During hard times, a lot of people lose their jobs.  Already the national unemployment rate has risen far above the projected high of 8%. President Obama has said repeatedly, “most likely it is going to get worse before it gets better.”  The State of California is already at a near record high unemployment rate of 11% and the County of Los Angeles unemployment rate is currently above 12%.  These numbers are bad.  But in reality, the situation is even worse than these numbers.  Unemployment is really about 4% higher than each of these numbers.  That’s because the national unemployment rate only includes those who are receiving unemployment benefits.  It is estimated that at least 4% of the population has exhausted their unemployment benefits and are not counted in these figures.

Whatever the unemployment rate is, we know it is high.  All of us know at least one or more persons who has lost their job and there are probably many more lay-offs coming given the grave economic conditions of our country and our State.

Losing one’s job or being unemployed is extremely difficult and painful.  It can create a frightening financial situation or crisis in our lives.  It can also bring about a terrible loss of self-esteem.

On October 19, 2008 I preached a sermon called “Pharaoh’s Nightmare – Joseph’s Dream:  When Prosperous Times Come to An End.”  The sermon was the first in our fall stewardship series.  The sermon was based on the story of Pharaoh’s “dream” which was actually more of a nightmare than a dream.  Pharaoh, didn’t understand the dream so he had Joseph (the great interpreter of dreams) interpret it for him.  Joseph interpreted the dream for Pharaoh stating that Pharaoh would have seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine.  Pharaoh then asks Joseph to take charge of the wealth of his entire realm.  Joseph wisely saves food and grain during the seven years of plenty so the realm had the resources to live during the seven years of famine.  I suggested that the contemporary application of that passage was that every one of us needs to save during prosperous times so that we have something to support us during hard times.

After worship that Sunday, a person who had been worshipping with us for a couple months came up to me and said rather angrily, “that was the most depressing sermon I have ever heard!”  He was obviously not happy with the message that Sunday.  About three months later (January 2009) the US and global economy fell apart and we were looking at an economic meltdown like we have not seen since the great depression.  The person who chastised me for that sermon ended up losing his job, his car and his home.  The last I heard from him he had declared bankruptcy, was homeless and headed back east to live with his family.

In these hard times one of the best things we can do is to start saving for a financial emergency and stop getting into debt.  The second thing we can to is to keep faith in God and faith in ourselves.

For an awful lot of us in America, our self worth is intricately intertwined with our jobs.  For example, a lot of times when you ask people gathered in a small group to share “who you are,” they’ll tell you “what they do.”  I’m a teacher, or mechanic, or attorney or pastor.  That’s not who you are.  That’s what you do.  But that shows how much our self worth is rooted in our jobs.  When we lose our job and become unemployed, many times we experience a tremendous loss of self-esteem or self-worth.  And so this Sunday, we will look at Jesus’ teaching about our self worth.  Am I really worth more than my job?

In this Sunday’s gospel, Matthew 6: 25-33, Jesus teaches about how God values us.

Jesus said, “Do not to worry about your livelihood, what you are to eat or drink or use for clothing.  Isn’t life more than just food?  Isn’t the body more than just clothes?

Look at the birds in the sky.  They don’t sow or reap, they gather nothing into barns, yet our God feeds them.  Aren’t you more important than they?

Which of you by worrying can add a moment to your lifespan?  And why be anxious about clothing?  Learn a lesson from the way the wildflowers grow.  They don’t work; they don’t spin.  Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in full splendor was arrayed like one of these.  If God can clothe in such splendor the grasses of the field, which bloom today and are thrown on the fire tomorrow, won’t God do so much more for you – you who have so little faith?

Stop worrying, then, over questions such as “What are we to eat” or “what are we to drink,” or “what are we to wear?”  Those without faith are always running after these things.  God knows everything you need.  Seek first God’s reign, and God’s justice, and all these things will be given to you.”

In this passage Jesus offers us Hope in Hard Times.  When we look at what this teaching of Jesus is about, we realize unemployment is about losing our jobs – not our life!

The truth is, losing one’s job and becoming unemployed is not easy, especially if you do not have money saved for an emergency.  But it is also not the end of your life.  There are many people who are currently unemployed who are using this time to reevaluate “who they are” and what they want to do with their lives.   Others are using this time of not “having to work” to serve others in various mission and service opportunities.  We have two members of our church who are doing exactly that with their time and their lives.  They are serving our sack lunches once a week at our church.

What we really need to hang on to in hard times is having and keeping faith in God and having and keeping faith in ourselves.  Once we have that, we have the creativity and ability to explore many other options for our lives.  And when we have faith in God and in ourselves, we may also discover that hard times are good times to be open to new opportunities and callings for our lives.

So, friends-

Have Hope in Hard Times

Keep Faith in God—Keep Faith in Yourself!

Blessings,

Dan

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 25th, 2009 at 6:35 pm and is filed under This Sunday's Service. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.