The Rev. David B. Hodges
Here’s a little song I wrote
You might want to sing it note for note
Don’t worry, Be happy
In every life we have some trouble
But when you worry make it double
Don’t worry Be happy
Ain’t got no place to lay your head
Somebody came and took your bed
Don’t worry Be happy
That is part of a very popular song that some of you may recognize that was written and is sung by Bobby McFerrin called Don’t Worry Be Happy. McFerrin is a ten-time Grammy award winner who is best known for that song which became a surprise hit and cultural phenomenon after it was released in 1988. Don’t Worry Be Happy blends jazz, reggae and pop styles and it became the first acapella song to ever reach number one on the music charts. McFerrin wrote the song as a reminder not to get too tangled up in stress. I didn’t expect it to, to take over the world, he says. It has been pointed out that the lyrics of Don’t Worry Be Happy emphasize a carefree attitude that encourages listeners to remain unconcerned despite life's challenges. The song's message of cheerful nonchalance turned it into what has been called an anthem of optimism and a call to let go of one’s worries and embrace joy and contentment. (Medium, “Behind the Lyrics: Don’t Worry, Be Happy by Bobby McFerrin,” 1/8/23; Britanica, “Don’t Worry, Be Happy,” 7/19/26).
A few minutes ago, we listened to a reading from a letter that St. Paul wrote to a group of Christians in a place called Philippi. In the New Testament it is referred to as The Letter of Paul to the Philippians, and I want to share some background about the letter and about the circumstances surrounding its writing. The people in Philippi were a community of Christians that Paul was close to and had maintained a relationship with after he founded a church there. But from the beginning there had been opposition to Christianity in Philippi and apparently it is very active at the time of the writing of this letter because Paul speaks directly to his friends about being persistent in their faith even when threatened by death. What Paul says in his letter is addressed to a group of people who are dealing with a lot of stress.
Now one of the important things to know about the letter is how Paul offers himself as an example of what it means to be strong in the face of difficult circumstances and even when threatened by death. Paul is able to write this way because he is writing from a Roman prison where he is waiting to be put on trial not knowing whether he will be sentenced to death. In his comments about Paul’s situation, N. T. Wright points out that the great thing about Paul writing from prison is he makes it clear that the Gospel is not locked up. He may be shut up, but the Gospel is not.
Paul encourages the Philippians to do several things and in essence he provides them with a recipe for how they can face the difficulties and challenges of life as a Christian. In the first part of the letter, he says things to them like this…live your life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ (1:27). Don’t do anything out of selfish ambition but regard others as better than yourselves (2:3). Don’t pay so much attention to your own interests but be concerned about other people (2:4).
In the last part of part of his letter that we are looking at today, Paul has some other things to say about how to live and how to face the difficulties and challenges of life as a Christian. Rejoice in the Lord always, he says. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. Remember, he points out, that the Lord is near. He then encourages his friends to focus on things that are true, honorable, just, pure, pleasing, and commendable. But Paul also points to something that you and I have to face and deal with in one way or another on a regular basis, and he doesn’t exactly phrase it in the same way that Bobby McFerrin does. Listen again to part of what he writes. Do not worry about anything but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
Do not worry about anything. There is not anyone here today who has not worried about something. We all know that at times it is very hard not to worry. It has been said that we live in a world reeling from multiple and overlapping crises: political, cultural, ecological, you name it. In this context, the notion of fixing one’s attention on what is pleasing and praiseworthy might sound like mere escapism, a willful retreat to blissful ignorance (Ryan Schellenberg, Working Preacher, 10/11/26). Recent data from the American Psychiatric Association reveals that anxiety is a part of daily life for many of us and that it comes from different directions all at once. Americans continue to report high levels of anxiety, with things like current events and finances tied at the top as being the leading sources of anxiety (Marketa M. Wills, American Psychiatric Association). The number of adults who take anxiety medications continues to increase and is estimated to be around 38 million. In an article titled, “America the Anxious,” Whitney Coulson says that we are a country deeply divided by ideology, culture, and policy. We are exposed to a 24/7 news cycle and a never-ending stream of social media, and our brains are repeatedly inundated with uncertainty, danger, and instability. This results, she goes on to say, in an ongoing sense of vigilance that wears down our minds and bodies. We are among the most anxious human beings on the planet (Psychology Today, 9/22/25).
Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. The reason Paul can say this as he sits in a prison cell writing to a group of people who are under immense stress and pressure is because of one thing, Jesus Christ. Paul talks about this when he tells them that it is the peace of God, a peace that goes far beyond anything that we can understand, that will guard them in Jesus and it will be this peace will control the way you think and feel and that is why they don’t have to worry. Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, Paul writes, and the God of peace will be with you.
I read something that suggests that Paul is not just trying to make his friends feel good, but what he is trying to do is to help them think about cultivating the inner life of the soul. He wants them to focus their attention on those things that bring joy and peace (Debi Thomas, “When Paul sounds like Pollyanna,” The Chrisitan Century, 10/13/17). As one writer puts it so well, the presence of anxiety is unavoidable, but the prison of anxiety is optional. It’s the life of perpetual anxiety that Paul wants to address. Don’t let anything in life leave you perpetually in angst (Max Lucado in Anxious for Nothing, 2017)
Don’t worry about anything, but pray and ask God for everything you need, always giving thanks for what you have. And because you belong to Christ Jesus, God’s peace will stand guard over all your thoughts and feelings. Jesus talked a lot about peace, and he specifically said that it was one of the things that he was leaving behind after his death. Peace I leave with you, he says to his disciples in John’s Gospel, my peace I give to you. And then Jesus says this. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not let them be afraid.
That is what Paul was trying to convey to his friends and that is the message for us as when we worry, when we face those things that create anxiety and that can make us become self-absorbed. Rejoice. Let that be something you commit to every day. Be gentle to absolutely everyone. Pray. Commit to being in regular conversation with God. Do not worry and remember that Christ is near. Think about and focus on doing these things that really matter, things that cultivate the inner life of our souls and the God of peace will stand guard over you. May it be so for you and for me. Amen.