Central Lutheran Church - Elk River

Why Worry? with Sonja Knuston

• Central Lutheran Church

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What if the most peaceful season of your life still made room for worry—and that became your greatest teacher? Coming back from a seven-week sabbatical, I share the highs and hiccups: hiking the Dolomites on breathless trails, a tense comedy of errors while driving in Germany, simple joy with my granddaughter, and the quiet ways God showed up when the plans didn’t. Along the way, Jesus’ piercing question—“Why worry?”—moved from a verse I knew to a practice I needed.

We trace that question through the Sermon on the Mount where birds and wildflowers become our teachers. You’ll hear how splitting our trust between God and control fuels anxiety, why 91% of our fears never materialize, and how small, concrete shifts—like a guide’s calm instructions on a cliff—can retrain the heart toward faith. I talk about breath prayers on steep climbs, choosing attention over rumination, and what it means to seek the kingdom first when life feels loud, uncertain, or just plain exhausting.

A redemption story brings it home: a friend once marked by addiction, prison, and loss found freedom in Christ before the state ever granted her pardon. When the legal “yes” finally came, it confirmed what grace had already settled. That’s the heartbeat here—God’s provision is steadier than our plans, His timing wiser than our calendars, and His presence nearer than our fear. If you’re carrying worries about family, health, money, or the future, this conversation offers Scripture, honesty, and practical steps to release control and rest in the One who holds tomorrow. Subscribe, share with someone who needs courage today, and leave a review telling us the one worry you’re ready to lay down.

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SPEAKER_00:

For that. Welcome back. I'm excited to be back and in the office. If you don't know who I am, my name is Sonia Knudsen. I'm an associate here for Pastor Ryan and for this team. And I have been on a sabbatical for the last seven and a half-ish weeks, and it has been a blessing in so many ways. If you don't know what a sabbatical is, it's a time, a way where you can rest and restore and reflect and look to the past, look for what you're currently living in, and look also to the future. And I did a lot of that. I am looking to the future of retirement in two years. Yes. I can't wait. But also, this gave me a taste of what retirement is going to look like. I was very excited to get back though. I can't tell you how much I love my job. I love this team. I love the leadership of this team. I love this body. And it was a breath of fresh air to walk back into this place yesterday as I prepared. When before I left, Ryan asked me to preach this Sunday as I come back and to give a summary of what my sabbatical looked like, my time away, and also to share some pictures and some stories of that. So I'm going to do that on the front end. And basically, the summary of my time away was God in my travel time. It was God in my friendships. It was God in my family time. It was God in the safety of our travel time and our adventures. We spent a lot of time. I spent a lot of time in the States, but also we were in Europe. We spent time in Italy and Germany and Austria with a group of friends. So I wanted, I want to share some pictures of what this looked like and some of the blessings that I had. One week I spent with a friend named Joan. She's here and a friend named Nikki. Joan and I spent time hiking a lot. That's if you know me, I love walking and hiking and taking adventures up of climbing crazy mountains and doing things that most people might not do. And she is such a blessing to my life, and she is accepting to do any of these adventures that I put in front of them, including a via ferrata, which if you're not familiar with that, means you're like climbing straight up a mountain using cables and rods and doing fun things. And she's like, sure, I'll do that. In fact, I text her, hey, what about a via ferrata? And it was like a pause. I'm like, she's gonna say no. She's gonna say no. And she came back with a sure, I can do that. And then my next week was spent with Nikki in Door County, Wisconsin, northern part of Wisconsin. And we kayaked Lake Michigan, and I got her to do a zip line. And she too is not necessarily an adventurous person, but she was willing to take these adventures with me, and she loved it as well. I also spent time uh with my family. This is my little nugget granddaughter Kyrie, who turned three on uh September 2nd. We had her Sesame Street birthday party yesterday, and that's her parents, Philip and my grand, my daughter-in-law, Kara. And then I spent time with my other son. This is Connor. He went hiking actually with us in the Dolomites in Italy, so that was a blast. And he came back with us and he still loves his mommy. So, you know, life life is good in that area. Um, we traveled a lot. Oh, I spend a lot of time with my dog. That's my husband, too, not to not to buffer you. That sounded terrible. My dog got tension over. I do love my dog, though, a lot. He's a little schnauzer and he hikes and walks with us a lot. But you know, my stride is quite large and he's got these little legs. So I did buy him a backpack, so he walks about a mile and then he just lays down and he's like, I'm out done. And I throw him in the backpack and off we go and we do a couple more miles. That is my husband, Jeff, as well. And then uh with this crazy group, that's Bob and Joan Ruprecht, members here, um, our good friend Tim Barthel, my son Connor, and my husband Jeff, we went for 16 days to and we hike the Dolomite Mountains, which is in the northern part of Italy. And then um a group of us, a smaller group of us, went to Germany and Austria, and we did some sightseeing, and we we love history and architecture, so that was great, great fun too. I have to say, some of my favorite things that we did is to venture through all of the cathedrals in Europe. I mean, words can't even explain the beauty of all of them. And we saw castles and palaces, and we went to these stunning little villages. That's Rottenberg. Is Nikki Nordmeyer here? No. So she was saying she knew I was gonna go to Germany, and she's like, you have to go see Rottenberg, and I did, and it was amazing. Um, and it looks just this charming. In fact, this city or this village was saved both in World War I and World War II because of how charming and rustic it was. And even the Nazis said this is the German most German town there is, and so they preserved it. Even the Americans, when they came over after the World War, they didn't let any bombs or attacks. The only damage this town has ever had is because of an earthquake in Germany. Um, and it it demolished one of its castles, but stunning little village. We um went to the concentration camp in Daha, which I would encourage any of you if you ever have a chance to do that, because it reminds us of where we should never go again in our life. And it was asked, why did you keep this concentration camp as a memorial site? So we never go back to this place again. Um, we drank a lot. That sounds terrible, but you know, we're in Italy and we're in Germany. So you're gonna drink wine and you're gonna drink beer. And I don't even like beer. And I tried the beer, and that was that was super fun. And then we ate lots of fun foods. This is a why are you laughing? This is a schneelballin, it's it's a snowball. My decision of it is eh, it's okay. I think really it's krunkaca that that kind of fell apart, and then they just rolled it up in white chocolate and chocolate chocolate and made it a ball. I'm like, I was so excited to try it, wasn't I, Tim and Jeff? And I'm like, I don't know, it's it's okay. But I checked it off my list. I did that. And then, of course, we had lots of gelata, uh, gelato because we were in Italy. But honestly, my favorite was indoor county. Um, I had an amazing gelato from a little Russian gelato shop. So get that. Um, then of course, the hiking, because that's what I do. So from August 8th through September 24th, I know get ready to say, oh my gosh, I hiked or walked 458 miles. But really, oh no, no, because really, if you spread that out over that many days, it's only nine miles a day. So, like, you know, but I can add elevation into that and you know the lack of breathing because we were up so high in many of those situations. But the mountains were incredible in the Dolomites. The trails were uh strenuous and challenging for sure, but the view it didn't matter because the views overtook everything. The one thing that I loved, I think, the most was this is uh Coldalana. It's at the top of Blood Mountain. Um, and it was, I think, our second to the last hike, guys. Last hike. So this one was basically a Via Ferrata. There was lots of cables, lots of rods, very strenuous hike up there. And then at the top, there's this chapel that was built for World War I veterans who lost their life. Um, stunning, uh, tearful for sure when we were at the top of this mountain. Um, and we got to see a lot of bunkers and trenches, and it was it was all very fascinating. We saw a lot of cows on our hiking, which my husband said, I think they're mocking me because the one day we were going pretty strenuous, like we would take a hundred steps and we would all have to stop and breathe because the elevation was so high. And here's this cow, like walking right past us. And Jeff's like, that's not even, that's not even fair. I can't even breathe at this point. But it was beautiful to see, and that's my husband. He we thought we found a gnome up in in the mountains, so that was really fun. Um, but my favorite time was my time alone with God. Uh, whether I was hiking alone, whether it was hiking with my friends or my family, I was in, I felt like I was in constant and Joan could vie for this. I'm in constant conversation with God all the time, asking him for clarification or endurance and perseverance and joy, even when I'm struggling a little bit. So, overall, I hope that you can see that this trip was amazing and um I was fully blessed. And yet, no matter how wonderful this trip was, I couldn't help but pay attention to all of the times that I was worrying on this trip. And maybe it's because I knew this sermon was coming up and I had to prepare for why the why worry question. We're in this series of the questions that Jesus asked, and I had picked why, why do we worry? So, of course, it was fresh on my mind. However, I found myself legitimately worrying for my children who were back here in the States, or my granddaughter. I was worrying for my dog who was going to be babysat by my father-in-law, who doesn't necessarily love indoor dogs, but they were together for 16 days. And then I worried for my father-in-law who's watching my dog, and then I worried who's going to survive this time between the two of them, but they did great. I worried for our adventures and our weathers prior to going. Um, we had been watching the weather. And out of the eight hiking days that we were supposed to have, literally it was like 90% chance of rain every single day. And we only had one day of rain. Praise God. That was amazing. I worried about my friends and their health. One of my dearest friends had elevation sickness the very first day, and we got to the summit of that mountain, and it was not pretty at all, like what came out of his body. But he made it and we were good. I was also worried that some of my friends, we not might not be friends when we got back. Because when I asked my friends, like, hey, let's do this, let's do that. This is sometimes the look I got. That's my friend Nikki. I'm like, let's go zip lining. She's like, What are you making me do right now? Trust me. I was also worried that my son, who's 29, who uh came with us, he was the only 20-ish person that came. And I'm like, is he still gonna like me when we get back? Because, you know, I'm still mom. I always wear my mom hat wherever I'm at. And that could be kind of annoying after 16 days of it. So either way, the biggest worry I think I had was driving in Austria and Germany. So when we left Italy, stop laughing. When we when we left Italy, it was me, my best friend Joan left me, and I'm stuck with these men. So it's Jeff and Tim and my Connor, and I'm in this car. I was the designated driver. So all the way, you already know how to pray for me. So I'm the designated driver. We're not even out of the car ramp, and all three of them are barking, rah rah, rah, like, do this, don't do that. You're too close to the I'm like, I became a Southern Baptist. I'm like, dear Jesus, I just stopped the car. I'm like, you need to give me patience. You need to shut the mouths that are in this car right now. You need to make me understand the signs and how narrow the roads are, and you need to give us a calm and a peace. Amen. And it was quiet for like two minutes. And my son said, Well, that was fun. Let's go. It was great. So who knew that prayer had so much power, right? I mean, Jesus does. And that's why we're here this morning with this question and this answer. And before we begin this morning, how many of you got this little piece of paper? So if you don't, I'm gonna ask the ushers if they're out there. If you can hear me, ushers, if you don't, raise your hand. Because I would love for you to have one of these pieces of paper that says things I worry about. Things I worry about. And they will come up the aisles and give them out. Because obviously, when I was on my sabbatical, this time that I'm supposed to be in rest and reflection and reset, I was even finding time to worry. So before we get into the why question, why we worry, I want you to think about the things that you worry about, just flippantly off the top of your head. What things do you worry about? First of all, if you have children, you worry, right? Right, baptism family? You worry because you have children. And it doesn't matter. I wish I could make you feel better and think, oh, she'll grow out of the worry. She doesn't, because I have adult children and you still worry. It I think it's worse personally. If you have aging parents, you worry. If you have health concerns, you worry. If you have a job or don't have a job, you probably spend some time in worry. If your relationships are somewhat broken, you probably spend some time worrying every day. If you're grocery shopping or trying to fill your gas, your car with gas, I would bet there's some point in your life that you worry. So take a minute and either think about the things that you worry, or if you have a pen or a pencil and there's pencils in the back of the pew, I would ask that you jot down some of those things that you worry about. We come to you this morning with all of these things that weigh on our hearts and on our minds, and that consume us with worry. And we lift to you, Pastor Ryan and his family and his stepdad Fred. We know that Fred is so close to ending his earthly life, and we are excited that he gets to join you into his eternal life. But this is a difficult time for them, family, as they say goodbye. And so we pray for Diane and their extended family and everything that they are walking through. We pray for safe travels as he comes back here. Pray for safety as Katie travels to be with Ryan and the family. We pray for the things that consume us, the things that are out of our control, because that's what worry is often, is things that we are trying to control and we can't. We lift them to you and we entrust them into your hands, knowing that you have a better plan than what we could ever have. I give you this message this morning. I pray that there are words in it that need to be set on someone's heart and someone's mindset that will cleanse them from the worry and the anxiety and the fears that they live in. That they will be able to recognize that you are bigger than any worry that we carry. The worries that we have here are the worries of the world. We entrust our worries, our thoughts, our concerns into your hands at this time. Father, and we love you. In your name we pray. Amen. Well, we are starting this series actually three weeks ago. We did it. It's called This Isn't Rhetorical, and we are going through all of the questions that Jesus asked in his ministry work. And I love that Jesus asked open-ended questions with hows and whys throughout his ministry to stimulate thought and to test our faith, to establish relationships and to reveal spiritual truths of his followers and those that challenged his leadership. And just like today's question, why worry? The questions were not intended to ignore reality or dismiss legitimate concerns, but rather the questions were designed to shift perspective from human-centered thoughts to God-centered thoughts. The question why worry comes from the popular Sermon on the Mount, which is found in both the book of Matthew that Janet shared with us and is echoed also in the book of Luke. And it was asked to challenge his listeners not once, but five times, if you heard as Janet read the story for us. He challenges five times in just this narrative alone. Worry seems to be an ever-constant struggle for most of us, doesn't it? I shared how I worried on my peaceful yet not so peaceful sabbatical because of my human-centered thoughts and concerns. And think of how crazy that is. I was on a sabbatical, a time for rest and reflection, and yet I worried. And we all worry. In fact, Forbes Health reported this past spring that over 60% of all Americans claim to worry on a daily basis. And America, as a culture, is the most worried nation in our world. Isn't that an honor not to be proud of? But it makes sense when you think of our value system and the melting pot that we live in. It is who we are. We are worriers, and we are too familiar with the gnawing, uneasy feeling, the sleepless nights, and the mental replays of the what-ifs that roll in our heads nonstop. Worry is a tug of war between faith and fear and peace and panic, trust and control. And if we're being honest, many of us are losing the battle as we invite worry into our lives by making our highest priority something other than God. And why? Why do we worry? It doesn't produce anything good, and rarely does it come to fruition. Penn State did a study in 2020 over a lengthy period, and the results showed that 91% of all the worry did not come true. It did not come to fruition. Look back at that list that you just created. 91% of that list will not come true. So why are we wasting our time worrying when it most likely will not happen? Not to mention it adds stress, physical strain, wrinkles, and it is proven to make you eat more ice cream. I mean, just look at my house some days. Worry, which is a combination of emotion and a desire for control, is a natural response to life in circumstances that as Christ followers, shouldn't we know better than to waste our time on it? Don't we have the tools to avoid worrying and to give us a sense of peace? Isn't that what the Bible is all about? Scripture is known for redirecting our worry and gives us the confidence we need to conquer any circumstance. And today's reading illustrates this with images of nature as Jesus uses birds and flowers to make his point after warning his listeners in the previous scripture that we can't have two treasures, and when we do, this is when worry sets in. If you peek back at Matthew 6, verse 24, we see where the worry question is rooted when Jesus asks the question No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money because when we do, we open ourselves to destruction and to worry. And he then moves his illustration when he says, Therefore I tell you, do not worry. Birds neither plant crops nor harvest fields, yet they never lack provision, because their needs are met by a Father who sustains them day by day. These creatures don't struggle, they don't worry, they don't stockpile, they simply depend on and know that he will provide. Jesus uses the birds of the air as a symbol to teach about God's provisions and to encourage us to trust in him for our needs rather than surrendering to worry. And he goes on to say, Are you not more valuable than they? implying that if God provides for the birds, the creatures that he has no relationship with, then why would he not provide for us? In other words, why should we worry? Are we blind to the track record of God's provision? Think of the Israelites wandering and wandering in the wilderness. God sent them manna from heaven, water from a rock, and he made sure that their clothes didn't wear. They never earned it, but they received it, yet they still doubted, as often we do. We panic over what's next while standing in the overflow of what God has already done for us. We see only what we can cling to and what is right in front of us, which reminds me of my Via Ferrata climb with my dear friend Joan. This is a climb that we were uncomfortable with, and my friend is afraid of heights. And for good reason, she was nervous and worried about this climb. She clung to the rock quite often. And our brilliant glide, who was a young man, helped her through her worries and her fears by using words and phrases such as, Joan, what if you pushed yourself away from the rock so you could see what was around you, what was coming next? Or, Joan, I see that your left foot is in an awkward position. What if you took that foot back, used your right foot, and shifted to the other ledge? How would that feel? Would you feel safe? Would that feel more comfortable? And as I listened to his guidance and support and observed her finding peace and trust in his words, I couldn't help but think this is Jesus in our worry when he is trying to move us towards him. He's saying, like to me, Sonia, what if you pushed yourself away from the things that you worry about, the things that you're trying to control and you trusted me in them? How would that feel? Or, Sonia, what if you shifted your weight and moved your steps to somewhere else? What if you moved away from your plan and stepped into my plan? How would that feel? Would you feel safe? Sounds easy, doesn't it? But we don't do that. Instead, we let worry take over, which then defeats our faith and shrinks our view of God and his abilities in our lives. And in our story today, Jesus lovingly addresses that thought and he rebukes his followers with the phrase, you of little faith. Not to shame them, but to help them see how worry diminishes their confidence in God. In Matthew 6:30, Jesus points to the grass and the flowers of the fields, noting that they are temporary and fragile and yet clothed with beauty, and he is saying, if God gives that much attention to things that last only a day, will he not provide enough for you? When we choose worry, we're not just doubting God's provision. We're placing our confidence in the worst possible outcome, making our problems seem bigger than his power. But when we live in faith, we lift our eyes above the storms that we wade through, and we say and can see what Jesus' way is in our life, and we can trust the one who is in front of us, which reminds me of my granddaughter when she worries, and we try to teach her to lean into Jesus. We took her to the fair this past August, and she was so excited to ride the carousel horse. She's three years old, and she'd been watching the carousel go round and round and round. She picked her favorite horse, which of course is white and blue. And when it was time for us to get on the ride, she said, Nana, come with me. So I did, and I lifted her up on the horse. And here's my Kyrie when she's excited. Kyrie, are you excited? So she's holding onto the pole, and the carousel ride starts and it goes down and it's going back up and it's shaking kind of funny. And as it's going back up, it made the screeching sound. She's like, All done. Like she wanted nothing to do with this horse. I'm like, oh girl, we're not getting off the carousel horse. They're not stopping it for us. I said, you know what? You look scared and worried. Nana's gonna help you with this. Put her fingers back on the pole. I put my hand over her. I said, shut your little eyes and let's pray. And together we said, Dear Jesus, and she's like, Dear Jesus, make this ride go smoothly. Let her find joy in this ride. And let her trust you and every movement the horse makes. And before we knew it, the ride was done. She jumped off the horse and she said, That silly horse. Her mama asked her, You looked worried on that ride. Was everything okay? What helped you? She just kept strutting away because she has all attitude. Jesus, that's all she needed to say. In the moment, Kyrie could not see the way through her worry, but she trusted the one who did through prayer and the power of his name. And she was calm. Ah, the faith of a child. Amen. And friends, when we seek him first and we call out his name, we too are drawn to the common sense of our faith, and our storms are calmed as well, which is described in our scripture next when Jesus says, Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Jesus, in his love and his wisdom, offers us a better way. He doesn't just tell us not to worry, he gives us every reason to trust. He tells us time and time again, I've got you. You know my name. Call on me. Don't worry about what tomorrow brings. Tomorrow is another day. For today, let's just take these steps together. Central God doesn't expect us to figure it all out. That's why he invites us to seek him first. When we put him above our needs, our fears, and our doubts, everything else finds its proper place. Maybe it's not the way that we see or we think is best, but the way that is best for his kingdom work. I want to end this morning with a story of a friend from Central that puts all of her trust in Jesus. And if you were here for our Good Friday service, you heard her heart-wrenching story and the trust and the worry that she gives to Jesus. Her name is Ashley, and she often is at this 10 o'clock service as she is today, sitting in the second row with her husband and her family. And her base story is made by choices from her dark past that had hard consequences, including prison, including losing her children for a short time, loss of friends, and drug charges that would change the trajectory of her future. Since then, she has gone through treatment, she did her time, she paid retribution, she met and married an amazing man, she was reconnected with her children, and she gave her life to Jesus. But her past still framed who she was, and it had a hold on many areas of her life that carried weight in this world. We as a church have been praying for Ashley and her family as she was scheduled for a pardon this month, and with tears of joy this past Wednesday, the state of Minnesota granted Ashley a pardon for her crimes, freeing her name from it, which is something that looks great on paper. But the truth is Jesus had already done that for her, and she knew that. She shared with me in a text message this week when I asked her, Do you worry? She said, Knowing God is sovereign and in complete control helped me face the reality that even if the pardon was denied and wasn't in his timing, even if it wasn't in his timing, I would still be guided by my Lord. I love this. I love her faith. I love her trust. She knows that her worry was and is his burden to carry, not hers. And she was willing to face his timing in all of it. She knows his name central and the weight that it carries over her life. And by the grace of God, no matter what that board decided, no matter what the decision was, she was already free. Friends, we may not know what tomorrow holds, but we know the one who holds our tomorrow. And that is where our peace begins. No matter what worries we carry or what storms you are facing, there is peace in the name and the power of Jesus. So as you leave this place today, take a deep breath. Let go of your worries and remember how far God has brought you and believe that He is not done yet. Your Heavenly Father sees you, He values you, He cares for you deeply, and He died for you so you can be free of all of your worry. During this next song, I encourage you to just listen to the words, take a man, and believe that His name will call you out of your grave, no matter how deep and no matter how lonely it may be. And if you believe that and you know it to be true, I encourage you to take those worries that you wrote down earlier and release them at the foot of the cross this morning. Amen.

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Ryan Braley

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