We exhaust ourselves with escape mechanisms

By John Pearring

Saturday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time

Daniel 7:15-27
Luke 21:34-36

Daniel and Jesus remind us that the times for doom and gloom are inevitable. We have met the corrupted, awful future in its raw reality — wars, kidnappings, murder, plagues — and it’s a horror show. Anxiety raises its ugly head, but we must resist. The ultimate end isn’t horrible. Horrible is just the pathway, a painful birth into a new age.

Recent writers of movies, books, and television series concentrate much of their stories upon the pain and ugliness. They brood upon the demise of all we know, rightly calling it “dystopian.” By the time these stories gets to a settled end, the entertainment abruptly ends. The fantasy stories rely upon tragedy, with us trapped in a maze, because entrapment is authentic, eerily similar to our actual lives. 

The scriptures today that end the Church year are fearsome. On the surface, they add to the malaise and angst of wars, climate fears, elections, and hatred — constant shadows of impending doom. We’re bothered once again by sad sack stuff as Daniel 7:15-27 tells us of a terrible demon.

The fourth beast shall be a fourth kingdom on earth
different from all the others;
It shall devour the whole earth,
beat it down, and crush it.

Jesus, quoted in Luke 21:34-36, agrees with Daniel’s assessment.

For that day will assault everyone
who lives on the face of the earth.

I’m reminded of gloomy Eeyore. He wanders into an enjoyable conversation between Robin and Winny the Pooh, and his sorrowful self sucks the air out of the room. 

We’re built for being alive, but our hearts are formed into worry battles. Tales of excessive blessings from God and promises of heaven’s delights can even get sidetracked with off-color jokes and loose tongues. 

God explains that unhealthy escape from the ugly will lead its own dystopian end. Falling prey to anxiety is also dangerous. In fact, anxiety is no less damning than debauchery and loose living. Who knew?

Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy
from carousing and drunkenness
and the anxieties of daily life,
and that day catch you by surprise like a trap.

Tales of corrupted society are real. We watch our world capitulate to criminals who can loot at will and sexual freedoms that insist upon aborting innocent babies. Dystopian stories are meant to be fantasies that frighten us by feeding on our worries and imaginations with exaggerated horrors. The real world is even more frightening, visibly disintegrating at the edges while central sanity is under attack. The result is a ping pong effect of bouncing from horror fantasies to actual horrors.

Why, then, do the scriptures give us the same anxiety-producing storylines? Isn’t scripture contributing to our anxiety? 

Only if we’re woefully anxious already. I don’t find carousing and drunkenness rampant in my friends and family. I steer clear from anyone who’s off the rails. That’s good, but I need to remember that there’s something else that will get me in trouble if I’m not careful. An anxious heart.

God remains consistent. We must pay attention to the details. Orwellian and dastardly activities cling to another awful partner. The “anxieties of daily life.” Anxiety is just as bad all on its own as leading loose lives. Why? Because we exhaust ourselves with these things. They distract us, then leave us groggy, doped up, and lethargic.

I wonder which comes first? The booze and pleasure-seeking, or the anxieties? It may not matter. They’re pals, unfriendly and treacherous bedfellows keeping us off guard. If we’re anxious at a level of panic that leads us to push away reality in any form, then we’re in the same boat as the drunk and the debauched. Bent on escape.

The opposite of anxious unease and apprehension is relief. How do we relieve ourselves from anxiety? We must be careful because the neurotic forces of worry will lead us to hypochondria and nervous alarm. There must be some other medication without the drugs, the click-baiting news, and the anger?

Patience and trust allow us to rest and be ready. The antithesis of trauma is ecstasy and joy, which we may seek in any way we can find it. True peace of mind comes, though, from something other than a manufactured, self-harming solution. Anxiety is just as self-harming as drugs. Relief truly only comes from God.

Peace, joy, and patience from God take place in moments. Compared to everything else, moments are a rarity. Trauma is imminent, but it doesn’t own us. We don’t have to become weakened, like Eeyore.

“But don’t worry about me, Pooh. Go and enjoy yourself. I’ll stay here and be miserable, with no presents, no cake, no candles.”

God asks us to stop being flabby in spirit, cowardly in the flesh, and disobedient in our hearts. We have our loving King, our indwelled Holy Spirit, and the absolute authority of the Father.

Be vigilant at all times
and pray that you have the strength
to escape the tribulations that are imminent
and to stand before the Son of Man.

Our strength comes from a specific place. It’s not just our loyalty to God. It is our membership in his family. His holy community. God is continually intimate, present, and leading us together. Our part is to maintain the strength necessary to see the glory.

Then the kingship and dominion and majesty
of all the kingdoms under the heavens
shall be given to the holy people of the Most High,
Whose Kingdom shall be everlasting:
all dominions shall serve and obey him.