today find greater security in their materialistic belongings than in creation.

If we look deeply enough our only limitations in life are our own choices. In other words, it is not that society can't rearrange priorities its that it chooses not to. And so for many it is fear, apprehension which rules. I read not long ago that children as young as five are suffering from depression, what environment are we creating for
today's babies. I think the church must carry as great a blame as any other section in society.

When Jesus says, "do not be afraid,” it is likely that he knew we would be. For he understood our frailties - our lack of faith.

Sometimes our fears actually teach us something, we open our eyes as to the way we see the things. Our health, our wealth, our environment, and by doing so we can begin to experience life as never before, and in a richer way than ever before. By which I don't mean affluence but in a deeper spiritual way. That surely, is the trust, the faith that is described the Gospel reading.

The faith which truly knows that God loves each one of us and is present in us. To live in the Kingdom of God is to live without fear. Jesus said we are not to fear because it is God's pleasure to give us the kingdom and we gain that when we
acknowledge that we are filled with God's love.

Jesus has given us the kingdom he is waiting for us to walk each day in his footsteps and truly claim the joy and happiness that brings. Amen