Goodness knows there
have been days that were anything but restful.
The manners and politeness between strangers seem to get forgotten in
the political noise and strife that fills our conversations, our social media,
and our news reports. There have been
discussions and debates that have been anything but restful, and sometimes
downright ugly. People are dug into
their positions, and it’s hard to tell where folks stand unless they are
sporting hats or t-shirts. There are
people who are losing sleep, tossing and turning about the state of the
world. Now that the letters about ADAP
and AISH have been arriving, there are probably people losing sleep about
that. The stories of suffering that will
result for some of our vulnerable family and friends who depend on AISH is causing
financial stress. And the industries who
most desperately need employees are the construction industry and the
restaurant industry. However, are people
put on ADAP likely to become those employees?
Both construction and restaurant are highly physical and need
level-headed common sense under pressure.
Nurses and health care professionals also are in high demand, and again,
not likely to recruit folks who are on ADAP.
I’m sure some doctors are losing sleep too with everything changing so
fast. In fact, there are probably a lot
of people who are stressed out in this world that is facing what some folks are
calling a polycrisis. Impacts on our
environment like flooding and heat bubbles, impacts on our economy with tariffs
and trade deals, the loss of trust in systems like health inspectors or
government agencies that are supposed to protect our data, and sleep may be the
scarcest commodity in Alberta right now!
Humanity always has
struggled with sleepless nights. Jacob,
Abraham’s grandson, lost sleep when he cheated his brother Esau out of the
family business. His guilty conscience
was so intense that he described it like wrestling with an angel all
night. His attempt to reunite with Esau
decades later was also another night of anguish. Jesus, most famously, lost sleep on the last
night of his life, scolding his disciples, saying, “could you not keep watch
with me for one hour?” Scripture says
his prayers were so agonizing that he sweated tears of blood. And Pilate’s wife had disturbing dreams and
begged her husband not to condemn Jesus to death.
But then there’s
Paul. Doesn’t he sound like his mind was
racing at 2 in the morning as he wrote this part of the letter? He keeps repeating phrases in a different
order, “I don’t do what I know is right, what I know is right I don’t do,” and
on and on. Sounds like a typical brain caught
in an endless loop of guilt and self-loathing.
It also sounds like he’s struggling with an addiction of some sort, a
bad habit, a broken pattern of behavior.
How many of us can
relate to poor Paul? I know the healthy
thing I want to do, but I’ll buy that chocolate bar at the gas station even if
I just had lunch 20 minutes ago. Or I’ll
reach for one more cigarette even though a carton of smokes costs more than I
want to spend. Or I’ll go into the
casino for 5 minutes and stay 5 hours.
Or I’ll just have one beer at my neighbor’s barbecue, it won’t hurt. Or this time I will keep my temper and not
yell at my family members in public. Or
I’ll just watch one more episode on Netflix.
And the next thing we know, we’ve done exactly what we promised
ourselves we would not do. Whether we
have a clear addiction to drugs or gambling or promiscuity or a less obvious
addiction like being addicted to gossip or yelling or pity parties, it can keep
us from having a full and joyful life.
The kind of life that Christ wanted for us, an abundant life free from
fear and guilt and jealousy. A life that is not lived like we are prisoners to
bad habits and fears. A life that is not
full of resentments and grudges. A life
free from power struggles where we strive to prove that we are right and
everyone else is wrong or ignorant or lazy.
A life that does not take pleasure in calling people names like woke or
libtard or fascist. A life that does not
lead to depression, resentment and paranoia.
Paul’s words would not
sound out of place in a 12-step recovery program. Like AA, NA and other support groups, Paul
admitted that he was powerless over the bad habits that he wrestled with. That’s Step 1. Then he said how he gave thanks that God set
him free. That’s Step 2, believing in a
Power that can free us. Paul then said
that he set his mind on serving God instead of himself. Step 3 says to make a decision to turn our
will and lives over to God however we understand God. That sounds what Paul
wrote about when he decided to live by God’s way.
When we obsess over
other people’s behaviors instead of our own, when we let addictions to anger or
self-centeredness or bad habits of body, mind or spirit, we can end up
struggling with sleepless nights, broken promises, destructive behaviors. But when we hear Jesus inviting us to lay our
burdens down and sing a new song to God, we will find indeed that Jesus sets us
free from all broken ways. Now, more
than ever, may we as Canadians set our ways to ways of peace and love for all
our neighbors not just on Canada Day but every day. May it be so for us all.
Amen.
