Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
Philippians 4:6
Everything we do in life, ideally, is done under the umbrella of Spirituality, under the umbrella of God. Ideally we find spiritual meaning in just about everything. That doesn’t mean that we can’t have fun. It means that our fun should be wholesome, not destructive, or demeaning or dangerous. We know that Jesus wasn’t working 24/7. He rested, He took walks with others and by Himself, He went up on a mountain to pray many times, He enjoyed fellowship with friends and with His disciples. However, it all happened under an umbrella of spirituality and unity with God the Father. There was never a departure from that.
I have participated in many weddings where just about all the attention went to the reception, and it felt like the holiness of the sacrament got lost. Of course, I have had the privilege of participating in many weddings when the couple has put Christ first. They’ve done things like come the week before for confession and then ask each other for forgiveness a few days before the ceremony. These weddings have been the most memorable, not because of the reception, but because they put this special milestone in their life squarely under the umbrella of Christ.
I know many people who have faced (and who are facing) serious medical challenges and the focus is so closely tied to survival and recovery (and it should be) that spirituality gets left out of the journey. And I know people who have used a serious setback as an opportunity to grow in faith, who made the church the first place they went upon receiving a diagnosis, who have said to God that no matter the outcome, they aren’t going to lose faith.
One of the most inspiring verses of Scripture is Daniel 3:18. A little background before we get to this verse. King Nebuchadnezzar was the King of the Babylonians during the time that the children of Israel were enslaved in Babylon. The Children of Israel (also called Hebrews and Jews), were persecuted for their faith in God. It was hard for them to practice their faith and they often had to do it in secret. King Nebuchadnezzar built a golden statue and announced that anyone who would not fall down and worship it would be cast into a fiery furnace and burned until death. This was a direct assault on the Children of Israel and their faith in God. He knew that one of the commandments was that the Jews could not worship a graven image, and he was going to force them into doing that. Three young men, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who were Jews, were known to the king. They refused to worship his statue. He threatened them with death in the fiery furnace. They answered the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace; and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king.” (Daniel 3:16-17) They were willing to put the experience of certain death under the umbrella of their faith, trusting in God that He would through for them. But in Daniel 3:18, they take their faith one step further, when they say “But if not, (in other words, if God decided not to save them or deliver them from the furnace, resulting in their deaths) be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image which you have set up.” In other words, even a back outcome, an unanswered prayer, the premature end to their lives, none of these things would be enough to stop having faith in God. And this is rather remarkable. Many times, we keep out lives and our challenges under the umbrella of God, especially when we are having success. However, when we fail, we oftentimes lash out at God, or “close His umbrella” so to speak and go our own way. Faith is when we put everything under the umbrella of God, when we imitate the faith of Shadrach, Meshack and Abednego, and tell God that even if we don’t get what we want or what we are hoping for, we will not serve other gods or worship in other ways. Everything will stay under the umbrella of God, for better or worse, in success and even in failure.
Finally, in Philippians 4:6, St. Paul encourages us to Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. In other words, this verse again encourages us to put everything under the umbrella of God—our lives, our unique circumstances. I’ve ministered to people who have let God in completely, who have let Him in reluctantly, and who haven’t let Him in at all. I’ve known people who gave up on God when things got tough. And I’ve been privileged to know and minister to people whose faith became stronger when things got tough, and who didn’t flinch in their faith even when they knew their medical prognosis was grim. The goal, and the challenge, of faith is to stay committed to God, in both the good and bad times, to put everything in life under the umbrella of spirituality.
**On another note, many people on the Prayer Team belong to the parish I serve in Tampa, and others are aware that we are getting ready to expand our church and ministry facilities. It has been really important to me and to our steering committee that this is not just an exercise in fundraising and construction, but in spirituality. There is a prayer our steering committee offers individually every day. We have asked our church to pray over this project. Every financial pledge has been received with prayer. Our lives are supposed to be lived under the umbrella of God, and we’ve pledged to put this project, in every facet, under the umbrella as well. And as this project progresses and is successful, all glory will go to God and all credit will go to this decision to place it under the umbrella of God.
I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul makes its boast in the Lord; let the afflicted hear and be glad. O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exult His name together! I sought the Lord and He answered me, and delivered me from all my fears. Look to Him, and be radiant; so your faces shall never be ashamed. This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him, and delivers them. O taste and see that the Lord is good! Happy is the man who takes refuge in Him! O fear the Lord, you His saints, for those who fear Him have no want! The young lions suffer want and hunger; but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing. Come, O sons, listen to me, I will teach you the fear of the Lord. What man is there who desires life, and covets many days, that he may enjoy good? Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips form speaking deceit. Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursuit it. The eyes of the Lord are towards the righteous, and His ears toward their cry. The face of the Lord is against evildoers, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth. When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted, and saves the crushed in spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous; but the Lord delivers him out of them all. He keeps all his bones; not one of them is broken. Evil shall slay the wicked; and those who hate the righteous will be condemned. The Lord redeems the life of His servants; none of those who take refuge in Him will be condemned. Psalm 34
May we all have the calm St. Paul suggests in Philippians 4, and may we have the courage and confidence of the Three Young Men in the furnace, who declared they would stay faithful, no matter the outcome.
