What's going to happen tomorrow? What does heaven look like? When is God going to change the world? I almost called this sermon "Asking All The Wrong Questions." Both scripture texts for today deal with people who are asking questions about what God is going to do in the future. And in both cases, the answer seems to be that such questions miss the point.

We human beings have a tendency to worry about things over which we have very little control. It happens in all areas of our life, from school and work, to relationships, to the weather. For many people, faith seems to be a favorite realm for this activity. Down through the years a great deal of energy has been devoted to worrying over questions about the details of how God will handle things which either haven't happened yet or simply can't be known. Timetables have been developed for the end of the world. Predictions have been made about events which must occur before God will take a particular action. Debates have been waged over everything from how many people will be in heaven to how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. Sometimes the questions which we worry about are profound. Sometimes they are just silly. But often, in either case, they are irrelevant for our living. One of the great theological tests to bring to any concern is "So what?" Does it make any difference for our living in the here and now of our lives? Several years ago there was a popular song on the radio -- "Don't worry, be happy!" We would do well to remember the Christian variation on that theme -- "Don't worry, be faithful."

When the Sadducees asked Jesus their test question about marriage and the resurrection, Jesus makes at least two important points. First, you can't compare apples and oranges. The here and now of our living is of a completely different order from the then and there of eternal life. The same questions simply do not apply to both. And secondly, God can be trusted with the details of the future. We may not be able to know what tomorrow holds in store, for us or for the world, but we can have faith in the One who embraces both us and the world.

When Paul was writing to the church in Thessalonica, he was addressing their concern that somehow the Lord had returned and they had missed it. They were worrying so much about such speculation that they had lost sight of what it meant to live faithfully in the present moment. It is true that many people in the early Church, including Paul, fully expected Jesus to return within their lifetime and bring a dramatic conclusion to history as we know it. Paul himself even engages in the common practice of the day, laying out apocalyptic precursors for "the Day of the Lord." But when such speculations began to distract and dismay the faithful, Paul calls them back to the basics, which has to do with trusting God and living lives which bear witness to that faith. "So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by our letter. Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and through grace gave us eternal comfort and good hope, comfort your hearts and strengthen them in every good work and word. (2 Thessalonians 2:15-17

It is easy to allow concerns about an uncertain future to weigh us down and distract us from the present moment. In my newsletter article this month I talk about a recent insight concerning such a trap I had fallen into. Without intending to do so, I had allowed my experience of watching unhealthy congregations in other places to become a fear that this congregation would somehow follow suit. My worry over what might happen had prevented me from fully appreciating what was happening. The joy of living and working in the midst of this marvelous faith community was diminished by my misplaced concern about "what if..." I had become distracted from faithfully trusting God with the future and had thus become distracted from faithfully living with God in the present.

Now it must be said that there is a place in faithful living for concern about the future. We are not called to blindly trust that God will always make things right without any effort or action on our part. There are circumstances in which it is legitimate, healthy and faithful not to worry about what is happening, but to do something which will make things different. For example, a spouse who is living in an abusive relationship needs to do more than just pray for God to intervene. Steps must also be taken to remove themselves from the abusive situation. Sometimes trusting God with the future means taking the necessary steps in the present, even though such action seems to lead to an uncertain future.

Having said that, however, I suspect that more often we are in danger of trying to maintain too much control, rather than of giving too much control to God. We worry about a future which seems both uncertain and frightening and we allow that worry to overshadow the real and present business of living faithfully in the here and now. Instead of asking questions such as "What's going to happen tomorrow?" and "What does heaven look like?" and "When is God going to change the world?", we might begin to ask question such as "How can I love my neighbor today?" and "Does this decision bear witness to God's presence in my life?" and "What would God have me do in this particular situation?" As we learn to live more fully in the present, allowing God to be more active in each moment of our living, we will come to understand that God can also be trusted with each future moment as well. May we allow God's future to unfold for us one richly abundant moment at a time. And may we be found faithful in each of those moments.