Loading..."Do not be afraid little flock”. I think today, in particular, I am preaching to myself.
I am filled with fear. I’m not talking about my phobias, my fears of heights, fear of spiders. These are minor inconveniences in my life. I am filled with fear of big things, things I have little power to change.
I am afraid for my country. It seems to me that our government is not governing and is heading in a dangerous direction. Our elected officials are obsessed with not letting the other side get their way with anything. They are involved in the politics of hatred. It keeps getting uglier and nastier and little is getting accomplished. Our values, our Christian values, are being ignored.
I am afraid of terrorists. The threat of another terrorist attack seems to be always hanging over us. And technology and science are providing more and more dangerous ways to destroy people, countries and cultures.
I am afraid for all of God’s creation. We are not heeding the warnings of our scientists who tell us that our climate is quickly and dangerously changing. We are not willing to make the sacrifices and necessary changes in our accustomed life style to stop destroying the earth.
I am afraid of guns. Our leaders are allowing themselves to be held hostage by the gun lobbyists and are more concerned about their ability to be reelected than protecting the innocent.
I am afraid for the people who need refuge in our country. People who are fleeing their homes, friends and all they have ever know to get themselves and their children to safety.
I am filled with fear. I need to hear and inwardly digest Jesus’ words. “Do not be afraid my little one. “
I read this week that the words “do not be afraid”, or some other form of that message, appears in the Bible 365 times. How convenient is that — one for each day of the year. Well, I continued to read on and discovered that was not really true; however, the message “to not be fearful” is found at least a hundred times in the bible.
Jane is a friend of mine. We live next door to each other in the winter and have become traveling buddies. Our theology is very different. Jane is a fundamentalist and reads the bible very literally. In my judgmental and self-righteous self, I see my theology as better and more evolved than her’s. But when I express my fears of the world to Jane, she simply says that she is not afraid. She lives by Jesus’ words and does not fear. She knows God is with us and will provide.
I know God and thought I trusted God. Why can’t I be not afraid? How can I live in this scary world and not be afraid for myself and for those I love? I can hardly bare to think about what the world is going to be like for my two precious granddaughters when they grow up.
The first time I read today’s Gospel message I focused on “Do not be afraid” and immediately started thinking about how fear-filled I am. I read it again and discovered that I had overlooked some of the most comforting words in the entire Bible, “for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” It makes God happy to give me what I need to participate in God’s kingdom. It makes me happy to think that God is happy. I so often think that God is crying because of us.
I was reminded then of Paul where he told us that in the kingdom we will have love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness. Fear is not on that list. As the song says, “seek ye first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you. Alleluia.”
After telling me to stop being afraid, and that it makes God happy to provide all that I need, I found that Jesus gives me two bits advice. He says to focus on investing in the heavenly treasure of God’s kingdom and not on earthly things, and to be ready for Christ when I see him.
The Kingdom of God is not just in our eternal life; the Kingdom of God began on earth with Jesus’ ministry, and continues today. It is here, now. God has already given us the Kingdom. He tells us to respond to this gift not by accumulating useless earthly treasure but by giving our treasure to the poor, and by caring for our neighbor.
We surround ourselves with stuff in an attempt to satisfy our FEARS.
FEAR of not having enough, fear of running out of stuff,
FEAR of others having more stuff than we have.
Being surrounded by and buried in our stuff can prevent us from seeing God’s Kingdom and the needs of others. Jesus tells us that our hearts go where our treasure goes. When our treasure, our money and resources, go to our stuff, our hearts then go to our stuff. Our hearts are then focused on us and not on God or God’s kingdom.
By freeing up our time and resources for others our hearts will be turned to God and God’s kingdom.
Then Jesus warns us to be ready. Being ready for Christ is not about the “ second coming” the date, time and place that Christ will reappear. It is about Christ among us now. It is about being ready so that when we see Christ in others, when we see the needs of your neighbor; we will be ready and able to respond.
My friend Jane, who does not live with the fears that I have, does not sit back in her fearlessness and eat bonbons all day. She actively loves her neighbors. Not just me, her next door neighbor, but she volunteers and gives of her time and treasure to others in need.
Living without fear and the need for earthly stuff makes it possible to be ready to be a participant in God’s Kingdom.
Jesus tells us to be dressed and ready for action. There may be an opportunity for us to help someone and we need to be ready to go.
He says to keep our lamps lit, so that we do not live in darkness but move out into the light enabling us to see Christ in others at all times, even unexpected times.
I want to be a little more like my friend Jane and stop being afraid. I think that today’s passage from Luke, will be a new “go to” passage for me. It is a message I need to keep in front of me, especially when I am feeling fearful.
I want to remember that my treasure is the Kingdom of God, and it makes God happy to give it to me. That puts a smile on my face.
I want to remember that fear can be the thief at my door and can keep me from God’s kingdom.
I want to remember that God will give me all that I need, to respond to God’s call to love my neighbor.
I want remember to be prepared and to keep my lamp lit so I can see who Jesus sees and respond as God would want me to respond.
The other day I received a text from Elizabeth. She said that she was going to New Mexico to volunteer for the Border Servant Corps and asked if I wanted to come along. I thought of my fear for the refugees, realized that God was providing me the opportunity to get involved and to lend a hand and I was ready. I texted back, “I’m packing my bags.”
Are your bags ready to be packed when you get a call?
