REMINDER: small group starts on Thursday at 7:00 pm with Willimon s book Fear of the Other: No Fear in Love

Transcription

1 Love vs Fear 1 John 4:7-12, Question of the week: What are you afraid of? Prayer REMINDER: small group starts on Thursday at 7:00 pm with Willimon s book Fear of the Other: No Fear in Love *A Hindu parable tells of someone entering a very dark room. To the person s horror there s a snake coiled in a corner. Fighting the urge to flee, the person instead moves toward the snake to examine it. Upon closer inspection the snake is nothing but a harmless coil of rope. Knowledge of the truth about the world makes the world less fearful and more bearable. *Evolution hardwired our brains to be cautious and self-protective, which made sense at a time when our survival was threatened regularly. When we heard a rustle in the bushes, the adrenaline pumping in our nervous system enabled us to move quickly into high-alert mode. Today those same survival instincts can cause us to have knee-jerk reactions and less thoughtful responses that often result in some damaging mistakes and sloppy thinking. (*from Willimon) Think for a moment about what you re afraid of. What causes you to go into fright mode, wanting to flee rather than confront? When I was a child, my biggest fear was losing my home. I d have nightmares about it. As an adult, especially living in Arizona, my biggest fear was forest fire. When we lived along the coast hurricanes were probably my greatest fear. I realize now that those fears probably came from the fear of losing my home, just like when I was little. But even when we can rationalize our fear, it doesn t make it disappear. There are countless things people are afraid of: fear of flying, of heights, of spiders, of clowns; fear of failure, of public speaking, of rejection, of embarrassment 1

2 Fear seems mostly to be about me, the individual, or fear for our loved ones. The contemporary Spiritual teacher and author Marianne Williamson says, "Love is what we are born with. Fear is what we learn." too. Even when we are afraid for others it s usually because the thing we re afraid of is scary for us FDR s first inaugural speech includes this frequently quoted reminder about fear: let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself-nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes Scripture has countless references to the command Fear Not and Do not be afraid it s been said there are 365 scriptures that remind us of that because we need to be reminded every day! In reality there are far fewer than 365 scriptures but it s a powerful enough statement that we DO need to hear it often. Both the Old and New Testaments contain the message that we shouldn t be afraid because God is always with us. **The Bible isn t saying, There is nothing scary so you don t need to be scared. Let s be real life is scary. That, however, does NOT mean we need to be scared of it. The command do not be afraid more often than not, is followed by an action that God is or will be taking. (from ) Here are a couple of examples: When Pharaoh s Egyptian army pursued the escaped Hebrew slaves (Exodus 14:13), God spoke through Moses saying Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. Jesus reminds his followers repeatedly not to be afraid because they are important to God and they will be cared for, if not in this life in life eternal. He says in Luke 12:32, Do not be afraid, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. In their book Life Lessons: Two Experts on Death and Dying Teach Us About the Mysteries of Life and Living Elizabeth Kubler-Ross and David Kessler tell us: 2

3 If we could literally reach into you and remove all your fears every one of them how different would your life be? Think about it. If nothing stopped you from following your dreams, your life would probably be very different.. To transcend fear though, we must move somewhere else emotionally; we must move into love. They go on to say, Deep down, at our cores, there are only two emotions: love and fear. All positive emotions come from love, all negative emotions from fear. From love flows happiness, contentment, peace, and joy. From fear comes anger, hate, anxiety and guilt.. While we receive great comfort from scripture, fear is a threat to our very survival, and that means our heads often contradict what our hearts are saying. Scripture commands us to love others, to welcome strangers, and especially to care for widows and orphans. And yet we fear what really loving others might take away from ourselves or our families. We allow ourselves to fear God s overflowing abundance when we fall into a place of lack and want. Even though we know scripture tells us to love the strangers among us, our heads are telling us to be afraid, to turn away, and possibly to act in ways that are less than Christ-like. We need to think of strangers as family. This week on the Fourth of July we celebrate Independence Day. Our Revolutionary War and our Declaration of Independence were the result of FEAR. Fear of misrepresentation; fear of the loss of power; fear of harmful changes to people s livelihood and wellbeing. Our forefathers were in an economic struggle with King George III. The time came for the thirteen original colonies to fight for a change to the status-quo and to revolutionize who was making the decisions. While it s been over two hundred years since that war was fought the struggles and challenges continue with each new generation. And while we are not a Christian nation Judeo-Christian traditions have strongly influenced our American culture and society and traditions. On the heels of the Civil War and the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment, there were two similar Pledges of Allegiance penned; one by a Commander in the Navy and the other by a Baptist minister. 3

4 The pledge written by the Baptist minister in 1892 gives us the phrase liberty and justice for all. That idea comes from our Judeo-Christian heritage. Largely driven by actions of the religious community, the 20 th century awakened within our country a series of changes to our social order. The common good became more and more emphasized as society faced the injustices of previous generations and traditions. Women were given the right to vote. Child labor laws were enacted. Public education became the norm. The call for Civil Rights for all people moved us to new places in every aspect of society. With the passage of time the lives for the majority of people in the United States of America have improved with each generation. The hope and promise of Liberty and Justice for all merges our scriptural and our patriotic traditions. Just like merging onto the highway, how we bring those two traditions together isn t always smooth or easy. all. Fear of strangers and fear of change threaten the love in the statement Liberty and Justice for Liberty and Justice for all is where Fear of the Other and the command to Love One Another come together and face each other head on. David Kessler and Elizabeth Kubler-Ross say, there is only love OR fear, for we cannot feel these two emotions together, at exactly the same time. They're opposites. Every moment offers the choice to choose one or the other. And we must continually make these choices, especially in difficult circumstances when our commitment to love, instead of fear, is challenged. When we chose love many of our fears will come up to finally be healed. This is an ongoing process. The more we love, the more we crave love. But how do we overcome our fears, especially our fear of people who are different from us; how do we begin to love them? It s in facing our fears, it s in meeting our fear face to face that we overcome the unknown. 4

5 When we listen to one another s stories, when we share our feelings of love for our children, and when we sit in honest dialogue with strangers that those strangers become less frightening. Those who were strangers become friends. This is why we have a small group called Conversations of Hope. We know that God calls us share our concerns, to confront our fears and grow into love for all God s Children. We don t have to agree about everything. We don t have to change ourselves and the others don t need to change themselves either. God calls us to welcome the stranger, to show hospitality, and yes to love even our enemies. Love is greater than fear. Who are we to judge others? We are all sinners, and yet God loves us anyway. Even Jesus said No one is good but God alone. (Mark 10:18) We are called to see ALL God s children, including those we think of as the Other, as loved and cherished by God in the same way we are loved and cherished. We are called to open our hearts, our doors, and to sit at the table with everyone. To choose love instead of fear. We re called to be in communion, in community. To embrace one another. The image of Christ on the cross is one of arms open to embrace the world, to embrace every child born with the image of God embedded within. Bishop Willimon writes that Jesus expects nothing less than embrace. When our love for one another overcomes our fear of one another, we can embrace one another; respecting our individuality and welcoming our uniqueness. In Christ s open arms on the cross, there is a desire for a changed relationship. Open arms signal an invitation to response. When the Other is ready and willing to respond, there is a second set of open arms that reciprocate in an embrace; a warm, tight, sincere embrace between two people who were once strangers. And God smiles. 5