The Barrier of Fear

I'm reading the book The Gospel of Mark by Amy-Jill Levine.  Today I read her thoughts on the transfiguration in Mark (or the metamorphosis of Jesus).  If you remember the passage in Mark 9, once Peter suggests that they build three tents; which must not have been a good idea.  Verse 6 says, "He did not know what to say, for they were terrified."  Levine says that this phrase is also used when the disciples are waiting for Jesus in the Garden of Gesthemane (Mark 14:40). 

I thought about the idea of not knowing what to say because you are afraid.  It happens to us, doesn't it? What do you say at a funeral or at the bedside of a person in the hospital? We don't know what to day - we are afraid of saying the wrong thing, or making something worse than it already is. Maybe we are afraid of the situation itself. Whatever it is, we are afraid, and sometimes we don't know what to day or what to do.

Fear can be an obstacle, can't it - a barrier to doing what needs to be done. A barrier to offering words of kindness or forgiveness, to lifting someone up who needs help. A barrier to spreading the good news. Levine points out that in the last chapter of Mark, the women who come to the tomb are afraid when they find the tomb is empty.  "So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone , for they were afraid." 

The thing is, though, that we know that they eventually did tell people.  Levine says that, "fear yielded to faith and then action." Obstacles don't have to be permanent barriers to moving forward into the will of God.  Even though the suggestion of building tents wasn't a good one, Peter did respond, even with words that weren't helpful, and then he followed Jesus down the mountain.  Later Peter betrayed Jesus (out of fear), but then promised to love God's people.  The disciples were afraid in the garden, but eventually, they served Jesus. We don't have to continue in fear - we are empowered to move through it.

 

Daredevil Duck, Part 5

This is part of a series of posts that are a sermon I preached at Milton United Methodist Church on July 25.  The sermon was based on Ephesians 3:14-21 and John 6: 1-21.  

Think back to the story of the Daredevil Duck.  What motivated him to step out – even in fear?  The idea of helping someone else.  And doing that changed him into a real Daredevil – his fear was overcome.

Douglas John Hall, as he was writing about the miracle of Jesus walking on the water, says, “What is truly awe-inspiring is not that someone could walk on the surface of water without sinking, but that his presence among, ordinary, insecure, and timid persons could calm their anxieties and cause them to walk where they feared to walk before -  in the end, all the way to their own Golgothas.”

Think back to that church meeting one more time.  How would the outcome be different if we remembered three things:

1. That Jesus asks us, every day – How will you feed my people?  This is our purpose as a church.  This is our call as disciples.
2. That we have everything we need.  We have each other and we have God in our lives.  Our lives and our churches are full of abundant blessings, if we would only see them.
3. That we do not need to be afraid.  Jesus is the I AM, and in him a new miracle happens every day – we step out of the boat and leave our fear behind.

How would we be changed if we remembered our call as disciples, if we saw the abundance around us and stopped being afraid? How would we be changed if we would just climb out on the branch, like Daredevil Duck did, and help someone else?  How would the world be changed if we stepped out of the boat and walked on the water?

My prayer for you comes from Ephesians: I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.  Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Daredevil Duck, Part 4

This is part of a series of posts that are a sermon I preached at Milton United Methodist Church on July 25.  The sermon was based on Ephesians 3:14-21 and John 6: 1-21.  

In the story of the feeding of the 5000, after everyone was fed, Jesus sends the disciples out to gather the leftovers – 12 baskets full.  Jesus says to his disciples, and he says to us, “You have a call to feed God’s children.  You have each other. You have me. You have everything you need.  See the evidence? 12 baskets of leftovers.  You will not run out.  You do not need to be afraid.”

In the John passage, the people saw even more signs in what happened – who wouldn’t? – and Jesus realized that they were going to come and take him to make him a king, so he stepped away and withdrew to the mountain by himself.  The disciples went down to the sea and got on a boat, and started across the sea.  Darkness fell, and storm rose up.  They were afraid, and Jesus wasn’t with them – but they looked out across the sea, and they saw him walking on the water toward them.  At this point, they were terrified, but Jesus said, “It is I – do not be afraid.”

That was more than just Jesus telling them who was walking on the water.  This was more than him saying, “No worries – it’s me!”  What he said was an I AM statement.  Jesus was using the name of God.  Jesus was telling them that God was with them.  Do not be afraid.  

Part of what Jeff and I do at the Foundation is to meet with donors and help to match their call to give with the best way to make the gift.  One day a few years ago, we met with a woman who had been abused as a child and as a young person and has continued to suffer from mental illness.  I think she lives her life in fear.  She joined a United Methodist church in West Virginia – and there she has found acceptance.  Family.  After she retired, she met with her pastor to talk about what she wanted to do – create a way that she can help people who have had experiences similar to hers.  Her pastor arranged for Jeff and I to meet with her.  She decided to create an endowment to benefit her church.  The income is to be used to fund ministry from the church to help those who are experiencing mental illness.  Each month, she sends what I consider a large gift from her retirement income to the Foundation to add to the endowment.  She lives in fear, but she knows the love of the church and the love of God, so she can’t help but see the abundance of what she has and to be generous.  She might be the bravest woman I know, even in the midst of fear.

Completed in next post

Daredevil Duck, Part 3

This is part of a series of posts that are a sermon I preached at Milton United Methodist Church on July 25.  The sermon was based on Ephesians 3:14-21 and John 6: 1-21.  

So you know what happens next.   Andrew, another disciple, brings a boy from the crowd to Jesus.  The boy has brought 5 barley loaves and two fish.  Maybe it’s his family’s lunch, - one reference I read said that it was “traveling food of the poor” - but whatever it is, he offers it to Jesus.  Interesting that Andrew doesn’t bring the boy and his lunch to Jesus because he thinks it will make a difference – he says in verse 9 “But what are they among so many people.”

What does Jesus do?  The order of his actions is important for us to see.  Jesus prepares the crowd to eat by telling the disciples to have the people sit down on the field in front of him, and then he takes the bread and gives thanks for it.  He gives thanks for a measly five loaves of bread.  It’s not nearly enough to feed more than 5000 people, but that isn’t what Jesus sees.  Jesus sees abundance, and he is grateful for it.  And he gives thanks for it.  And then – and then he feeds them all.

Think back to the church meeting we talked about a few minutes ago.  Why do you think we see scarcity instead of abundance?  I think we are like Daredevil Duck.  We are afraid.  We see how little we think we have, and we are afraid we will run out – that we ourselves will not have enough.  We see with eyes of scarcity because of fear.

Do you remember March of last year?  It was right when the pandemic was picking up steam.  The stock market reacted to the unpredictability – and to the fear the pandemic created - with large drops in value.  Whenever the S&P 500 index drops 7% from the previous day’s close, a “circuit breaker” is triggered – trading stops for 15 minutes to try to create a little calm in the system.  In March, the 7% circuit breaker was triggered four times.  Even one stop is pretty unusual – the breaker hadn’t tripped since 1998.  Four times is a lot.

At the same time, the leadership of the Foundation met together to talk about what was happening.  Remember, the Foundation’s assets are in the market.  We are invested for the long term, but even so, volatility like that is startling.  March happens to be the month when the Foundation’s Grant committee meets to award grant funds to churches and other ministries in our annual conference.  Most of our distributions are made at the direction of donors or depositors, but Foundation grants are made out of our operating account – we tithe our income to ministry.    Would the Foundation let go of 10s of thousands of dollars of operating income in the form of grants while the value of our funds were declining?  

The answer was yes.  

Not only that, but we made additional reserve funds available to the Bishop and cabinet for them to award to churches that needed help in the pandemic.

We are called to feed people.  We are called to be generous.  And the mission of the Foundation includes distributing funds to change the world. And we did.  We continue to do so.  Because that is who we are.  That is who WE are, together.  

Continued in next post

Daredevil Duck, Part 2

This is part of a series of posts that are a sermon I preached at Milton United Methodist Church on July 25.  The sermon was based on Ephesians 3:14-21 and John 6: 1-21.  

As John 6 begins, Jesus is being followed by a large crowd of people.  They had seen how Jesus was healing the sick – they had seen these signs of God’s presence. So they followed Jesus.  He went up on a mountain and sat down with his disciples, and then they look around, and there are more than 5000 people gathered in front of them.  Gathered there in faith, motivated by what they had seen him do.

Jesus asks Philip, one of the disciples, a very important question – one that we need to hear, too.  “Where are we going to buy bread for these people to eat?”  

Why is that an important question?  Why does he even ask it?  These people had followed him, without his invitation, and gathered around while Jesus and those he travels with are sitting on the side of a mountain.  Why is it the disciples’ job to figure out how to feed all of these people?  

Why? Because it is.  Because Jesus says so.  Because this is why we are a church – to spread the good news of God.  When people are hungry, Jesus calls us to feed them – whether the bread they are searching for is made of flour and yeast, or the good news of life in Christ.  Jesus asks the question of Philip and of us because feeding God’s people is our job.  Job #1.

And what was Philips’s answer?  It’s in verse 7: "Six months' wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.”  It’s interesting to me – and a little ironic – that all of the 5000 people are gathered because they have seen what Jesus can do, but Philip doesn’t see that at all.  All he sees is how many hungry people there are and how few resources he believes the disciples have.  It is a perfect example of seeing ministry through the eyes of scarcity.  

Have you ever experienced that? I know I have.  Perhaps you, like me, have been in church committee meetings, discussing a ministry issue, when scarcity rears its head.  The problem is discussed, and it seems to always circle back to statements like: We don’t have enough resources to do what needs to be done.  We don’t have enough money, enough interested people, enough time.  Sometimes it seems like all we have are eyes that see scarcity – and eyes that only see scarcity don’t see Jesus in the room at all.  

Continued in next post

Daredevil Duck, Part 1

The following few posts are a sermon I preached at Milton United Methodist Church on July 25.  The sermon was based on Ephesians 3:14-21 and John 6: 1-21.  The Nancy mentioned at the beginning is the pastor of the church.

Nancy told me that she was sharing a series of sermons with you related to story books.  So I want to start today by telling you the story of the Daredevil Duck.  Charlie Alder wrote the book – it’s wonderfully illustrated – I recommend it.

Anyway, the story is about Daredevil Duck – the bravest duck in the whole world – except that he wasn’t.  He WANTS to be brave, but sometimes he’s not. His fears are many – he’s afraid of the dark, of things that are too fluttery, too wet, or too high.  

Amazingly enough (for me, especially since he is afraid of things that are too wet) one day he was floating on a lake, dreaming about being brave, when a chatty mole, named Chatty Mole, said, “Hello!”  Daredevil Duck was so startled that he fell off of his float, got out of the lake, and ran to his tricycle – he peddled away as fast as he could, hoping to get away from the mole.  But he got lost, and ended up right where he started.  Right next to Chatty Mole, who said, “Hello” again.  The Chatty Mole’s balloon was stuck in a tree, and he could not get it down, so he asked the duck to help.   The mole had to do some convincing, but finally Daredevil Duck agreed to try to help.

The Daredevil climbed the tree, inched out on a branch, and jumped! As he jumped, he caught the balloon string, and floated through the air.  He had rescued the balloon, and he returned it to the mole. Chatty Mole’s gratitude and happiness – and his belief that Daredevil Duck actually WAS brave, changed the duck.  The idea of helping someone else motivated the Daredevil, and then the act of helping transformed him.  He began to believe he was brave.  And his life was changed from that point on.

The story reminds me of the scripture that we heard today from John.  In the John passage, we hear two miracle stories – stories that we might not always hear together.  The first one – the feeding story – is so important for us to hear that it is in all four gospels.  It is, in fact, the only miracle that appears in all four gospels.  The second story of the pair describes Jesus walking on water.  

In our story, Daredevil Duck was afraid – of almost everything.  As we talk about these two stories in John today, I hope you will listen for that theme – how often are we afraid? And how are we called to respond to our fear?

Continued in next post

Perspectives: Shadows and Fear

 

Shadows and fear.  How much do we allow them to control us?

Fear and Power

 

I'm reading (by ear, via audiobook as I drive) the Harry Potter books.  This is part of what I read this morning:

“Voldemort himself created his worst enemy, just as tyrants everywhere do! Have you any idea how much tyrants fear the people they oppress? All of them realize that, one day, amongst their many victims, there is sure to be one who rises against them and strikes back!”  ― J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

For those who haven't read the book, Voldemort is a dark wizard, who does cruel and evil acts, and who craves power.  Harry is his enemy, and Harry's greatest power is that he is able to love others.

Think for a moment about tyrants.  A quick google search reveals that the defining characteristic of tyrants is that they are cruel and oppressive leaders.  How does it change the dynamic to consider that they act out of fear?  If you think about tyrants you have seen or may know - it might be the bully down the street, the dictator in another country, the boss whose actions do nothing to support those he supervises, or (dare I say) the president in the Oval Office (or wherever he is right now) - how does it change your perception of them to see their motivation for their evil acts as fear.

Fear of what? Fear of losing power.  Fear of consequences. Fear of humiliation. Fear of being exposed as being not what they claim to be.  Fear.

Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff— they comfort me. (Psalm 23:4)

The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? (Psalm 27:1)

you whom I took from the ends of the earth,

    and called from its farthest corners,

saying to you, “You are my servant,

    I have chosen you and not cast you off”;

10 do not fear, for I am with you,

    do not be afraid, for I am your God;

I will strengthen you, I will help you,

    I will uphold you with my victorious right hand. (Isaiah 41:9-10)

I only list three of the many exhortations in the Bible to not be afraid.  God is with us.  Our greatest power is our ability to love. 

Risking for Freedom

One weekend this month, Steve and I took a trip into Ohio on a self-guided lighthouse tour.  The first lighthouse we visited was the one at Fairport Harbor.  The original lighthouse in this town was built in the early 1800s.  It was later replaced by the present stone structure.

As I read about the history of the lighthouse, I learned it was a final stop on the underground railroad.  This source ( http://www.lighthousefriends.com/light.asp?ID=285) says, " Not by accident did the lighthouse act as a beacon of freedom to escaped slaves—the townsfolk actively made it one."  The people who lived in the town so firmly believed in freedom that they "colluded" to keep escaped slaves safe from slave masters who hunted for the slaves.  The town hid them in the tavern and in the lighthouse until escape could be made to Canada.  And the town fought to repeal the Fugitive Slave Law.

What do we believe in so much that we will work together, risking ourselves to help others to freedom? What will we risk to transform the world? 

Perspectives: Drop off

What is it that today, you are afraid of attempting? Afraid of trying to understand? Afraid of doing? Afraid of hearing? Afraid of seeing?

What is stopping you?

Perspectives: Fear

I've posted this because it was taken from a point of fear.  The platform we are standing on is normally the place where you leave the lift at Snowshoe after skiing down the mountain.  It is an abolutely beautiful place, but I could go close to the edge to see it because I was afraid.  Of falling off - which I wouldn't have. The fear is irrational.

What irrational fears do you face? What do they prevent you from doing?  What can you do about them?

Fearful of Life

In James Harnish's study, Easter Earthquake, he speaks of M. Scott Peck:

"Peck also discovered that the further we proceed in diminishing our narcissism - our self-centeredness and sense of self-importance - the more we discover ourselves becoming not only less fearful of death, but also less fearful of life....  

There is a connection in that sentence that I've never considered before.  I'm certain there are times, for all of us, when we hesitate to follow Christ because we are afraid.  Are we fearful of life because we are self-centered? That makes sense to me now that it has been pointed out.  Fearful of life because we consdiered ourselves too much - and what we might lose.

He goes on to say:

We begin to experience a sustained kind of happiness we never experienced before, as we become more self-forgetful and hence progressively more able to remember God.

Gideon, Part 4

This week has been a reply of my notes for a Sunday School lesson I taught at Annual Conference using Judges 6:11-18.  Today's post concerns our discussion regarding application of what we can learn from the scriputre.

Fear:  Gideon and the Israelites were living in constant fear.  Think about it for a moment - what is it like to live in constant fear?  Can you think of a place in the world where the people live in constant fear? Has your safety and/or security ever been threatened? How did you respond?  This is a sidenote, but I wonder if understanding what it is like to live in fear or to have your security threatened can help increase our kindness to other people who are experiencing life like that.

Abandonment: Gideon has grown up with stories told about how God rescued the Israelites from Pharaoh through the work of Moses. He has heard about God working through Joseph in Egypt. He has heard great stories about God doing wonderful, fantastic, unbelievable things.  And Gideon wonders – has God abandoned us? Why would God do that? Have you ever been in a difficult situation and felt like God had abandoned you? Can you imagine that people would feel that way?

Doubt: Gideon experiences doubt. He doubts that God is present with them in their current circumstances, and he doubts that God is calling the right person – so he is doubting God’s abilities. What do you think about doubt? Is it a sin? Is it a natural part of faith? I think doubt is evidence that we are exploring our faith deeply – I think doubt is the growing pain of sanctifying grace – in order to mature in our faith, we have to ask God and our faith questions. I think we can trust God enough to bring God our doubts. When have you experienced doubt? Do you doubt your ability to answer God’s call? Do you find doubt in your faith? Does Gideon’s doubt help you relate to him?  How does God respond to Gideon’s doubt? with patience or impatience? How will God respond to your own doubts? How should we respond to other people’s doubts?

Why?: One of the most difficult questions we struggle with is why bad things happen to people who we judge to be good people? What are some of the ways that people answer that question?  If God makes good things happen to people who are believers, then what does that say to a faithful disciple who experiences terrible tragedy?  I worry that we steal people’s faith from them when we say things like, “God needed another flower in his garden.” The logical step from that is that God made my child sick and let him die in order to have another flower – we throw terrible blame on God when people need God the most.

Call: What does verse 14 say to us? “you have strength, so go and rescue Israel from the power of Midian. Am I not personally sending you?”

1. Do we hear in this verse an answer to part of our question about why bad things happen? Do we hear in this that we have a role to play in God’s plan?
2. Think back to the feeding of the 5000. Jesus tells the disciples, “You give them something to eat.” And at the end of the story, the disciples see the baskets, still full. I think this is a lesson for them – the abundance that is in front of them, when they only saw scarcity. There is power in God that God uses to equip us for the work to be done.
3. We are the answer to people’s prayers.  Is there a flood story that could be told here?

God with us:  One of the things I took with me when I completed my Emmaus walk is that God will be with me, all the time - whatever he calls me to go, I will not have to do alone.  Do you believe that God is always with us?  Have you had an experience that confirmed this for you?

Call to ministry:  Do you have a call to ministry? Important distinction – everyone is called to ministry – not just pastors.  Who does God call? The perfect? The wonderful and powerful? Does God choose who we would choose if it was our responsibility?  What is God calling you to do? What is standing in your way of doing it?

Conclusions

As we leave this place, keep in mind verse 16. The God who spoke to Moses from the burning bush is the same God who called Gideon, even though Gideon was full of doubts. This is the same God who fed 5000 people amid the doubts and scarcity mindset of the disiples. This is I AM. This is your God; this God is always with you, even when you don’t “feel” it.  And I AM is calling you.

How will you respond?

Logos: Leviticus 19:1-2,9-10

The Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the entire assembly of Israel and say to them: ‘Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy.  “‘When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the foreigner. I am the Lord your God. (Leviticus 19:1,2 and 9,10)

The Lord spoke to Moses and told him that because God is holy, so are we. 

How does that change our lives? I think these verses tell us that because we are created in the image of God, and because God is always re-creating us, to make us more holy, that we are called - demanded -to structure our lives to reflect God's holiness.

In these verse, the Israelites are told to not be so greedy as to harvest the edges of their fields - this was a way to care for those who were hungry, and who would come to glean from the fields. Remember in the story of Ruth - how she gleaned from the edges of the field? They are called to not strip their vineyards clean - to leave something for the poor and the alien.

I don't know about you, but I'm not harvesting fields or picking grapes, but I still think these verses apply to my life and to yours. How do we structure our lives to care for the poor and the alien?

We can gather from these verses a few things:

1. Our care of the poor and the alien isn't accidental. It require intentional acts on our part.
2. It requires that we let go of the fear of not enough - that we let go of our greed. Of what are you afraid? Let go of it and care for others.
3. This intentional, brave, fearless work we are called to do is holy. It doesn't make us holy, but it reflects the holiness of God - and of ourselves.

So, think on these things. What do these verses say about our care for the hungry and homeless around us? For our care of our neighbor? For our care of the immigrant? What intentional, brave, holy thing do we need to do?

Peace and fear

Yesterday, I wrote about peace - how peace is dependent not on the absence of conflict, but also on the presence of wholeness, and not just our wholeness, but the wholeness of the relationships within our community and with God.

Peace isn't not just a state, but also a process.

There is much talk in the current political races about security. Fear. Terrorism. This has created a fear of the Muslim community that is part of our greater community in the United States.

If you consider what shalom - peace - means, it is not the absence of conflict between two groups. It is the presence of wholeness between us.

I'm not suggesting that we ignore terrorism, or that we do not take appropriate steps toward security; however, I do believe that some politicians are using fear to manipulate our relationships with those among us who are different than we are, whoever we are. Politicians paint Muslims as terrorists, when that is as accurate as saying Christians are hate-filled white supremacists.

Remember, peace is completeness.  Peace depends on the welfare of those around us. Peace means we reach out and change the world around us; we do not give into fear. We live as Christ has told us to live. We love each other.

Standing on the Promises

What does it mean to stand on God's promises? There is a famous song that I'm sure you've heard - Standing on the Promises of God.  This morning I read a short biography about Russel Kelso Carter, who wrote the song.  His journey in faith was very interesting. Can it be that standing on the promises means that we can be less afraid?  That we can find joy in the day, and worry less about the future, because the future is in God's hands?

Standing on the promises that cannot fail,
When the howling storms of doubt and fear assail,
By the living Word of God I shall prevail,
Standing on the promises of God.

What does it mean to stand on the promises of God?  Our devotional in our office meeting yesterday was centered around a quote from one of John Wesley's sermons (sermon #26; hattip to Jeff Taylor and Bill Wilson):

". . .when we pray 'Give us this day our daily bread', we are to take no thought for the morrow. For this very end has our wise Creator divided life into these little portions of time, so clearly separated from each other, that we might look on every day as a fresh gift of God, another life, which we may devote to his glory; and that every evening may be as the close of life, beyond which we are to see nothing but eternity". 

Maybe standing on the promises means that we can worry less about tomorrow, for we have the wonderful gift of today.  Tomorrow is eternity.

Standing on the promises I now can see
Perfect, present cleansing in the blood for me;
Standing in the liberty where Christ makes free,
Standing on the promises of God.

Think about the father who lifts up his child and places her on his shoulders.  From that vantage point, she can see so much farther.  She can see long distances and so much more of the big picture.  Can this be part of what it means to stand on God's promises?  Through God, we can place today in better perspective.  Through God we have clearer vision. We know our sins are forgiven, that Christ died for us - for you and for me.  That we are free.

Standing, standing,
Standing on the promises of God my Savior;
Standing, standing,
I'm standing on the promises of God.

Fear and Faith

Think about the story in Matthew of Peter walking on water.  He steps out of the boat, willing to follow Jesus, even to do this thing which is impossible because Jesus calls him to do it.  In his fear and doubt, he sinks.  Jesus rescues him and then rebukes him.  I identify so much with Peter that sometimes I feel the sting of that rebuke and count it as failure.

We are so much like Peter.  We are not without faith, but with our faith lives our fear.  Barbara Brown Taylor talks about this in a sermon in the book The Seeds of Heaven.  Read this:

Why do we doubt?  Because we are afraid, because the sea is so vast and we are so small, because the storm is so powerful and we are so easily sunk, because life is so beyond our control and we are so helpless in its grip.  Why do we doubt? Because we are afraid, even when we do have faith." 

It isn't a lack of faith that causes Peter to sink; it's the presence of fear.

Paul, in the second letter to the Corinthians, spoke of his desire for a "thorn in his flesh" to be removed.  He writes that God said to him, "'My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.' So I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me." (2 Corinthians 9)

It's a hard verse to understand for me, but it came  to mind as I read the Taylor sermon.  If Peter had walked across the water in confidence, with no fear, then Christ would not have had to pull him out of the water.  In his fear, he needed Christ.  In our fear, we come to realize the necessity of salvation.  In our strength, we do not always see it.  God is always powerful, but in our weakness, we rely on his power instead of our own.

That doesn't mean that Christ caused Peter to sink so that Peter would come to realize the necessity of Christ, and it doesn't mean that God causes fearful things to happen to us so that our faith will be strengthened.  Really, we have enough fear on our own with God needing in any way to add to it.  It does mean that when we sink, God is there, and we come to understand that.  God offers grace - the hand that lifts Peter out of the water.  God offers accountability - the rebuke Christ spoke to him.  And God offers salvation - Christ returns Peter to the boat.  In none of that does God offer rejection.

And what do the disciples do?  They worship Christ in the boat.  As should we.

Fear of God

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.   (Proverbs 9:10)

The devotional in our office meeting this week was based on a passage from Proverbs.  Sally talked about fear - what does it mean to fear God?

I think when we hear the word fear, certain connotations come to mind.  A God we are afraid of is hard to imagine as a loving God, as a God who desires a relationship with us.  A feared God would be a difficult God to approach in prayer, and yet we are called to bring everything to God in prayer.  So what does it mean to fear God?

Sally's definition from the devotion she was reading was that fear of God is awesome reverence.  A God we revere, we will obey.  I don't think that obedience is out of fear, but instead springs forth from humble respect - from a knowledge of who we are and who God is.  In that obedience, we will come closer to God.  We will begin to see the world from a "changed perspective," as Sally put it.  We will begin to see the world as God sees the world.  From that changed perspective, comes wisdom.

Knowing God better, obeying God more, will result in insight.

Moving on

If you look closely at the picture, can you see the walkway between the two buildings?  It high up, at the top of the one in the distance, and it is angled from one level to the next. Steve and I were walking through Minneapolis, and this tiny set of stairs stopped me in my tracks.  I can't even imagine walking on this stairway to reach the other building.

I wonder if we are like that sometimes.  Are we ever in one place - standing on solid footing - but have a need or desire to move to another place?  Does our path seem frightening and disorienting, to the point that no matter how much the other, newer place is calling our name, we refuse to go, because the short stairwell is too frightening?

On the other hand, would there be a better way to move from one building to another?  Why not take the elevator down and walk on the ground to enter the second place?  Do we sometimes insist that the only way to move from one place to another, metaphorically, is by the shortest possible way - a way that is full of danger?  Does our stubbornness sometimes keep us from moving on because getting where we need to go requires patience and hard work?

Still - no way am I walking on that stairwell.

Afraid

I'm reading Philip Gulley's book, Home to Harmony.  In it is a story about Miriam and Ellis Hodge.  The Hodges live on a farm outside of town, and their routine was to only travel to the big city once a year, during December, to see the Christmas lights.

People would ask them why they went to see the Christmas lights in the daytime when the lights showed up better at night.  Ellis would say, "You won't catch me in the city at night.  No sirree.  Why, a fellow could get killed up there...So they'd go in the daytime and use their imaginations.

Can you imagine going into the city to see the lights but being so afraid that you would only go in the daytime?  Think how much they missed.  Think how beautiful lights are in the dark.

What do we miss because we are afraid?