EDITOR'S NOTE: In October 2017 I began a new venture as a synodically authorized minister at Faith Lutheran Church in Wolverton, Minn. The ride over the past 2.5 years has been an amazing journey of learning, growing and a deepening of my theological mind. This sermon took place on March 4, 2018.
I'm going to diverge from the day’s texts, and I’m also going to join you down here today. … Because if you haven’t already noticed, it’s the sermons that when I come to be among you, that are the ones I’m most anxious over. It’s the ones that lay open my soul as a preacher, and frankly, as a person.
And so, I know I feel comfort in numbers, and maybe if I’m preaching this particular message here, among all of you, maybe it’s a little safer. It seems less daunting than standing up there in that mighty pulpit, where it feels like I’m supposed to be preaching from a place of authority. … When, honestly, most Sundays, I’m just trying to speak from the heart.
So maybe ... if I come down and stand among you, you’ll provide me that little extra comfort to get me over the hump, give me that little bit of grace I need to be myself.
Fear, right? … It is awful. It robs us of so much that God has intended for us. And, frankly, if I were pure evil, if I were the devil, per se, and I needed the perfect disguise to fit in here on earth to allow me to create the greatest havoc I could, I would certainly come as the character of fear.
I mentioned earlier that we’ve been having wonderful times during these past two Wednesday Lenten services, and I believe something wonderful in particular happened this past Wednesday. … It was no less than a God moment to me, and when I see the Holy Spirit at work, I am awestruck.
And last Wednesday I was awestruck.
As those of you who were here know, we were discussing the question: “What in the life and ministries of our congregation either puzzles me or concerns me?” … And we had a wonderful discussion. We talked about a wide-range of topics, everything from mere puzzlement over why after church the women sit at one table and the men sit at the other. … To the more business-like questions such as: How do we attract more members? ... In between we answered other questions, many focused on the future of Faith Lutheran and where we are headed. … Overall, it was a delightful discussion.
And then there was the defining moment, in my opinion. … The moment when one of our young faithful courageously raised their hand and asked: “When I encounter someone who is having a tough time at school, how do I share my faith with them?”
If you weren’t there, the moment gave me goosebumps.
Here in the middle of this heavy discussion -- not a discussion of despair, by any means, but heavy nonetheless -- here in the middle of discussing how do we attract more members, how do we welcome new people to the community, how do we get them in the door, and then when we get them in the door, what do we do with them. … And not only that, discussions about how we, ourselves, support the church!
Here in the middle of all of that stuff that we were worried about as adults, all questions to some degree that came from a place of fear … well, if not fear, at the very least concern. … In the middle of all of that, here came a question from one of our youth that was posed out of love … not fear.
And I quote to you, and right now I’m speaking directly at you young people sitting among us today: … 1 Timothy 4:12: “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.”
Because, you see, in that moment on Wednesday night, that young person reminded me that we followers of Christ truly have a choice to make.. … We can either choose the path of Christ, a path of light, a path of courage, a path of love. … Or we can choose a wholly other path, one of darkness, one of anxiousness, one of fear. … And at the end of the day, the entirety of our gospel, all of what we do here every Sunday, all of what I preach about … simply boils down to that choice … fear or love.
Fear or love. … Which one do you see yourself living out of right now? Which path are you choosing, because after all it is a choice. … That is the gift that our compassionate and loving God gives us. … We can choose to live a life that gets us right with him, loving him with all of our heart, all of our mind, all of our soul and all of our body. … Or we can choose a path of fear ... one of mistrust, of concern, of anxiousness, one that keeps us from a relationship with Christ … and with others.
The other night, here at church, I saw a little bit of both happening.
I saw a group of adults, asking seriously important questions about the future of Faith, from a position that if didn’t come out of fear, at least from a position of fear’s cousin, called concern.
And then there was this young voice that came from the wilderness that posed a question out of love. … ““When I encounter someone who is having a tough time at school, how do I share my faith with them?” … For me, a dozen angels sitting in our loft broke out in chorus, and our sanctuary lit up as if the roof had been lifted off and the night turned to a noon sun.
Fear or love. … Where do we operate out of?
You see, Wednesday night’s moment was so poignant to me ... because it was a microcosm of everything else that is happening around us.
Pick your issue.
School shootings? … Undeniably, no matter where you sit in this discussion, most of us are operating out of fear, not love. ... Fear that if you are a gun owner; you are a potential, maniacal killer. … Fear that if you wish for stricter gun control, that all you really want to do is take away my guns.
But, as our young faithful person said the other night, there is another way. … How about simply loving someone. … “When I encounter someone who is having a tough time at school, how do I share my faith with them?” … And that has everything to do with school shootings, if you think about it.
Let’s try another issue. … Immigration? … Again, most of us operate from fear. Oh, you’d like to ensure that we have a sensible, comprehensive immigration policy in place? Well then, you must be racist. … Or, oh you support allowing in refugees, or maybe even undocumented immigrants. ... Well then, you must hate veterans, the poor, the homeless and the hungry because we can’t take care of all of them. … You’ve all heard the same arguments that fear generates in each of us.
But, there is another way. … We could choose God’s love, which ultimately gives us more options. It gives us the gospel, and tells us to use it to discern our way through all of these very tough issues.
Let’s keep going: The laundry list of issues over which we allow fear to divide us is long. … Human rights, welfare, health care, global warming, poverty, women’s rights … you name it.
And the issues we concern ourselves with aren’t always even these larger, universal struggles. … Sometimes, it’s an issue right here in our backyard, or an issue in our home. Fear is everywhere. It’s not picky.
But in every situation in which fear seeks to divide us, there is a choice. … Fear or love.
I mentioned earlier, that if I were the devil, I would skip all of those physical manifestations that we popularize in movies and books and TV, and I would simply visit you in the form of fear. If I wanted to take over God’s creation, and dispel the gospel … the Good News … from the people, I would just silently insert myself into each and every one of your minds in the form of fear. … Innocuously at first, of course, I would get you to fear the little things.
To fear that I don’t fit in … for whatever reason. I don’t have the right clothes; I don’t play the right sport; I enjoy activities the cool people don’t.
To fear that you’re not good enough.
To fear that you’re not smart enough, thin enough, attractive enough.
To fear that you don’t measure up to what your peers are expecting of you.
To fear preaching the message the Holy Spirit is calling on you to preach because someone might not like it.
And then, if I were fear, once I had you fearing those little things, I’d move onto bigger things. ...
To fear that that I wasn’t making enough money.
To fear that my neighbor has a new car and I don’t.
To fear that my coworker might get something that I think I deserve more.
And then, once I had you believing those bigger lies -- because trust me folks, fear is a liar -- then I would go for the really big ones. The lies that keep us from loving one another as we do ourselves, and ultimately the ones that keep us separated from God.
But, have hope, because the Good News tells us that there is a choice. We always have a choice. … Because we have a loving God who gave us that choice. … We can choose to love. … For instance, we can ask: “When I encounter someone who is having a tough time at school, how do I share my faith with them?”
I’m sure, there might be a few of you sitting out there right now, thinking: “Whoa, did he get his hands on a bad batch of communion wine this week? … Where is this coming from?”
But I assure you, this isn’t spoiled grapes talking. … This is simply God speaking to me -- to us -- through the wisdom of one young faithful person, who in the essence of one question boiled down what it sometimes takes me 15 minutes to say in a sermon. … Fear or love. We have a choice.
We can continue to live out our lives from a position of fear, a position that there isn’t enough for everyone ... that danger is lurking around every corner ... that if you’re not with me then you are against me ... that everyone and everything is a threat to me.
Or we can live out of a position of love, a position that tells us God provides plenty for all of us, regardless of our gender, our race, our political affiliations or any other description that divides us ... that there is indeed light around every corner if you look for it because Christ is always standing right there next to us … that we can have disagreements over issues and still remain in relationship with each other ... and that actually most people really do -- at their very core -- want to love, but many have never been shown the way.
And so as we leave this week, I would encourage you to follow the example of our brave youth, who on Wednesday night humbled us all. … When you step outside those Sanctuary doors today, I invite you to leave your fear behind, right here for God. ... Because, I promise you that no matter how big that fear is, God will know just what to do with it. And after all, we are commanded at least 70 times in our Bible to not be afraid.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, I don’t know what fears you face in your lives today. Fears, big or small. … I, of course, know mine. … As fear preys on me just as successfully as he does on you.
But I invite you to leave them all here when you leave today. Let’s you and I, both of us, just turn all of those fears over to God right here, right now. … Because, we all know in our hearts that there’s a different way. There is God’s way; a path of love. And I promise you that path is 10 times more satisfying than the path of fear we too often choose.
Fear is a liar, my brothers and sisters in Christ. ... But God’s love isn’t. And whenever in the coming week you have the opportunity to choose between the two, I pray that you choose love. … And if you need just a little bit more inspiration, I leave you with this: “When I encounter someone who is having a tough time at school, how do I share my faith with them?”
And that is the Good News for this Sunday. … Amen.
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