SERMONS - This Sunday
Gloria Angle
February 28, 2010
"Fear, Faith and Finding God "
The Message
Let us pray: Wondrous God, you speak to us in many ways including story, scripture, and human life. Each offers a powerful lesson of your amazing presence in the world. Open us to the messages that are not obvious, so that we might experience new revelations of your love and power. Be with us this day, and touch our places of deep longing. Amen
Over the last couple of weeks many of us have been glued to our television as we have watched the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, the time has flown by and today after the hockey game many will also watch the closing ceremonies. I think one thing that is fascinating to us when we watch these athletes; is how they have not let fear hold them back. Fear of failure, fear of doing something stupid when thousands, maybe millions of people are watching, fear of going down a track of ice at 130 km. per hour, these fears would stop many from even trying. Yet these young (and some not so young) people conquer that fear, or at least they don't let fear stop them, they live for that 100 th of a second, that one point, that will make them a winner. The Olympic song that has stirred our hearts these last few weeks “I believe” in the chorus says “ I believe that together we'll fly, I believe in the power of you and I”. These are words of faith, words of faith for the athletes in themselves, their supporters, their friends and competitors, the spectators but also words of faith in God.
“Fear, faith and Finding God” this is what I have entitled the reflection today but it is also what a retreat that is happening in June, at Sylvan Lake, is entitled. This retreat in Sylvan Lake will be led by the former Moderator of the United Church, David Giuliano. Some of you may recall Rev. Giuliano's story as Moderator. The same day of his installation as Moderator on August 19, 2006, he found a lump on his temple. Since then he has undergone at least two surgeries, one which removed bone and flesh from his face and replaced it with skin from his scapula. Then he underwent intensive radiation treatments and to the best of my knowledge he is presently doing well. During this time of fighting his cancer, he remained in his position as moderator bringing to that position a perspective that was very unique. Towards the end of his term and after his treatment Rev. Giuliano put together a book entitled Postcards from the Valley - Encounters with Fear, Faith and God. This book of short essays he describes as reflections on his journey toward the heart of God. I read this book probably about a year ago and today’s Bible readings reminded me of the theme of this book so some of the words I share today will be some of the Right Rev Guiliano's.
Today, in our old testament reading God says to Abram “Do not be afraid! I will protect you and reward you greatly.”
In the first essay of his book Rev Guilano writes
... “Be not afraid.” These are the ancient words of assurance for people of faith, spoken at the annunciation and again at the empty tomb. They are spoken countless times before and after and in between. Always they are spoken to people of whom God is asking a new thing.
We live in a culture of fear. Who but a fearful people would paste the words “No Fear” stickers on their bumpers and T-shirts? We are afraid of crime, of recession, of terrorism, of cities, of young men, of strangers, of scarcity. Ultimately, in a spiritually anaemic culture, we fear suffering and death...
Fear, when it is our master, is our enemy. When we master fear, it is our friend. Then we give our fears a seat at our inner table without putting them in charge of our lives. They can help us discern God's will for us, but we remain so much more than the sum of our fears.
The opposite of fear is faith, not courage. Faith trusts our relationship with God – not that God will fix things for us but that wherever life takes us, whatever happens, God is with us. We are not alone. Thanks be to God!
As I read our gospel lesson I sensed a feeling of fear. The Pharisees, who we don't often see as friends of Jesus are fearful, they warn Jesus that coming to Jerusalem is dangerous for him. They warn him that Herod wants to kill him. Herod is afraid of what Jesus is saying and the following he is beginning to have. Jesus, being fully human, hears the Pharisees words and he is also fearful. However this fear although it has a place at the table does not stop him from drawing closer to God.
He describes Herod as a fox, however this fox, just like the demons Jesus is planning to draw out of others is not to be feared but confronted. I recall a little rhyme I learned when I was younger, it went like this;
I did a thing I feared today excuse me while I cheer.
And all I lost while doing it was my foolish fear. A simple but effective rhyme.
How many times do our fears hold us back from doing things we would like to do, things that are only fearful because they are different than what we have done before?
Jesus was having none of that, he knew what God was calling him to do and fear was not going to stop him. He had not been to Jerusalem since he was a young boy and he knew it was important for him to go now.
On Wednesday as we were having Bible study we talked of Herod, the fox and demons as a representation of the evil or bad, in the world. We all know there are bad things and people in the world, just as there is potential for bad in each of us; often this is frightening to us. Instead of facing that fear it is often easier to ignore it to deny its existence.
However if there is a fox in a farmer's henhouse during the night and he ignores it in the morning he will find dead hens. Staying in bed, ignoring what is happening within ourselves and the world around us because we are fearful, is not growth, is not relating to the world as it is, it is not faith. Guiliano writes;
Fear can make us cling to things, to people, to ideas, to ways of doing things even if they are not good for us or the world. In the church, he calls this “baking perogies again this year so that we can afford to bake them again next year.” We do things over and over in a desperate effort to avoid the painful changes God is working in and through us.
Fear can make us cling to order and rules, too, as fail-safes against the necessary chaos that precedes creativity. In the politics of fear, all that matters is to protect and preserve what is, and to punish those who threaten that familiar reality.
Jesus was challenging the rules of the time he was living in. This challenging was causing fear in Herod, the priests and many others, including his followers. “ Stay away from Jerusalem Jesus. Keep doing what you are doing. We are afraid of what the future holds if you go there.” These are the words Jesus was hearing but ignored. He had faith, he knew, that God was using him to create change, to change the reality of the day.
Fear is always about the future. We don't really fear the past or the present. As such fear is an act of imagination. Our imaginations can get so preoccupied with fear-full visions that dreams of a world transformed have no space to arise among us. There is no room for God's dream to take seed in us. We become so concerned with staying alive we don't really live.
However fear can be an exciting thing, for fear often is a sign that God wants something of or for us. When we hear the angel whisper, “Be not afraid,” it signals God's call to be part of something new. Perhaps we are hearing God's call to “Be not afraid” now because – Like Abram or Mary or the women at the tomb – we are being called to become part of something beyond our wildest dreams.
The disciples did not know what was going to happen in Jerusalem but they had faith that Jesus would lead them where they needed to go, so even though they were fearful they followed. They could not imagine what was about to happen but what did happen changed the world beyond their wildest dreams. Jesus going to Jerusalem was Jesus stepping out in faith, causing others to grow in faith and find God.
This is what we are called to do as individuals and as a faith community “Be not afraid”, be open to the voice of God, take the risk, it will be worth it!
Guiliano closes his essay with these words;
I am praying that when we gather in our communities you hold the fears that are part of our common life gently. Hold them in ways that set your imagination free, that leave room for God's dream to be dreamt in and through us for the world. Let us hear God's prophetic and tender call to “Be not afraid “and live.
May this be the prayer of each of us. Amen