Don't worry, be happy Physician heal thyself! A sermon preached at St Giles Horspath 8/2/2026

 8th February 2026 Horspath

 

I often see this quote or something like it.

 

“If you have food in your fridge, clothes on your back, a roof over your head and a place to sleep you are richer than 75% of the world.

 

If you have money in the bank, your wallet, and some spare change you are among the top 8% of the world’s wealthy.

 

If you woke up this morning with more health than illness you are more blessed than the million people who will not survive this week.

 

If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the agony of imprisonment or torture, or the horrible pangs of starvation you are luckier than 500 million people alive and suffering.

 

If you can read this message, you are more fortunate than 3 billion people in the world who cannot read it at all.”

 

^{I fall into every single category on that list, yet do I live a carefree existence no? do I feel found out by this morning’s gospel absolutely?  Last year there was an influential book by Jonathan Heidt called the Anxious Generation.  I can’t claim to have read it all, but Haidt was talking about today’s generation of children in particular and postulating that our modern tech-based society makes people anxious.  His chief argument We are “overprotecting children in the real world and under protecting them online.” Children need “a play-based childhood in the real world” to thrive, He says "Just as the immune system must be exposed to germs, and trees must be exposed to wind, children require exposure to setbacks, failures, shocks, and stumbles in order to develop strength and self-reliance."  Alongside this Haidt says that When preteens are subjected to endless algorithmically chosen content and comparisons with influencers, it can damage their self-worth permanently.  I think this message is starting to hit home Haidt advocates phone free schools, or those very untrendy granny phones to protect against malign influences sometimes just a few clicks away.}

 

 

The author also acknowledges it is not just children and young people, next time you are on the bus or in a public place look at how many adults are on phones! I have to recognise that I am a part of the problem.  I’m not sure I could manage without it, I’m also sure that I am not unique.  

 

My phone and the amount of information it holds can make me anxious because unless you are very disciplined you are always available. This week I was waiting for an email, twenty-five years ago it would have been a letter, and the postman came once a day, if it didn’t come I could forget about it for 24 hours. These days I can and do check email multiple times in a day.  

 

Sometimes worry tips over into anxiety when seemingly minor concerns or worries we can do nothing about control us.  This can be crippling; I speak as one who knows what that feels like and perhaps you do too. ²⁵ “Therefore, I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?  

 

Jesus points us above ourselves, so to speak, instead of worrying about this matter or that, each of us should be “concerned” above everything else about the Kingdom of God and with what God requires of us. Then, he will provide us with all those other things. It’s a question of getting our priorities right.  

 

 

Today’s sermon is a case of physician heal thyself because I find this hard advice to follow.  There is no suggestion that material provision is unimportant.  Here Jesus suggests that fretting about it should not push aside life’s greater priorities, which should be our relationship with God and with those around us; by attending to such things, we start to put God’s kingdom first.

 

Worry is very real; how much time do we spend thinking about the future or fretting about what has happened in the past.  Am I the only person who is sometimes acutely reminded of something embarrassing I said or did when I was a teenager or young adult.  Here as a relatively old person, I can be thankful that I don’t have a digital footprint which goes back far enough for others to recall and publish if I had ever become Archbishop of Canterbury! 

 

 

Worry cannot produce security it can only serve to disconnect us from God.  These words urge us to let go of the worry --- and to entrust whatever it is that would rob our lives of peace and joy back to God who gives us all of that for which we give thanks in the first place.  Ultimately our security comes from knowing whose we are and not what we have, do or achieve 

 

The challenge we face as Christians is living our life in the light of that.  I know that is easier said than done but with God’s help and surrounded by a loving affirming community we can grow in faith and love and trust that he will provide what we need for life.