#sawyer is experiencing the world in a way i cannot understand and not just because he is a racist american blonde man

[simptasia]

jack and sawyer body swap, sawyer blacks out because he isn't personally capable of handling being autistic

[meat-husband]

Bubba Sawyer - Alphabet Ask Meme

I’m hoping to start doing requests on this blog, so I thought I would start up with the alphabet ask memes as a sort of intro! I figure all the letters get asked eventually, so I’m just doing all of them in one go. There will be one of these posted for each character I’m writing.

I have a page with what and who I write for here.

Both the NSFW and fluff alphabet asks are under the cut!

NSFW Alphabet

A = Aftercare (What they’re like after sex)

Cuddles are mandatory – Bubba will pout and whine if you try to get out of it (why would you though, hug that boy). He can get clingy though, and won’t want to get up once you’re both settled.

B = Body part (Their favourite body part of theirs and also their partner’s)

Obviously, Bubba loves his masks (yes they count as a bodypart, let him live!). He puts a lot of effort into them and would love for you to help style them.

When it comes to you, he’s in for the whole package. There’s not one thing he could pick above another (but he’s totally a leg man, fyi).

C = Cum (Anything to do with cum basically… I’m a disgusting person)

Let’s be honest, Bubba’s pull out game weak. He doesn’t care where he cums most of the time, but there’s a lot of it so even if he only meant to get it one place, it ends up everywhere.

D = Dirty Secret (Pretty self explanatory, a dirty secret of theirs)

He would never admit to it or ask for it, but he’s put a lot of thought into hanging you from the meat hook in the kitchen and just keeping you there to use whenever he wants through the day. Obviously he wouldn’t hurt you, and it makes him feel guilty to even think of hanging you up like meat but he can’t stop thinking about it.

E = Experience (How experienced are they? Do they know what they’re doing?)

Bubba is a sheltered baby, he’s got no idea what you’re talking about but he’s eager to go along with whatever you want. You’ll have to have a lot of patience if you want to cum with him though, it will take him a few tries to understand what to do.

F = Favourite Position (This goes without saying. Will probably include a visual)

He likes when he can grab handfuls of you and just hold on. Lay on your side, one leg under him and one over his hip, and let him go to town. He can be as handsy as he wants this way, plus easy access to kisses, and it will keep him from hitting too deep in his enthusiasm.

G = Goofy (Are they more serious in the moment, or are they humorous, etc)

Bubba is here to have fun. He’s going to laugh and smile and make silly faces to amuse you, he doesn’t get very serious unless he’s upset.

H = Hair (How well groomed are they, does the carpet match the drapes, etc.)

You can shower all you want, that house has no AC and he’s doing manual labor all day so he’s pretty much always sweaty. He’ll clean up when he gets too bloody, but otherwise you’ve just gotta put up with it until the next shower.

I = Intimacy (How are they during the moment, romantic aspect…)

Bubba is romantic in his own way. He’s already geared towards taking care of everyone else, so making you food, giving gifts and doing special things for you is just part of his personality. He doesn’t have much of an idea what romance is exactly, so if you want anything traditional, like a private dinner or date night, show him how it’s done by surprising him and he’ll pick up on it and return the favor.

J = Jack Off (Masturbation headcanon)

Before he had a partner, it’s not something he would do often. Between Drayton’s anger and Nubbin’s teasing, he felt too guilty doing something so selfish. The thought doesn’t cross his mind once he’s got someone of his own though. Why do it alone when it’s so much more fun with you?

K = Kink (One or more of their kinks)

I think it's pretty common to headcanon Bubba with a breeding kink and I am all about that shit. But have you considered size kink Bubba, because I sure have! He’s a big boy and usually sort of self conscious about it, but seeing the comparison between the two of you makes him excited. It’s so easy to pick you up or to cover your body with his completely. The way you have to climb up him to sit in his lap, or how careful he has to be not to squish you under him. And he loves being the little spoon, with you trying and failing to wrap him up in your arms as well as he does to you.

L = Location (Favourite places to do the do)

If his brothers are gone, anywhere is fair game. Most often it’s outside in the dirt or in the barn where the generator can cover up some of his noise. Otherwise it’s strictly in your room, door locked to keep wandering siblings out.

M = Motivation (What turns them on, gets them going)

You’re not sure there’s anything that doesn’t turn him on, really. Something as small as eye contact or a smile has set him off before, so it’s safe to assume anything you do or say is motivation enough to send him your way with grabby hands and a tent in his pants.

N = NO (Something they wouldn’t do, turn offs)

He wouldn’t say no to anything you ask him for, so you’ll have to figure out what he likes best and what he doesn’t want to do again. He’ll make it known right away if he’s uncomfortable with anything, squawking and waving his hands nervously.

O = Oral (Preference in giving or receiving, skill, etc)

Absolutely loves it either way. Surprisingly, he picks up on using his mouth very quickly and it’s probably what he’s best at. Don’t expect him to sit still when you return the favor though, you can try and hold his hips down all you want but he can’t stop himself from thrusting up to meet your mouth.

P = Pace (Are they fats and rough? Slow and sensual? etc.)

Bubba’s got no sense of the word ‘slow’ and even less of ‘gentle’. He’s not being rough or hurting you, but he’s fast and eager and the sooner he gets his cock in you, the happier he is.

Q = Quickie (Their opinions on quickies rather than proper sex, how often, etc.)

He doesn’t think of them too differently, sex is sex. Most of the time he won’t be able to spend as much time with you as he’d like, since there’s so much work to do around the farm, but it’s rather easy to distract him from his chores if you really want to - just make sure to help him catch up with them afterwards.

R = Risk (Are they game to experiment, do they take risks, etc.)

He’ll gladly try whatever you want to, so long as you show him what to do. He’s too nervous to do anything too risky though, especially if there’s a chance of being caught by his brothers.

S = Stamina (How many rounds can they go for, how long do they last…)

Theoretically, he has to stop eventually. You have yet to find that point and you will definitely wear out before he does, but you’ll keep trying.

T = Toy (Do they own toys? Do they use them? On a partner or themselves?)

That kind of shit would get sniffed out in a second and you’re not sure whether Nubbins or Drayton finding it would be worse.

U = Unfair (how much they like to tease)

He’s got no threshold for teasing, he gives in right away. Like yeah, he wants you to get all squirmy and beg for him, but he doesn’t have the willpower to not put his cock in you when you ask for it.

V = Volume (How loud they are, what sounds they make)

Drayton keeps a broom in the hallway to bang on the ceiling - it doesn’t work, but it makes him feel like he’s doing something.

W = Wild Card (Get a random headcanon for the character of your choice)

He is an expert at arts and crafts. He will constantly make you things, which is flattering until you realize he’s throwing out tooth and wire friendship bracelets left and right (Nubbins has 14 of them and will only wear them all at once, like a scrawny maraca). He’s already covered the living room in hot glued bones and tacky, handmade throw pillows. His crafting knows no bounds and he cannot be stopped.

X = X-Ray (Let’s see what’s going on in those pants, picture or words)

Y = Yearning (How high is their sex drive?)

You’ve created a monster. There is no universe in which he is not ready to fuck you at a moments notice. He’s still trying to grasp the idea that maybe you need to rest sometimes.

Z = ZZZ (… how quickly they fall asleep afterwards)

Almost immediately. You’ve barely got time for some snuggles before he’s out. Good thing is he’s a deep sleeper, so it’s easy to get out of bed without waking him, but he’s extra grumpy if you do. Despite the body heat he puts off, you aren’t getting a sliver of blanket either, he’s already tangled in it and no amount of force can pull it away from him.

Fluff Alphabet

A = Attractive (What do they find attractive about the other?)

He wouldn’t be able to pick one thing. He feels amazingly lucky to have someone at all, let alone someone so perfect in every way.

B = Baby (Do they want a family? Why/Why not?)

It’s not the first thing on his mind, but he’s definitely aware that a baby is coming along sooner or later. He’s more worried than excited at the thought, since he’s the baby of the family and hasn’t experienced anything like it before. He’ll go into overdrive making things for the future baby once it’s a sure thing - pillows, blankets, footie pajamas. They might be a little macabre with all the human teeth and hair used in their production, but it’s the thought that counts.

C = Cuddle (How do they cuddle?)

Bubba is the champion of Extreme Cuddling™. Doesn’t matter where you are or what you’re doing, he’ll find some way to wrap himself around you. You’ve gotten used to doing the dishes with his arms around your waist and your feet dangling off the ground.

D = Dates (What are dates with them like?)

The most common are quick picnic dates, sitting in the shade behind the house and watching the sunflowers. Bubba won’t want to go too far from the house, but you might convince him to go down to the creek with you once he realizes you’re not going to be swimming in your clothing.

E = Everything (You are my ____ (e.g. my life, my world…)

Family. He was raised with the thought that there was family and there was food, and only those two groups. They’re the only things that matter and you take care of your family by providing food. Once he decides he wants you around, even if it’s not romantic yet, he automatically puts you in the first group.

F = Feelings (When did they know they were in love?)

Bubba falls fast - in the matter of a few weeks or less. His face is always red and he can’t stop knocking things over when you’re around and you caught him staring at you four times just during breakfast. Drayton tries to put a stop to it before anything can happen, but you’ve already figured it out and even if you’re not quite as far along as Bubba, it’s still adorable.

G = Gentle (Are they gentle? If so, how?)

He’s more clumsy than rough, so he might be a little awkward but still gentle. His fingers will get caught while petting your hair or he’ll throw you over his shoulder instead of picking you up in his arms.

H = Hands (How do they like to hold hands?)

He would much rather be holding on to another part of your anatomy tbh, but hands will do. Hand holding is fine if there’s no time for cuddling, but he likes being closer so he’ll still probably drape himself over you.

I = Impression (What was their first impression?)

He didn’t have much of an impression at first, he isn’t trying to make friends with the meat, you know. Once it’s clear you’re not for eating, though, he’s fairly happy about having someone new around, especially when you turn out to be so nice! He quickly develops a crush, and I mean quick - pretty girl said good morning to him? Heart eyes, motherfucker.

J = Jealous

He doesn’t really have anyone to be jealous of since you live with his family, and he likely wouldn’t think of such a thing as cheating on a partner. If a situation did occur where someone else was paying you special attention he’d probably get a little jealous and then you’d have a tantrum on your hands. He’d be extra protective afterwards, realizing that someone could try and steal you away.

K = Kiss (How do they kiss? Who initiated the first kiss?)

Bubba starts the first kiss, but you’ve got to stop him and show him what to do. It takes a few tries before he realizes that eating and kissing require two different techniques. He’s always going to be a messy kisser but it’s more out of enthusiasm than anything, he’s just so excited every time it happens.

L = Love (Who says ‘I love you’ first?)

Definitely Bubba. Maybe it’s not those exact words, you can’t really tell, but he’s pretty obvious about his affections from the beginning.

M = Memory (What’s their favourite memory together?)

Bubba does love when you surprise him with gifts, small things taken from victims or found in the crowded attic, or handmade love letters with big lipstick kisses. He keeps them all and likes to look at them sometimes, especially when you’re out in town with his brother, and remember how sweet it was to be given something special.

N = Nickel (Do they spoil? Do they buy the person they love everything?)

If he ever finds out that there is something you want or need, he’s gonna do his best to provide it. It might be a handmade version, possibly containing some human material, but he tried his best so you can’t turn it away. He does like to dress you both up for dinner sometimes, keeping dresses and skirts for you to wear and sharing his make up and jewelry.

O = Orange (What colour reminds them of their other half?)

Purple. It’s his favorite color and he loves to dress you in it. That blouse is the ugliest thing you’ve seen in your life and it does not match those pants in any way, but it makes Bubba happy so you will gladly suffer these crimes against fashion.

P = Pet names (What pet names do they use?)

Bubba loves pet names! He definitely has some for you, although you can’t exactly understand them. You tend to call him sweet things like honeybun or sweetie pie and he loves it. You may not be doing it on purpose, but it sort of amuses him that the names are all food based.

Q = Quaint (What is their favorite non-modern thing?)

The most up to date thing they own is probably the old, beaten up truck Drayton drives (which Bubba is strictly forbidden from messing with). The rest of the house is pieced together with messy repairs from years of family life and everything in it is about as new as the house itself. The Sawyers are old fashioned and tend to use and recycle everything the family has ever owned, whether that be clothes or furniture.

R = Rainy Day (What do they like to do on a rainy day?)

There’s still work to be done no matter the weather, but if he can get away with it then he’s sleeping in for once. He hates getting out of bed in the mornings, having to slide you off his chest and untangle himself from the blankets is hard to do when you’re so warm and comfy.

S = Sad (How do they cheer themselves/others up?)

He’s like a worried mother hen anyways, so when anyone is feeling bad he’s extra jittery, flapping his hands and muttering and offering food or small gifts to try and make them feel better. Drayton tends to wave him off with a snarl and you can’t say that you’ve ever seen Nubbins acting like anything other than manically excited. You let him tend to you however he wants, more to soothe him than yourself, but watching him run around trying to cheer you up tends to get you smiling anyways.

When he’s upset himself he’s actually really easy to take care of, as any amount of positivity will draw him out of a bad mood quickly. Cuddling and soft praise or even just taking a short nap together will turn his day around.

T = Talking (What do they like to talk about?)

You cannot understand a word of his babbling but he will go on for hours regardless. Sometimes it’s easy enough to understand what he’s trying to get across, but you don’t know how his brothers seem to know exactly what that gurgle means in detail. He’s patient with you though and doesn’t get upset when you’ve got to resort to charades.

U = Unencumbered (What helps them relax?)

Snuggling up on the couch and listening to the old radio (if you can keep the other two from messing with it). Really, any kind of snuggles are fine, but the tinny white noise in the background is extra relaxing.

V = Vaunt (What do they like to show off? What are they proud of?)

Bubba is very proud of the work he does for the family. He isn’t a great cook by any means, he can’t exactly bring in the meat himself and he’s not very diligent about cleaning but no one else can do the butchering or the heavy lifting. Anything he can do to contribute, even just helping you with the dishes, makes him happy.

W = Wedding (When, how?)

You’re probably not going to go down to the courthouse, but there will be a wedding of sorts. Drayton isn’t the most traditional person when it comes to things like this, but he’ll be the one pushing for some sort of celebration. After all, you’re part of the family now so they might as well make it as official as they can.

X = Xylophone (What’s their song?)

He’s not picky with music, he’ll listen to whatever is on the radio. His brothers fight over the station, changing the channel the moment the other one leaves the room, but he always likes whatever it gets left on so he doesn’t touch it.

Y = Yes (Do they ever think of getting married/proposing?)

He doesn’t really understand marriage, since it’s not like he’s out of the house much and grandma has been dead for years. He moves pretty quick in how seriously he takes your relationship though, going from ‘puppy love’ to ‘absolutely devoted’ in a short amount of time. Once you get to anything more serious than shy glances he’s pretty much hooked for life tbh.

Z = Zebra (If they wanted a pet, what would they get?)

Bubba has never met an animal he didn’t like, so he’d take anything Drayton would let him get away with. The chickens in the yard are his favorites, but he’s strangely okay with killing them when the time comes.

[bleuebirdarchive]

TOPIC: analysis of veronica’s childhood & it’s lasting affect 

throughout this analysis, i will be referring back to alice miller’s the drama of the gifted child, as that book is A. one written within the time frame that veronica’s somewhat disconnected parents would have purchased a copy and B. really does a lot to tie into my interpretations of veronica’s relationship with her parents, her childhood, and the way she interprets the world and her feelings.

i. 

veronica, at an early age, was clearly a gifted child. she learned extremely quickly. she walked, talked, and even read at an exceptionally early age. with her parents’ draw towards the more high brow standards that world had to offer, they naturally pushed to nurture her growing intellect. they strived to make their home intellectually stimulating and flooded her with books and games meant to challenge and teach. they read parenting books advising that, in order to raise a respectful child, you should treat them as an equal. however, as is the case with many gifted children, veronica is extraordinarily sensitive. she notices things (injustices, people’s shift in emotions, tones) most people don’t see, she has an overwhelming sense of empathy that eats at her, and her emotions are, and have always been, too much for her to handle or process properly. the sawyers aim to treat veronica as an equal, as an adult, over shot her need for understanding and affection. her outward intelligence is misread at a maturity beyond her years and the oversized feelings she bore were taught to be repressed and ignored. as miller describes it, veronica developed ‘the art of not experiencing feelings’ to please her disaffected parents. even in her few acts of attempting to relay her feelings, she was often misunderstood, chastised, and sent to print her thoughts to paper, privately.

These people have all developed the art of not experiencing feelings, for a child can experience her feelings only when there is somebody there who accepts her fully, understands her, and supports her. If that person is missing, if the child must risk losing the mother’s love or the love of her substitute in order to feel, then she will repress her emotions. She cannot even experience them secretly, “just for herself”; she will fail to experience them at all. But they will nevertheless stay in her body, in her cells, stored up as information that can be triggered by a later event.

ii. 

veronica’s position as an only child ( a gifted, ‘different’, child even more so ) teamed with her lack of an opportunity to express her feelings verbally and to others leaves her socially underdeveloped. despite all of her natural charm and charisma, she does not feel as though she fits in or connects with children her own age, or people at large. the mix of being a social outsider unable to form genuine bonds and her parents lack of affection toward her leaves her to be extraordinarily lonely. her only friend is betty finn, but that friendship is thin and superficial, especially when we think about childhood and how that lends to deeper bonds within friendships. in reality, veronica’s sole companion is her diary (and her cat, jfk, which she receives around her 10th birthday). veronica is not someone that simmers on her sadness or her self pity, but this extremely profound loneliness manifests itself in a lot of ways. some are more positive: her need to speak up for others, to right wrongs she sees in the world, and to be some kind of beacon of kindness for the underdogs. but more often, they’re not: self injury, acting out, and, especially, turning that pain into anger. the last of those definitely makes itself known the older she gets (particularly in the time frame of the film).

The function all expressions of contempt have in common is the defense against unwanted feelings. Contempt simply evaporates, having lost its point, when it is no longer useful as a shield—against the child’s shame over his desperate, unreturned love; against his feeling of inadequacy; or above all against his rage that his parents were not available [...] Nevertheless, if we avoid this mourning it means that we remain at bottom the one who is despised, for we have to despise everything in ourselves that is not wonderful, good, and clever. Thus we perpetuate the loneliness of childhood: We despise weakness, helplessness, uncertainty—in short, the child in ourselves and in others.

furthermore, this disconnect with others is perpetuated by veronica’s very self. she is a beautiful, intelligent, and charming girl. everything about her reads as open for projection for the people around her, who decide they already know her. in every aspect of her life veronica is met with people that have decided on who she is for themselves  :  this makes any attempt on her end to communicate or express herself a frustrating experience as she is nearly always misunderstood. had this not so closely mirrored her relationship with her parents, she may have been able to take it better in stride.

[...] they are aware of having been misunderstood as children, they feel that the fault lay with them and with their inability to express themselves appropriately.

iii.

factoring in her genius i.q. it’s not hard to see why her parents fell a bit short of understanding her. as capable as she is, as self sufficient and independent, they did not feel a need to hold her hand as she went. they wanted to avoid an ego on her, and so her accomplishments were always overlooked or treated as an expectation. winning science fairs, getting good grades, and even being published later in life: there was no fanfare at the sawyer home. there is no drive in her to excel, as well as a notable lack of competitive spirit, because she has never felt pride or excitement in what she can do or has done: there was nobody to share that thrill with. veronica solved her problems the same way she handled everything in her life: alone. while she is more than happy to lend a hand, people expressing their own emotions or struggling to be independent can leave her a little irritated and confused.

People who, as children, were intellectually far beyond their parents and therefore admired by them, but who also therefore had to solve their own problems alone. These people, who give us a feeling of their intellectual strength and will power, also seem to demand that we, too, ought to fight off any feeling of weakness with intellectual means. In their presence one feels one cannot be recognized as a person with problems just as they and their problems were unrecognized by their parents, for whom he always had to be strong.

also in consideration regarding the lack of a response toward her successes ( positive or negative ), as a child, veronica definitely felt as if she was letting them down. she downplays her intelligence and is dissatisfied with her choices no matter what ( i.e. the scene with jd after croquet and the ‘some genius’ dialogue ). veronica wants to please people, however deeply buried this want is, and feels an immense amount of guilt when she feels she has disappointed them in some way.

Many people suffer all their lives from this oppressive feeling of guilt, the sense of not having lived up to their parents’ expectations. This feeling is stronger than any intellectual insight they might have, that it is not a child’s task or duty to satisfy his parents needs. No argument can overcome these guilt feelings, for they have their beginnings in life’s earliest periods, and from that they derive their intensity and obduracy.

conclusion

veronica has a number of issues with emotional intelligence and communication, and with bonding with others. all of this stems back to her parents missing the mark on raising a gifted child and not meeting her emotional needs. as a conclusion, since it’s difficult for me to write a better summation of her childhood-rooted issues, i’m including a quote from this post:

emotional loneliness is so distressing that a child who experiences it will do whatever is necessary to make some kind of connection with the parent. These children may learn to put other people's needs first as the price of admission to a relationship. Instead of expecting others to provide support or show interest in them, they may take on the role of helping others, convincing everyone that they have few emotional needs of their own. Unfortunately, this tends to create even more loneliness, since covering up your deepest needs prevents genuine connection with others.

[johnhardinsawyer]

So. . . Where Were We?

John Sawyer

Bedford Presbyterian Church

6 / 20 / 21 – Father’s Day[1]

Mark 4:35-41

Job 38:1-11

“So. . . Where Were We?”

(Peace After the Storm)

So. . . where were we, again?  Oh yes. . . that’s right. . .  A year ago, last March, before we were so rudely interrupted by events beyond our control, we were partway through the season of Lent – a couple of months after Pastor Karen Hagy retired, about a week before the Mission Trip to Puerto Rico, a couple weeks before Easter. . .

Where were we, again?  Oh yes. . . that’s right. . .  A year ago, last March, there was still plenty of toilet paper on the shelves at the grocery store (but it would soon be all gone, along with just about everything else), we had rarely ever seen anyone wearing face mask for protection in public, and maybe we had been on Zoom for an occasional meeting but we couldn’t imagine it being an every week (or every day!) thing.

Where were we, again?  Oh yes. . . that’s right. . . Sixty-six Sundays ago, on March 15, 2020, after news of everything shutting down from restaurants to theaters to churches, and after a sparsely-attended worship service at which I said, “I’m not sure when we will see one another again,” the Session and Deacons met in a joint meeting – some in-person and some over the phone from home, and we decided to close our church building until Easter.

Nobody knew that the storm known as Covid-19 would keep us apart for sixty-six Sundays – that’s two months of Sundays plus some Sundays (just in case you’re wondering).  And yet, for most of these sixty-six Sundays, the comforting sounds of Barb Flocco at the piano and organ, along with talented singers and instrumentalists have spoken good news to us through music, members of our Session and Deacons have offered their amazing gifts of leadership and care, Marc Murai and Michael Chen have cheerfully and willingly offered their expertise to make our worship livestream an essential part of our ministry at BPC, and Marcia Morgan and the IT Committee have ensured that we will be livestreaming our services for years to come.  And you – wherever you have been over these past fifteen months – have given of your time and energy and finances and your very presence from afar to ensure not just our survival as a congregation, but a renewed sense of commitment and hope for what God is doing here.

We are not just here, together, by our own efforts, though.  We are here, together, because God has kept us together and has drawn us together once more.  And as your pastor, I could not be more thankful and more proud.  

So. . . where were we, again?  Oh, yes.  Jesus and his disciples are in a boat. . .  on the Sea of Galilee – a large lake, about the size of Lake Winnipesaukee.  Jesus has been speaking to crowds of people in the towns and along the roads beside the Sea.  Just so you know, the Sea of Galilee is a very scenic spot.  You can find stretches of shoreline that are quite peaceful.  But there is no peace for Jesus.  Just a few weeks ago, we heard about how there were so many people surrounding his home that he and his newly appointed disciples were unable to eat a meal together because there were so many interruptions.  

In today’s story, we see Jesus telling his friends, the disciples – some of whom were fishermen, born and raised – to get in a boat (maybe one of their own boats) and go “to the other side” of the lake.  Just so you know, “the other side” was like a foreign country – a place where the Gerasenes lived – people who, were a mixture of Greeks and Romans and some Jews – a place of conflicting cultures and conflicted people.  To go “to the other side” was to journey into the unknown.  And, in order to get there, they had to cross the big lake.

If you ever go to the Sea of Galilee, you need to know that there is something about the geography and climate and weather systems of that place that cause storms to blow in quickly.  You can see them approaching across the water and, if you’re in a little boat, there is nothing that you can do but try to steer clear and hold on – or, in Jesus’ case in today’s story, take a nap.  Now, I’m not surprised that Jesus is a little tired.  Dealing with crowds of people is tiring work.  

But then the storm rolls in.  

The disciples can see it coming – thick dark clouds and wind sweeping over the face of the waters.[2]  The waves start to splash into the boat, nearly swamping it.  And the disciples run to wake Jesus up, “Teacher,” they shout above the sound of the wind and rain, “do you not care that we are perishing?” (Mark 4:38)  Or, as Eugene Peterson translates, “Teacher, is it nothing to you that we’re going down?”[3]

If we were to back away from this question that is being asked in the heat of the moment in a boat in a lake in a storm, I wonder how this question might speak to our own lives.  How many of you have ever wondered if God cares. . .  for you. . . for the world?  You see, storms can come in many forms – when the clouds roll in and rain falls, yes, but also when a cancer diagnosis comes, when there is another miscarriage, when the job is lost, when record temperatures bring record wildfires, when politicians and neighbors and families can’t agree on what seem to be basic truths, when yet another person is killed by someone who uses a gun.  Does God care?  In the stormy wake of the worldwide hurricane known as Covid-19 with 600,000 people dead in our own country because of the pandemic, I wonder how many people are asking if God cares about any of this. . . any of us.  Jesus, do you not care that we are perishing. . .  that we’re going down?  Or, are you just going to sleep through it?

This question is not a new one.  In the ancient words of the Book of Job, we find people asking just this very thing – Job, Job’s wife, Job’s friends.  Does God care that we are suffering?  Is God paying attention at all?  And then, in today’s reading from Job, we find God turning the tables and asking a bunch of questions that leave Job speechless:  

“Where were you, Job, when I made the heavens and the earth, laying their foundations in ways and places that cannot be measured?  Where were you, Job, when I put the seas in their place and made the waves stop whenever I wanted to?”[4]  

To which Job says the ancient equivalent of, “Ummmmm. . . I wasn’t there, God.  You are so much greater than I’ll ever be.  You are God and I am not, and yet here you are, God, talking with little old me.”  This is the beautiful thing about the Triune God.  There is no one who is more powerful, more loving,  and more present in any given moment than the One who made us, and saves us, and is with little old us. . .  always. This is the beautiful thing about Jesus, who, in the midst of the storms of life, is always right here with us, saying,  “Peace!  Be still! . . . Why are you afraid?”  (Mark 4:39, 40)

Does God care?  Of course, God does!  And yet, if we were to ask why we are so afraid when storms do come – and they do come, don’t they? – there is this fear that whatever storm comes our way will be difficult and nobody likes it when things get difficult.  There is the fear that whatever storm comes our way will change our way of life – impact our health, cause grief and sadness, maybe even bring about our own death.  So, it’s no wonder we’re so afraid.

And yet, Jesus is always saying “Peace!  Be still!” to all of this.  There is no one who is more able to offer a peace that passes understanding – than the One who stands up with us and for us and says “Peace!  Be still!” to the storms that are whirling around us and raging inside of us, “Peace!  Be still! . . . Why are you afraid?  Do not be afraid,” Jesus says.  “I am here in the boat with you.  I am with you always.”

Sixty-six Sundays ago, I don’t know how many of you were feeling too confident about any of this.  I know that I had my moments.  I still do.  Having a good therapist helps.  The anti-anxiety medication helps.  The music I’m able to play and sing helps.  The support of the leaders of this church and my colleagues and friends helps.  The love of my wife and son helps.  The prayer helps.  And, because of the Holy Spirit, the loving presence of Jesus – through all-of-the-above – helps.

To say that I have experienced the peace of Christ in these last months is an understatement.  I don’t think I would have made it through without Jesus and without others being the hands, and feet, and heart, and calming voice of Jesus to me and for me.  

You see, very often, the best peace that God offers comes through people like you and me – people who often fumble for words or get scared, ourselves.  And yet, through fragile and fallible people like us who are willing to get into someone else’s boat and offer them our very presence as a reminder of the presence of the Holy, God’s peace is shared through the storm, through the night.

So. . . where are we, again?  The storm of the pandemic is passing over.  But the world is in no less need of the peace that comes through Jesus Christ.  

So, as we gather back together after sixty-six Sundays apart, clinging to the wooden pews of this place for reassurance like the disciples clinging to their wooden boat after the storm, I hope that we can start to set our sights on the other side of the lake – set our sights on the unknown future into which God is leading us.  We do not go alone.  We are never alone – in stormy or in clear weather.

May the knowledge of Christ’s presence in our lives be imprinted on our minds, and hearts, and souls.  And may we always hear the voice of the One who is saying to us and to all the world, “Peace!  Be still!”

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

-----------

[1] Today marks “Reopening Sunday” for BPC after fifteen long months of being “closed” during the Covid-19 Pandemic.

[2] See Genesis 1.

[3] Eugene Peterson, The Message – Numbered Edition (Colorado Springs:  NAV Press, 2002) 1382.

[4] Job 38:4-11 – Paraphrased, JHS.

[laniakeabooks]

February Wrap-Up

I technically read 12 books this month, four of which were novellas, and since said novellas have been compiled into one collection I’ll count all four of them as one (even though I did read them all individually). So, that said, I read 8 books this month!

Gasp by Lisa McMann - ⭐⭐⭐

After narrowly surviving two harrowing tragedies, Jules now fully understands the importance of the visions that she and people around her are experiencing. She’s convinced that if the visions passed from her to Sawyer after she saved him, then they must now have passed from Sawyer to one of the people he saved.

That means it’s up to Jules to figure out which of the school shooting survivors is now suffering from visions of another crisis. And once she realizes who it is, she has to convince that survivor that this isn't all crazy—that the images are of something real. Something imminent.

As the danger escalates more than ever before in the conclusion to the Visions series, Jules wonders if she'll finally find out why and how this is happening—before it's too late to prevent disaster.

 Good conclusion to the Visions series. I really didn’t like how Jules was so hell-bent on saving perfect strangers but then essentially hated her dad for being mentally ill (namely depressed). If anything, it was her dad who needed saving the most, and unfortunately, she didn’t make the character arc to that realization.

 Delirium by Lauren Oliver – ⭐⭐⭐

 In an alternate United States, love has been declared a dangerous disease, and the government forces everyone who reaches eighteen to have a procedure called the Cure. Living with her aunt, uncle, and cousins in Portland, Maine, Lena Haloway is very much looking forward to being cured and living a safe, predictable life. She watched love destroy her mother and isn't about to make the same mistake.

But with ninety-five days left until her treatment, Lena meets enigmatic Alex, a boy from the "Wilds" who lives under the government's radar. What will happen if they do the unthinkable and fall in love?

 I remember DNFing this book a few years ago, but it was mostly because I wasn’t into reading as much back then. But I finally got to this OG YA book and finally understand the hype that surrounded it back in the times of The Hunger Games, Divergent, etc. This is a much less gruesome dystopia, but a scary concept non the less. I can’t imagine not being allowed to love my family or my friends.

 The One Memory of Flora Banks by Emily Barr - ⭐⭐⭐

 Seventeen-year-old Flora Banks has no short-term memory. Her mind resets itself several times a day, and has since the age of ten, when the tumor that was removed from Flora’s brain took with it her ability to make new memories. That is, until she kisses Drake, her best friend’s boyfriend, the night before he leaves town. Miraculously, this one memory breaks through Flora’s fractured mind, and sticks. Flora is convinced that Drake is responsible for restoring her memory and making her whole again. So when an encouraging email from Drake suggests she meet him on the other side of the world, Flora knows with certainty that this is the first step toward reclaiming her life.

With little more than the words “be brave” inked into her skin, and written reminders of who she is and why her memory is so limited, Flora sets off on an impossible journey to Svalbard, Norway—the land of the midnight sun—determined to find Drake. But from the moment she arrives in the Arctic, nothing is quite as it seems, and Flora must “be brave” if she is ever to learn the truth about herself, and to make it safely home.

 I... what...? This book went in so many different directions very quickly. I don't know of I like how it went, but it did evoke some emotions which is a sign that the book did something right, especially since I rarely get emotional over books.

 Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver - ⭐⭐⭐

 The old life is dead. But the old Lena is dead too. I buried her. I left her beyond a fence, behind a wall of smoke and flame. In this electrifying follow-up to her acclaimed New York Times bestseller Delirium, Lauren Oliver sets Lena on a dangerous course that hurtles through the unregulated Wilds and into the heart of a growing resistance movement. This riveting, brilliant novel crackles with the fire of fierce defiance, forbidden romance, and the sparks of a revolution about to ignite.

 I decided I’m just going to marathon this entire series, novellas included, and I’ll just write a review on the entire series as opposed to writing a little blurb for every book.

 Annabel by Lauren Oliver – ⭐⭐⭐

 Lena Halloway's mother, Annabel, supposedly committed suicide when Lena was only six years old. That's the lie that Lena grew up believing, but the truth is very different. As a rebellious teenager, Annabel ran away from home and straight into the man she knew she was destined to marry. The world was different then—the regulations not as stringent, the cure only a decade old. Fast forward to the present, and Annabel is consigned to a dirty prison cell, where she nurtures her hope of escape and scratches one word over and over into the walls: Love.

But Annabel, like Lena, is a fighter. Through chapters that alternate between her past and present, Annabel reveals the story behind her failed cures, her marriage, the births of her children, her imprisonment, and, ultimately, her daring escape.

 “Delirium book 0.5”, I will include my thoughts on this novella in my series wrap up.

 Alex by Lauren Oliver - ⭐⭐⭐

 When Alex sacrificed himself to save Lena, he thought he was committing himself to certain death, but what he got was almost worse. Imprisoned and tortured by the guards, his mind forces him to relive a past he would rather forget. But in the dark he grows stronger. Both hopeful and terrified, he fights to find his way back to her and the love he still clings to.

In this digital story that will appeal to fans of Delirium and welcome new admirers to its world, readers will learn of Alex's time after the events of Delirium, as well as the dark past that he has tried to forget.

 “Delirium book 1.1”, I will include my thoughts on this novella in my series wrap up.

 Hana by Lauren Oliver - ⭐⭐⭐

 The summer before they're supposed to be cured of the ability to love, best friends Lena and Hana begin to drift apart. While Lena shies away from underground music and parties with boys, Hana jumps at her last chance to experience the forbidden. For her, the summer is full of wild music, dancing—and even her first kiss.

But on the surface, Hana must be a model of perfect behavior. She meets her approved match, Fred Hargrove, and glimpses the safe, comfortable life she’ll have with him once they marry. As the date for her cure draws ever closer, Hana desperately misses Lena, wonders how it feels to truly be in love, and is simultaneously terrified of rebelling and of falling into line.

 “Delirium Book 1.5”, I will include my thoughts on this novella in my series wrap up.

 Raven by Lauren Oliver - ⭐⭐⭐

 As a teenager, Raven made the split-second decision to flee across the border to the Wilds, compelled to save an abandoned newborn—a baby girl left for dead and already blue from the cold. When she and the baby are taken in by a band of rebels, Raven finds herself an outsider within a tight-knit group. The only other newcomer is an untrustworthy boy known as the Thief until he finally earns himself a new name: Tack.

Now she and Tack are inseparable, committed to each other, the fledgling rebellion, and a future together. But as they both take center stage in the fight, Raven must decide whether the dangers of the revolution are worth risking her dreams of a peaceful life with Tack.

As her story hurtles back and forth between past and present, Raven transforms from a scared girl newly arrived in the Wilds to the tough leader who helps Lena save former Deliria-Free poster boy Julian Fineman from a death sentence. Whatever the original mission may have been, Raven abides by a conviction that she believes to her core: You always return for the people you love.

 “Delirium Book 2.5”, I will include my thoughts on this novella in my series wrap up.

 Requiem by Lauren Oliver - ⭐⭐⭐

 Now an active member of the resistance, Lena has transformed. The nascent rebellion that was underway in Pandemonium has ignited into an all-out revolution in Requiem, and Lena is at the center of the fight. After rescuing Julian from a death sentence, Lena and her friends fled to the Wilds. But the Wilds are no longer a safe haven. Pockets of rebellion have opened throughout the country, and the government cannot deny the existence of Invalids. Regulators infiltrate the borderlands to stamp out the rebels.

As Lena navigates the increasingly dangerous terrain of the Wilds, her best friend, Hana, lives a safe, loveless life in Portland as the fiancée of the young mayor. Requiem is told from the perspectives of both Lena and her friend Hana. They live side by side in a world that divides them until, at last, their stories converge.

I’ll really get into it in my series review but, wHAT KIND OF A FUCKING ENDING WAS THAT???

 Marie Antoinette, Serial Killer by Katie Alender - ⭐⭐⭐

 Colette Iselin is excited to go to Paris on a class trip. She’ll get to soak up the beauty and culture, and maybe even learn something about her family’s French roots.

But gruesome murders are taking place across the city, putting everyone on edge. And Colette keeps seeing a strange vision: a pale woman in a ball gown and powdered wig, who looks suspiciously like Marie Antoinette.

Colette knows her popular, status-obsessed friends won’t believe her, so she seeks out the help of a charming French boy. Together, they uncover a shocking secret involving a dark, hidden history. When Colette realizes she herself may hold the key to the mystery, her own life is in danger…

 I read these books purely for shits and giggles, and I think if you go into this expecting just that, you won’t be disappointed.

 Archangel’s Storm by Nalini Singh - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

 With wings of midnight and an affinity for shadows, Jason courts darkness. But now, with the Archangel Neha’s consort lying murdered in the jewel-studded palace that was his prison and her rage threatening cataclysmic devastation, Jason steps into the light, knowing he must unearth the murderer before it is too late.

Earning Neha’s trust comes at a price—Jason must tie himself to her bloodline through the Princess Mahiya, a woman with secrets so dangerous, she trusts no one. Least of all an enemy spymaster.

With only their relentless hunt for a violent, intelligent killer to unite them, Jason and Mahiya embark on a quest that leads to a centuries-old nightmare… and to the dark storm of an unexpected passion that threatens to drench them both in blood.

 I just love this whole series. I was missing my fave Illium but you know what, this book gave me a whole new appreciation for Jason. Also, I discovered I love Mahiya so yeah, all in all, me happy!

 Number of books read: 8

Number of pages read: 2647 Average rating: 3.2

Favourite book this month: Archangel’s Storm. As I said, I adore this series and will continue on with the… billions of other books Nalini pumps out.

Least favourite book this mouth: Requiem. I was just so disappointed in the end to that entire series…

 See a book you’d like a review for in depth? Let me know!

Keep up with me on Goodreads! (https://www.goodreads.com/LaniakeaBooks)

[johnhardinsawyer]

If. . . Then

John Sawyer

Bedford Presbyterian Church

5 / 2 / 21 – Fifth Sunday of Easter

1 John 4:7-21

“If. . . Then”

(We Love, Therefore God Is. . .)

About a month ago, I was driving home on a Monday afternoon and I saw a strange and wonderful sight:  a young couple was walking down the street, hand-in-hand, smiling from ear to ear, wearing matching blue sweatshirts. . .  well, almostmatching blue sweatshirts.  You see, the young man was wearing a blue sweatshirt that said, “If lost, return to Babe.”  And the young woman’s blue sweatshirt said, “I’m Babe.”

There was no mistaking, by this public display of affection, that these two lovebirds were an item. . .  together.  Based on the way they were smiling and holding hands in their almost-matching blue sweatshirts, I can only imagine how joyful their reunion would be if they were ever parted from one another and Babe’s babe was returned to Babe.  This is the kind of thing that happens when you’re in love.

Have you ever wondered where love comes from?  I must admit that I had never thought about this big question until I came across today’s scripture reading, years ago.  

When I began to try to read the Bible for myself,  it took me a while to start piecing things together – all of the common threads and themes – in a way that made sense to me.  The Bible can be rather complicated, to say the least.  But I am so glad that somewhere, in my early reading of the Bible – sometime in middle or high school – I was introduced to today’s passage from First John.  Now, I know that my name happens to be John, and, in the New Testament, there was a guy named John the Baptist, as well as a disciple of Jesus named John, as well as John of Patmos who wrote the Book of Revelation.[1]  There is a Gospel of John and there are three short letters – First John, Second John, and Third John.  With all of these “Johns,” it can be rather confusing, because they are not all the same person.  It is thought by many scholars, though, that the Gospel of John and the letters of John were written by either the same person or members of the same early Christian community.[2]  Careful readers of John’s Gospel and John’s Letters can see that they are, at the very least, coming from a very similar point of view.  

One of the common threads that we find woven throughout the Bible is one that we see in today’s reading from the First Letter of John – the thread or theme of God’s love for us and the imperative of loving one another.  

“Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God,” (1 John 4:7) we read in today’s passage.  As I mentioned a few moments ago, I’m not sure if you’ve ever wondered where love comes from, but I remember reading this verse, years ago, about how love comes from God,  and having an epiphany of sorts:  “Oh, that makes sense,” I thought.  “We are taught that ‘God is love’ – heck, you can even read that ‘God is love’ (4:8) right here in today’s reading.  So, of course love comes from God!  I mean, who knows better what love is and how to love than God?”  

Some of you are probably aware that in Greek, there are four different words for love – romantic love (eros), brotherly love (philia), the love that parents have for their children (storge), and God’s love (agape).[3]  The love that is made known to us in Jesus Christ is agape love – the kind of love that gives without wanting, or expecting a return.[4]

Agape love is different from normal, human, love because we human beings are always wanting or expecting some kind of return.  God’s agape love does not work in this way, though.  God’s love for us is so great that God loves us even when we fall short, or fall flat on our faces, or lose our way.  It’s kind of like we’re all walking around with sweatshirts that say, “I’m lost, please return to God if God will have me.”  And God is walking around with a sweatshirt that says, “I am God.  I knit you together in your mother’s womb.  I have named you and claimed you in the waters of baptism, and I’ve already found you and forgiven you.  You’re not lost anymore.”  Yes, God wears a big sweatshirt.  You can fit a lot on that thing.  Anyway, the word that we use in the church to describe this phenomenon of God’s unmerited love and favor for us – even when we fall short – is “grace.”

All of us have experienced grace, in one way or another, whether we have called it that or not.  If you’ve ever had a friend or a spouse forgive you when you messed up – like when you planned a work event on the day your child’s birthday party was supposed to be. . .  or if you’ve ever had a child who messed up but you loved them anyway (maybe loved them more). . .  or if you’ve ever been on the receiving or giving end of a truly generous act that could never be repaid, then you’ve probably caught a glimpse of grace.  That’s right, God may be the source of all grace – the “fountain of love”[5] – but the way that most of us experience grace is through our interactions with other people.  This is why we are reminded at the start of today’s passage to “love one another” (4:7).  As the author of First John writes, “No one has ever seen God [in all of God’s power and might]; [but] if we love one another [then] God lives in us and God’s love is perfected in us.” (4:12)  Because, if we love one another – with the kind of love that God has and is and loves – then there is something Holy that takes place.  If we love one another, then we are participating in the abundant and eternal life of God.  

This is what I found to be so revolutionary so long ago:  the idea that anytime we seek to do the loving thing –  seeking to love as God loves – God is not just part of it all, but the very source of it all.  God is active and alive and at work through you and me.  “. . . [E]veryone who loves is born of God and knows God.” (1 John 4:7)  In other words, when you love – with the kind of agape grace that God loves – then you know God. . .  or, at the very least, you get a sense of what God is like in God’s heart of hearts.  And, if God is actively loving the world through our heart of hearts, then we do not need to be afraid to share this love with all in what we do and say. . . in how we live and love.    

Unfortunately, you and I are just as – if not more – likely to encounter (or to offer) no love than we are to encounter or offer God’s grace.  The world can be so hard and so unloving, and so can we.  Today’s passage does not come without a whole set of warnings:  If we do not love, then we do not know God. (4:8)  Or, as John Calvin puts it, “there is no knowledge of God where there is no love.”[6]  And, if we say we love God but hate our fellow human beings, then we are liars, because those who do not love someone that they have seen cannot love God, whom they have not seen. (4:20)  This does beg the question:  when we love our neighbors, who are we truly loving and who are we leaving out?  If there is no love for one’s neighbors – for all of them – then there is no true knowledge of God.  

The hard, yet wonderful, thing about God’s grace, though, is that it is offered, even to the most unloving among us.  And God calls us to share it, even with the most unloving and unlovable people we know, while acknowledging and confessing our most unloving and unlovable tendencies.  I mean, there might come a day when the young man with the blue “If lost, return to Babe” sweatshirt is angry with Babe, or vice versa.  Maybe Babe is being selfish or maybe Babe’s babe is upset about something else and lashing out at anyone – even the one he says he loves the most – and it is hard for Babe to understand.  We have all been in situations like this with those we love as well as those we do not love.  This is where grace enters the picture, though.  Without grace, human relationships are bound to fail.  

Thanks be to God, that even when our grace for one another runs out, God’s grace never runs out.  This is a love so deep, so broad, and so high, that it cannot be measured in the flowers and chocolate and blue sweatshirts of romance, or the physical desires of erotic love, or even the comradery that a team displays when they work together and support one another.  No, the love of Jesus is made of stronger stuff – a love that says, “I love you even when you are angry with me.”  “I love you even when you don’t want anything to do with me.”   “I love you even when you don’t love me back.”  “I love you even when you betray me, and arrest me, and put me to death.”

The love that we see at work in Jesus Christ is the love to which he calls us in each and every moment.  “Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another,” Jesus says. (John 13:34b)  This is the love of humble service and hospitality – washing feet and feeding people.  This is the love that has the courage to say “No” to that which is unloving in our world and to work until the most unloving ideas and actions are torn down like the false idols they usually are.  This is the love that does not hurt, but only heals, the love that does not seek to break the world, but only seeks the wholeness of the world.  This is the love of sacrifice – of giving ourselves away for the sake of those we love, even those we might never meet, even those who say they are our enemies.  This is the love that Jesus shows us, time and time again, in a constant and gracious public display of affection.  This is the love to which Jesus calls us, the love that is so hard for most of us.[7]

If we love one another, though, then God is revealed.  If we love one another, though, then God can be seen and known.  If we love one another, then God’s kingdom comes.  If we love one another, then God makes it on earth as it is in heaven.  If we love one another, then God abides in us and we abide in God.  If we love one another, then we are part of – vessels of – something Holy.  

If we love. . . then there is God.

Hmmm. . .  Someone should put that on a sweatshirt.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.  

------------- 

[1] And I don’t want to forget “Jonathan,” who was best friends with David in the Old Testament.

[2] Watson E. Mills, ed. The Mercer Dictionary of the Bible (Macon:  Mercer University Press, 1990) 461-462.  “John, Gospel and Letters,” R. Alan Culpepper.

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_words_for_love.

[4] David L. Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor, Feasting on the Word – Year B, Volume 2 (Louisville:  Westminster John Knox Press, 2008) 469 – Homiletical Perspective, William L. Self.

[5] John Calvin, Calvin’s Commentaries – Vol. XXII (Grand Rapids:  Baker Books, 2009) 238.

[6] John Calvin, 238.

[7] This section is from my sermon from Maundy Thursday (4/1/21) on the Great Commandment to love in John 13.

[johnhardinsawyer]

How Could We Say No?

John Sawyer

Bedford Presbyterian Church

5 / 30 / 21 – Trinity Sunday / Memorial Day Sunday

Isaiah 6:1-12

Romans 8:12-17

“How Could We Say No. . .”

(Here We Are. . . Send Us)

This past week, I ran into the grocery store to pick up a few items, and, as I was breezing through the refrigerated aisle, I happened to see a man standing there, holding two tubs of “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter.”  One of the tubs had what I think is the regular label and the other tub had a green label (which, I believe, means that it was made with olive oil).  Anyway, the man was standing there, staring intently at these two tubs of “not butter” with a look of confusion on his face, as if he was wondering why he had been sent to the store to buy “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter” in the first place when there was lots of perfectly good actual butter on the shelf, right there in front of him.  And now he had to choose which “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter” was the best kind of “not butter.”  

You know, there are all kinds of things that can confuse and confound us in life – from butter (or the lack, thereof), to Bitcoin (what is it?), to BTS (who are these guys?) . . .  to the Bible.

It is hard to wrap our minds around today’s confusing and confounding story from Isaiah.  Isaiah gives us a glimpse into another world – a glimpse into heaven.  This awe-inspiring scene of God sitting on a throne and six-winged angels flying around singing, and the whole building quaking and filling with smoke, is a lot for us to take in.  It is a lot for Isaiah, too – so much so that we see him afraid, fearing for his life.  God’s full power is on display – power that most people would not be able to withstand.  Just as an example, several hundred years before the time of Isaiah, Moses asks if he can see God, and God tells him, “. . . you cannot see my face; for no one shall see me and live.” (Exodus 33:20)  Moses is only able to see God’s back, and he walks away – positively glowing – looking like he’s just spent forty days  in a holy tanning bed.[1]  In today’s story, Isaiah gets the full holy treatment – seeing the Lord in all of God’s glory – and living to tell the tale.  He is so overwhelmed by the sheer awe of it all that when God asks, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” (Isaiah 6:8a) how can Isaiah not respond with, “Here am I; send me?” (6:8b)

Now, if you read what comes right before and right after today’s passage, you might be wondering about what God is really asking of Isaiah.  Well, years before, God had led God’s people into the Promised Land and had given them a home, and kings to rule them, and some peace and prosperity along the way.  But God’s people were sinful and rebelled against God.  They were corrupt from the very top down.  

For fifty-two years, they had been ruled by a king named Uzziah – whose name sounds similar to “Isaiah,” but I assure you, they are two different people.  Uzziah.  Isaiah.  Uzziah.  Isaiah.  Anyway, one commentator writes,

[King] Uzziah. . . [had brought] the kingdom to new heights of economic prosperity, military power, and political influence.  But Uzziah forgot that he was an earthly king.  He challenged the sacred worship of the temple and lost.[2]

As the story goes, Uzziah had grown too proud and he was “false to the Lord his God.”  (2 Chronicles 26:16)  The king came to into the Temple to offer sacrifices even though it was improper for him to do so and he had a showdown with the priests.  Uzziah wasn’t the first person – nor the last person – to think that he knew better than God – mistaking the human for the holy.  But God thought otherwise, and Uzziah got what was coming to him.

So, in the year that King Uzziah died, Isaiah is in the very place where Uzziah was punished for his pride.  And as Isaiah stands in the Temple, he sees this amazing sight – an incredible, supernatural vision involving a giant throne, and the hem of God’s robes filling up the room.  

Isaiah stands there, trembling in his shoes, with mystical heavenly beings flying around, and an earthquake, and a bunch of smoke.  You or I might have some choice words in a moment like this – the first one being, “Holy. . .”  But Isaiah’s first reaction is to say, “Woe is me!  I am lost. . .”  (6:5a)  “I am ruined and undone,[3] for I am a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips.”  (6:5)[4]  Just so you know, in the original language, the phrase “unclean lips” can also be translated “polluted speech.”[5]

We might not have ever experienced anything like Isaiah – seeing the Lord in such a way – but I’m willing to venture that most of us know what it is like to live among a people of unclean lips and polluted speech.  And, yet, it is to these very people – with unclean lips – that Isaiah is sent.  

You see, Isaiah is not able to linger very long in God’s presence.  He might not survive such a thing, anyway.  Instead, God tells Isaiah to go out and tell all of the so-called “polluted people” exactly what they do not want to hear so that they won’t listen to God and won’t listen to God’s messenger, Isaiah.  

Now, this is a bit odd, so let me try to explain it, again, another way. . .  Isaiah is overcome by this holy vision and he says “Yes,” when asked if he will let God send him out to do what God tells him to do.  But God then says that when Isaiah speaks, nobody will want to understand him.  Nobody will be able to listen with their ears, or look with their eyes, or comprehend with their minds.[6]  This has to be one of the most curious jobs ever given to a prophet in the Old Testament – and some of the Old Testament prophets get asked to do some very curious things.  

Just what is going on here?  

The strange answer to this is that God wants the people to be brought low – to be so humbled that they will turn back to the Lord.  And the only way they will truly be humbled is if they are as full of themselves as they can possibly be and they then have the rug pulled out from under them as a way of some kind of holy punishment from God.  This is God’s way of really getting the people’s attention.

Does it work?  Well. . . Yes. . . kind of. . .  It does involve a lot of death and destruction and exile and the kinds of things that really turn some people off when they read the Hebrew Bible.  But in the end, a remnant of God’s people return and they try to be faithful.  Even then, though, they still fall short.  And so do we. . .

So, where does this leave us?

It goes without saying that God is a holy mystery and God’s ways are not our own.  There are things about God that we will never know or fully understand.  Today is “Trinity Sunday” – the day that we sing about how God is three persons in One – “God, in three persons, blessed Trinity.”[7]  Just how is this supposed to work?  Only God knows.  But it is clear that at the very heart of who God is, God is all about right relationships – between Creator, Savior, and Spirit and between these three “persons” and us.  And, in the end, it is only God who knows us, and sees us, and loves us for who we really are – giving us a new life and calling us to live this new life in faith and hope and love.  

We heard about this earlier in today’s reading from the Book of Romans.  I like the way that Eugene Peterson translates it:

So don’t you see that we don’t owe this old do-it-yourself life one red cent. There’s nothing in it for us, nothing at all. The best thing to do is give it a decent burial and get on with your new life. God’s Spirit beckons. There are things to do and places to go!  This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It’s adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike “What’s next, Papa?” God’s Spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are. We know who he is, and we know who we are: Father and children. And we know we are going to get what’s coming to us—an unbelievable inheritance! We go through exactly what Christ goes through. If we go through the hard times with him, then we’re certainly going to go through the good times with him![8]

Isaiah takes on a new way of life when he says “Yes” to God, not knowing where God will lead him, but knowing that it may be hard.  And Paul is encouraging the church in Rome (and encouraging us all these years later) to live into a new way of life – a resurrection life – a life lived in and through the Holy Spirit.  Why?  Because God has said “Yes” to us.  And God’s Holy, Holy, Holy “Yes,” in the One who Created us, and in the person of Jesus Christ who is always saving us, and in the sustaining presence and power of God’s Holy Spirit, is for each and every one of us.  You and I, and the guy with the tubs of “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter,” and every person who has ever lived and breathed has been touched in some way – large or small – by the presence and power of God whether we know it or not.  Whether or not we have seen God in all of God’s glory is not as important as seeing that we are God’s own children – that we belong to God.  How could we say “No” to such grace?

God doesn’t want us to be brought low, anymore.  God sees us for who and what we are – in all of our confusion and sin and fragile fallibility – and loves us just the same. . . loves us all the more.  This is what it means to be a child who is beloved.  

Of course, being a beloved child of the Holy does not mean that we do not have some responsibilities – that God is not asking great things of little old us, and that there will not be hardships along the way as we are sent out into the chaotic confusion of the world that God has made and saved and sustains to offer the grace that God has given us.  How could we say no to sharing what God so freely gives us?  

And so, Isaiah goes. . .  And so we go, too. . .  And yet, because we have been seen and known and called and loved by the One who is the source of all love – the one who made us and saves us and sustains us – how could we say no?

Here we are, O Lord. . .  Send us. . .  

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

----------- 

[1] See Exodus 34:29ff.

[2] David L. Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor, ed., Feasting on the Word – Year B, Vol 2 (Louisville:  Westminster John Knox Press, 2009) 28.  Pastoral Perspective – Kristin Emery Saldine.

[3] Brown-Driver-Briggs, The Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon (Peabody:  Hendrickson Publishers, 1997) 198.

[4] Paraphrased, JHS

[5] Brown-Driver-Briggs, 379 and 973.

[6] See Isaiah 6:9-10.

[7] Text:  Reginald Heber, 1827.  “Holy, Holy, Holy! Lord God Almighty!” in Glory to God: The Presbyterian Hymnal (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2013) No. 1.

[8] Eugene Peterson, The Message – Numbered Edition (Colorado Springs: NAV Press, 2002) 1550.

[johnhardinsawyer]

Do the Right Thing

John Sawyer

Bedford Presbyterian Church

5 / 17 / 20

1 Peter 3:13-22

John 14:15-21

“Do the Right Thing”

(Easter Encouragement – Part 5)

What does it take to do the right thing, even when the right thing is not the easy thing?

There is a group of people in our community called the Bedford Sewing Battalion who are busy sewing cloth masks for anyone and everyone who needs them during the Covid-19 pandemic.  And, from what we are hearing from scientists who study these things, anyone and everyone needs to wear a mask in places where they are around other people who are not part of their immediate family or group.  It’s not that wearing a cloth mask will keep you or I from getting the coronavirus.  Chances are, it won’t.  But public health officials are saying that anyone can carry and spread the coronavirus for up to two weeks without showing any symptoms and that wearing a cloth mask will cut down on the chances of you and I spreading the coronavirus to other people – especially vulnerable people who could die.[1]  How much will it cut down on the spread of the virus?  Well, admittedly, the virus is new and the science is still out on that,[2]but wearing a mask, combined with physical distancing and frequent hand washing does seem to make a big difference.

Now, I know that wearing a cloth facemask in this day and time is a personal choice.  And there are plenty of normal times when what is right for me might not be right for you.  But I wonder if we are living in one of those normal times orif we find ourselves in an uncommon time that is asking something different of us.

For my part, if I have the opportunity to protect someone else, even if wearing a mask is inconvenient, and stuffy, and makes my glasses fog up (and they do fog up!), I’d like to think that I would still wear a mask to protect you from me.  And, in wearing a mask, I am not trying to make any statement other than “I love you.”  Why?  Because I am a follower of Jesus, and love is the right thing to do.

Over the past few weeks, we have been exploring the suggested lectionary passages from the letter of 1 Peter, which was written, long ago, to people who are trying to do the right thing, even though the right thing is a difficult thing to do.  It is difficult, because the people who received this letter of encouragement from Peter have decided to follow Jesus and this decision has led them to be scorned by their own families and persecuted by people in power.  But, these followers of Jesus have decided to follow, at any cost, because they believe that it is the right thing to do.

For Peter, the author of the letter, it is a given that that his readers are going through a hard time.  They are enduring pain while suffering unjustly,[3] and Peter knows this – probably because he is also experiencing the same kind of suffering where he is, in Rome.[4]  But Peter says in today’s passage, that if you are trying to do good, and you suffer for trying to do good – for doing right – then you are blessed.  (1 Peter 3:14)

Now, Peter is not saying, here, that we should welcome suffering or that the more we suffer means that God will bless us more.  No, what Peter is saying, here, is how we endure – the state of our mind and heart and spirit – as well as the manner in which we rely on God as we endure pain and suffering:  this is where we can find true blessedness.  For Peter, following in the footsteps of Jesus does not mean that we won’t suffer, but following in the footsteps of Jesus gives us a different way to think about our own suffering – a different lens through which we can see suffering for what it is and, with God’s help, not be afraid.

According to Peter, even though there are plenty of things in this world that are frightening and plenty of ways that we can be intimidated by fear of those things, setting our hearts on Jesus as Lord[5] means that we believe the love of Jesus is greater than any fear we might have.  And if Jesus is not intimidated, then we shouldn’t be either.

Now, I know that I am saying this at a time when there is a lot of fear in our culture – in the world – and not just about wearing facemasks at the start of, what looks like it will be, quite a long pandemic marathon.  When there is so much fear – about getting sick and losing one’s life and livelihood – our first, very human and very understandable – response is to turn inward:  to think first about our own interests, our own family and future to the exclusion of everyone else.  And, while choosing to do this might be all well and good in our own minds, it might not always be the right thing to do.

So, how do we really know what is the right thing to do?  There is a pastor and author named Wayne Muller who writes that,

We make only one choice.  Throughout our lives, we do only one thing – again and again, moment by moment, year after year.  It is how we live our days, and it is how we shape our lives.  The choice is this:  What is the next right thing for us to do?  Where, in this moment, shall we choose to place our time and attention?  Do we stay or move, speak or keep silent, attend to this person, that task, move in this or that direction?  With each succeeding moment, we make a new choice.  After each decision, there is another.  And another.  These are not [all] enormous choices. . .  Our choices are [often] small, quiet, intimate things. . .[6]

Think about all of the choices that you make in your life – all of the little choices about what to buy, what to eat, what to wear, which way to vote, which way to turn, whether to wear a mask or wash your hands, how to spend this moment, and the next moment, and the next.  That’s a lot of choices!  That’s a lot of “what is the next right thing for me to do?” choices, and they all add up to make your life.

Now, I know that asking about the next right thing can be interpreted in different ways, because there is a difference between asking “what is the next right thing for me to do for me?” and “what is the next right thing for me to do for you?”  I do wonder, which of these is more important, especially in this uncommon time?

What if, instead of asking “What is the next right thing for me to do?” we started asking “What is the most loving thing for me to do?”[7]  Because, for Jesus, the next right thing is the most loving thing.

In today’s reading from the Gospel of John, Jesus is having a meal with his friends.  As it turns out, this will be their lastsupper together.  And, at the start of today’s reading, Jesus tells his friends, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”  (John 14:15)  Curious readers of this text might read these words and go on to ask the simple question, “Say, what exactly are these commandments that Jesus is talking about – these commandments that we are supposed to keep if we love him?”  Just so you know, today’s passage from the Gospel of John is a little excerpt of a much longer section in which Jesus says a lot of things.  And, both before today’s reading and after today’s reading, Jesus gives his disciples what he calls “a new commandment” which is this:  “. . . love one another. . . just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.”  (13:34)[8]

“If you love me,” Jesus is saying here, “keep my commandment to love one another as I have loved you.  I have loved you in a way that is self-sacrificial, a way that thinks of others first, a way that is uncommon in a world where everyone seems to be looking out for themselves.”  “Loving others as I have loved you,” Jesus says, “this is the right way to love. This is the right thing to do.”

In the end, to love as Jesus loves is the right thing to do.  But it sure isn’t the easy thing to do.  In fact, how on earth can you and I love as Jesus loves?  Thankfully, Jesus does not leave us alone – left to our own weak and very-human devices – because the next thing he says after  “If you love me, keep my commandments” is:

. . . and I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate – a Helper[9] – to be with you forever.  This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him.  You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you.  (John 14:16-17)

To put it another way, we won’t always choose to do the right thing on our own.  We need some help us to do the right thing.  We need someone to help us – someone who is at work on us, and in us, and through us.  This is the Holy Spirit, who – in our baptism and beyond – abides with us. . . within us.  The Holy Spirit helps us do the right thing, or, rather, the Holy Spirit does the most loving thing through us, despite our best efforts to the contrary.

Does this mean that you and I will always do the right thing?  Of course not.  Does this mean that those who do not trust in the Holy Spirit will always do the wrong thing?  Not at all.  What it does mean is that help is here when and where we need it most.  Help is here to help us do right in the face of so much wrong in the world.  Help is here to help us encounter all of this wrong with (as Peter puts it)[10] as much hope, and gentleness and reverence as God can provide.  Help is here to help us do the right thing, even when it is not the easy thing.

And, I don’t know about you, but I’m going to need some help in the coming months – help to do the right thing even if it might be unpopular – like waiting far longer than other places to fully re-open our church, because if people are going to be harmed by gathering for worship, God doesn’t want that kind of worship.  I’m going to need help to do the loving thing, even if it makes me sad – like not allowing congregational singing in church until there is an effective vaccine for the coronavirus.  And I’m going to need help to do the good and right and loving thing even if it is frustrating – like encountering the many different voices and opinions of those whose version of doing the right thing does not match up with my own version (or our church’s version) of doing the right thing.

What does it take to do the right and loving thing, even when the right and loving thing is not the easy thing?  It takes the Holy Spirit.

May God grant us the grace we need – through the Holy Spirit – to bear with one another, in love, and find moments of blessing even in hard times.  And, especially in these uncommonly hard times, may God grant us the strength we need to do the right thing – the most loving thing. . .  not just for us, but for all.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

--------------

[1] https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/coronavirus/in-depth/coronavirus-mask/art-20485449.

[2] https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-factcheck-coronavirus-mask-efficacy/partly-false-claim-wear-a-face-mask-covid-19-risk-reduced-by-up-to-98-5-idUSKCN2252T6.

[3] See 1 Peter 2:19.

[4] See 1 Peter 5:13.  “Babylon” was a nickname for “Rome” in the early church.

[5] See 1 Peter 3:15.

[6] Wayne Muller, A Life of Being, Having, and Doing Enough (New York:  Crown Publishing/Random House, Inc., 2010) 27.

[7] Wayne Muller, from a course in the Certificate for Spiritual Formation program at Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, GA, 2011.

[8] And John 15:12.

[9] Walter Bauer, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament. . . (Chicago:  University of Chicago Press, 1979) 618.

[10] See 1 Peter 3:15-16.

[johnhardinsawyer]

Do Not Be Afraid

John Sawyer

Bedford Presbyterian Church

4 / 12 / 20 – Easter Sunday[1]

Matthew 28:1-10

“Do Not Be Afraid”

(Joy is Stronger Than Fear)

I am afraid I’m stating the obvious when I say that this is an Easter unlike any other that you and I have ever experienced. During normal times – if we can even use that word “normal” anymore –  on Easter Sunday, this room is usually full, twice over.  But today – in this time of physical distancing due to concerns about a virus that can kill people – the sanctuary is nearly as empty as the empty tomb.

And yet, here we are – gathered together, in spirit, from our couches and desks and tables, on our computers and phones, wherever we might be – to join our voices with Christians all over the world – and in every time and place – to say that even though we know that death is very real and people die everyday, God has conquered death.  And we are here, today, to say that because God has conquered death we have been given a new way of seeing and living in the world right now. And even though we are always being tempted to “be afraid, be very afraid,”[2] by what we see in the news, read on the internet, hear from the lips of those we trust, and see with our own eyes, God’s loving and persistent response to us is, “Do not be afraid.”  (Matthew 28:5, 10)

Throughout the Bible, God is always telling people “Do not be afraid,” and in today’s story – Matthew’s account of the resurrection – we hear this phrase twice.  “Do not be afraid.”  “Do not be afraid.”  Now, even though most of us would never really think that there is anything frightening about the Easter story, because it is so familiar to many of us, let’s take a minute to put ourselves in the shoes of some of the people who were there when it happened.

Just to recap today’s story – we have two women going to a graveyard to visit the tomb of a good friend whom they had watched as he was brutally killed and then buried.  They even saw a stone rolled across the door of the tomb to seal it shut.[3]  We have armed soldiers guarding the tomb.  We have a great earthquake – a seismic event of mega proportions.[4]  We have a flash of lightning, and an angel from heaven who makes short work of that large and heavy stone.  Oh, and there’s the small detail of someone who was known to be dead, showing up alive again.  If you think about it, there is not much about this scene that isn’t frightening.

Mary Magdalene was from one of the first towns that Jesus visited when he began his ministry.[5]  She had likely known Jesus for a long time.  The other Mary was the mother of James and Joseph.[6]  We don’t know exactly who these folks were, but they were – most likely – members of the early church community and known to the people who first heard Matthew’s Gospel.  These two Marys have a lot to fear.  Not only are they second or third class citizens with very few rights and privileges – based on their gender and their religion and where they are from – but they have also been following a teacher – Jesus – who is known by the authorities as a troublemaker and heretic.  All of the people in power are saying that Jesus was a criminal.  So, these two women have a lot of reasons to be afraid on that first Easter – that maybe they would be arrested, too, or mistreated by the guards in some way, or worse.  But then, as the story goes, everything changes.  Fear of what had happened to Jesus on the cross and what might happen to them gives way to the fear of what is happening right before their eyes.  There is this earthquake and an angel of the Lord – with a face like lightning – descends from heaven and rolls the stone away and it leaves everyone in the story quaking with fear.

There are plenty of things that can happen right in front of us that can cause us to quake with fear.  We might not see earthquakes and flashes of lightning or things even more powerful than that every day, but we do know what it is like when the test results are not what we want to hear, there are complications that we could not predict, hopes and dreams are dashed, bombs are dropped, guns go off, lives are shattered, accidents happen. . .  global pandemics arise, and people put on masks to go to the grocery store, and we are afraid.  And fear is a powerful thing – one of those basic emotions that we feel deeply in our bodies.  It cannot be reasoned with or predicted.  If you are afraid, your heart-rate goes up, you start to sweat, and you feel a primal urge to either run or fight.  When are afraid, we do things that are not rational and sometimes, not right.  Over a long period of time, if we are always afraid, it damages our health and impairs our spirits.

In today’s story, the guards at the tomb and the two Marys are all frightened.  The guards faint out of fear.  They shake and become “like dead men.”  (28:4)  But we read that Mary Magdalene and the other Mary do not faint.  They are somehow able to keep it together in the face of the miraculous, and even though they are afraid, the Bible story tells us that these women have both “fear and great joy.” (28:8)

Hmmm. . .  Fear and fainting on the part of the guards or fear and great joy on the part of the women. . .  What do you think makes the difference?

I think that the primary difference here is love.  Put quite simply, the two Marys love Jesus, and this love gives them enough faith and hope that God is somehow at work – doing something unheard-of.  And even though they are startled and frightened by all that they are seeing and hearing, and don’t fully understand everything that is going on, their faith and hope and love leads them to be filled with joy, despite any fear they feel.  On the other hand, the guards – who are quite accustomed to frightening things, due to their line of work – experience the fear without the joy and will later deny everything they have seen and heard.[7]

Fear without love is definitely a joyless enterprise.  Fear without the hope that love inspires removes any possibility from our minds and hearts that there is something better, something peaceful, something pure, something healing, something holy. . .  Fear without the faith that hope gives us leaves us empty, and just-plain tired, and living in denial that God would ever do something for the likes of us.

This is why I love the story of Easter.  After all that Mary Magdalene and the other Mary have been through – when their hope is gone and there is no joy, but their love for Jesus somehow remains – suddenly, God gives them some good news, some light in the darkness, some hope and joy when they need it most.  God gives them resurrection.

The Easter story is full of fear and trembling – but not like you think.  In the end, it is death and fear who are trembling – the world as we see and know it that is trembling as the kingdom of God comes near, as heaven and earth are brought together.  God has shown the ultimate strength by being weak.  As one commentator writes, “God’s power renders the empire and its mighty fighting machine lifeless [when the guards faint away]. . . God out-empires the [human] empire”[8]with God’s own empire, God’s own kingdom.  Those who seem powerful and strong are really the fearful ones.  Those who are considered weak or less-than. . .  or dead. . .  are lifted up.

The power and promise of the resurrection is one that says “No” to fear, “No” to the things in this world that cause us to be afraid, and “Yes” to a new kind of life in God’s empire, “Yes” to the joy of being called to serve God’s kingdom, “Yes” to the good news that no matter how much we might fear death, death does not have the last word.  The power and promise of the resurrection means that God has said “Yes” to us.  And no matter what fears might keep us awake at night or cause us to quake in our shoes, no matter what fears might paralyze our spirits, God says, “Do not be afraid.  Do not be afraid.  Do not be afraid.”

You know, one thing that I have always found kind of fun about the version of the Easter story we find in Matthew is that Mary Magdalene and the other Mary are the first people who have been empowered with the gospel and given the message to go and tell the good news that Jesus has been raised from the dead, and so they quickly leave the tomb and suddenly they meet Jesus face to face, and he says, “Greetings!”  I mean, except for Christmas cards who says, “Greetings!” anymore?  Why would Jesus say something so formal sounding and cheesy, like, “Greetings!”?

In the original language, the word that Jesus uses is a traditional way of saying hello to someone, but it’s first meaning – it’s original meaning – is “Rejoice!  Be glad!”[9]

If you hear anything at all this morning, in the face of all that is going on in the world and in your own life, I hope that you will hear the words of Jesus when he says, “Rejoice!  Be glad!  . . . Do not be afraid.” (28:10)

Do you know someone who is afraid and needs to see the world in a different way, today?  Perhaps one of the best things you could ever do for them is to be present with them – either in body or spirit, in person or over the phone – and to tell them “Do not be afraid.”  If they ask you why they should not be afraid, you could tell them that Jesus is risen and that death does not have the last word.  But, maybe you could start just by telling them that they are loved.  As preacher and writer Nadia Bolz-Weber said in a recent sermon, “. . . maybe the opposite of fear isn’t bravery. . .  the opposite of fear is love.”[10]

And so, friends, I am not afraid to state the obvious when I say, do not be afraid.  You are loved.  Christ is risen from the dead.  Death does not have the last word.  God has done something new.  May we encounter this new thing with open hearts and without any fear.  And may we share it – with joy – always and in all ways.

Rejoice!  Be glad!  Do not be afraid. . .  Christ is risen.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

---------------

[1] This sermon has been adapted from one preached on April 16, 2017 at Bedford Presbyterian Church.  The message “Do Not Be Afraid” seemed to resonate on this fourth Sunday of “physical distancing” during the COVID-19 Coronavirus pandemic of 2020.

[2] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091064/trivia.

[3] Matthew 27:60-61.

[4] Walter Bauer, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago:  University of Chicago Press, 1979) 746.

[5] Magdala sits at the end of the ancient path that goes from Nazareth to the Sea of Galilee, the path that Jesus traveled as he began his ministry.

[6] See Matthew 27:56.

[7] See Matthew 28:11-15.

[8] Warren Carter, Matthew and the Margins (Maryknoll:  Orbis Books, 2000) 545.

[9] Bauer, 873.

[10] https://nadiabolzweber.substack.com/p/be-not-afraid-um-yeahok?r=3dw94&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&utm_source=copy&fbclid=IwAR3-57v1S3CCrrLWbWFsuVUmP7Tv6O7i1nLbgluktCDGtFJM4TcMYTMA0Z4.

[johnhardinsawyer]

(K)Night of Faith

John Sawyer

Bedford Presbyterian Church

3 / 8 / 20 – Second Sunday in Lent

Genesis 12:1-4a

John 3:1-17

“(K)Night of Faith”

(Believing into the Wilderness)

This past week, I took our two-and-a-half year-old son to the grocery store, and – for the first time in a long time – I used one of those Purell wipes to clean the grocery cart.  With all of the conflicting information about the COVID-19 coronavirus, even though the Purell wipe just might have worked enough to smear the germs around a bit on the cart, I wanted to try to do something to ease some of the anxiety that I had about germs.  Two-year-old boys in grocery stores are always wanting to touch all kinds of things – the grocery cart, grocery shelves, food products, my winter hat, the conveyor belt at the register, or, last Tuesday, all of the above.  Oh, there are some germs that you can get at the grocery store, but – as I have found with our very-hands-on son – there are germs all over the place.  With so many germs, it’s a wonder that we would want to leave the house at all.  But we do.  We have to. . .  And so, we wash our hands a little more thoroughly, we cover our mouths and noses when we cough and sneeze – trusting that others will do the same – and we walk out the door.

Stepping out into the world oftentimes takes a leap of faith – a certain amount of trust, and risk, and sheer bravery.  Otherwise, we might just stay at home so that we can – as some public health officials are calling it – “self-isolate.”  And, in today’s readings from scripture, we find two stories of people who choose to not self-isolate or stay at home.  Instead, they take a leap – one bold, and one not quite as bold – into a new world, with all of the risks associated with doing such a thing.

In today’s short reading from Genesis, we find a septuagenarian named Abram, who is told by the Lord to get up and leave his country, his family, and his father’s house and go to a new land, which the Lord will show him.  Oh, and before we get too far, just in case you’re wondering, “Abram,” which means “exalted father,” will later change his name to “Abraham,” which means “chief of [a] multitude, or father of many” [1]  If you think about it, though, “exalted father” and “father of many” are pretty ironic names for a man who – at this point in the Bible story – is unable to have children with his wife, Sarai.  Anyway, the Lord comes to Abram, who is, perhaps, reading the latest edition of AARP Magazine, and tells him to pack his things and move.  And, no, he’s not moving to Florida for the winter.  Instead, Abram is told that he will be shown where to go, here implying that he has not seen a picture of the place, or received any kind of description other than, “I’ll tell you when you get there.”  When was the last time you moved to a new place or even went on vacation, sight unseen, or even reading a review or consulting a map?  Here, we find Abram doing just that.

Granted, Abram does receive a promise from the Lord, who says, “I’ll make you a great nation [, Abram] and bless you.  I’ll make you famous; you’ll be a blessing.  I’ll bless those who bless you; those who curse you I’ll curse.  All the families of the Earth will be blessed through you.”[2]  This is quite a promise, isn’t it?  Quite a promise – that the whole world would receive God’s blessings through Abram.

But would a promise like this be enough to make you get up and go?  I imagine that most of us would have some trepidation, especially since prior to today’s story, there is no real evidence of Abram trusting in the Lord or having any kind of relationship with God.  And yet, as the story goes, Abram gets up and goes, as the Lord tells him, and he takes his wife and his nephew and all of their possessions, and they go to a land called Canaan.

It’s kind of interesting, though, after they get there, to “the” place, they keep traveling – going down to Egypt and back and through all kinds of adventures – wherever the Lord leads them.  And, almost the whole way through, Abram – who does change his name to Abraham – is tested by the Lord again and again, and has, at times, what seems like an almost unwavering faith.  

There is a reason why Soren Kierkegaard refers to Abraham as the “knight of faith,” someone who can – in placing his or her trust in God – act in ways that run contrary to how most of us would act, or how the world works.  For Kierkegaard, there is some aspect to faith that, to so many people, just seems absurd – the irrational, underlying belief that with God, nothing is impossible.[3] [4]  But, “. . . prior to faith,” Kierkegaard writes, “there is a movement of infinity, and only then enters faith, unexpectedly, on the strength of the absurd.”[5]  In other words, faith enters the picture because God is at work – no matter how strange that may sound.

In today’s reading from the Gospel of John, strange things are in the air the night that a man named Nicodemus comes to meet with Jesus.  Jesus has come to the city of Jerusalem for the Passover festival.  And, just prior to today’s story we read that “many believed in his name because they saw the signs that he was doing.”  (John 2:23)  Now, these signs – whatever they are – while inspiring belief in some, make other people anxious.  And, to these anxious people, the things that Jesus is doing and saying don’t sound very decent and in-order.  In fact, they could upset the whole religious order of things.  And so, Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews – the people whose faith was founded on the faith of their ancestor, Abraham – comes to ask Jesus just what, in heaven’s name, is going on.

There is something very interesting, and almost familiar-sounding going on with Nicodemus.  When John Calvin writes about this, he wonders if Nicodemus has a puffed up opinion of himself and is unwilling to lose any part of his elevation or social status.  And yet, as Calvin writes,

. . . there appears in [Nicodemus] some seed of piety; for hearing that a Prophet of God had appeared, he does not despise or spurn the doctrine which has been brought from heaven, and is moved by some desire to obtain it – a desire which sprung from nothing else than fear and reverence for God.[6]

In other words, Nicodemus might have a high opinion of himself – he is definitely respected among his own people – but, I think he wants to give Jesus the benefit of the doubt.  Because, if there is something Holy to be found in and with this Jesus, Nicodemus is definitely open to finding it.

I wonder if you and I might know someone like Nicodemus – or might be a little like him, ourselves.  As one commentator writes,

If any character in the Bible can be regarded as a representative of twenty-first century church members, it might be Nicodemus.  In many ways he is a sympathetic character.  A successful and self-confident man, he plays a leadership role in his community.  He is spiritually open and curious, yet also rational.  He approaches Jesus directly and tries to figure out Jesus’ actions and social networks.  He is committed and curious enough that he makes an appointment to talk with Jesus face to face.  However, Nicodemus is not ready to go public with his interest in Jesus, so he makes the appointment in the middle of the night, when he can keep his faith secret, separated from the rest of his life.  His imagination is caught by Jesus, but he wants to compartmentalize whatever faith he has.  Nicodemus is not yet ready to declare his faith in the light of day, not prepared to let it change his life.[7]

You see, this is the thing when it comes to Jesus and us – or God and us:  the very idea that something Holy – something that most would consider strange, or even absurd – could change our lives and that we would even let it change our lives is a frightening prospect.  To put it another way, how can we set off into the unknown when it’s so hard for most of us to even admit that we have placed our love and our trust and faith in someone who we read about in a book that was written thousands of years ago?  When it comes to having faith, Nicodemus is no Abraham. . .  Neither are we.  And yet, like Nicodemus, we are open to something Holy happening.  In fact, many of us have experienced the Holy in wilderness moments when the world as we knew it was being turned upside down, or in a relationship, or in one key conversation, or on a disaster recovery trip to Puerto Rico or right down the street, or in those dark moments of our lives when we are longing for the light, or when we came to trust in a deep way that God is somehow, inexplicably present and active in our lives and that we are loved.

This is the moment that Kierkegaard is talking about – a movement of “infinity” that we cannot explain in a rational sense, but just know to be true and right and pure and good and loving at the heart of who we are.  This is the moment that Jesus and Nicodemus are talking about in today’s story when they have a whole back-and-forth on what it means to be “born from above” or “born anew.”[8]  It’s hard for Nicodemus – and for us – to understand what Jesus is saying here, but the invitation to be born – by water and the Spirit – is really an invitation to let God work in our lives.

You know, I’m not convinced that Nicodemus ever truly “gets it” when it comes to a life-changing experience of faith.  I think he likes Jesus.  A bit later, he urges his angry friends to show some restraint toward Jesus[9] and, when that doesn’t work, he ends up coming to Jesus’ tomb, as it’s getting dark, with one hundred pounds of spices to embalm the body.[10]  As preaching professor Anna Carter-Florence said in a recent sermon, it’s “. . . almost too much, too late.”[11]

When it comes to encountering the Holy – with all of the disruption and doubt and fear and trembling that it might bring our way – I think that most of us would like to be more like Abraham – the Knight of Faith – but we find ourselves leaning a lot more toward Nicodemus, coming to see Jesus under the cover of darkness, at night.

I mean, we really like Jesus. . .  But Jesus loves us.  And in the love of Jesus Christ, God does not choose to “self-isolate.”  No, in spite of – and perhaps because of – all of our germs and sin and everything else wrong with the world, Jesus came to offer light and abundant, everlasting life, and salvation – for you, for me, and for all the world.

The irrational and absurd promise of God’s love for even me is one thing that helps me to step out into the world – as faithless and as faulty as my steps can often be.  Is this promise enough for you to do the same?

May the promise of God’s love be more than enough to make all of us get up and go to the blessed place that God is leading us.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

---------

[1] F. Brown, S.R. Driver, and C. Briggs, The Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon (Peabody:  Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., 1997) 4.

[2] Eugene Peterson, The Message – Numbered Edition (Colorado Springs:  NAV Press, 2002) 30.  Genesis 12:2-3.

[3] See “Knight of Faith” – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knight_of_faith.

[4] Also, see Luke 1:37 and Matthew 19:26.

[5] Soren Kierkegaard, Fear and Trembling (New York:  Penguin Books, 1985) 97.

[6] John Calvin, Calvin’s Commentaries – Vol. XVII (Grand Rapids:  Baker Books, 2009) 105.

[7] David Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor, ed., Feasting on the Word – Year A, Vol. 2 (Louisville:  Westminster John Knox Press, 2010) 68.  Deborah J. Kapp, “Pastoral Perspective.”

[8] Walter Bauer, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament. . . (Chicago:  University of Chicago Press, 1979) 77.

[9] See John 7:50 ff.

[10] See John 19:39 ff.

[11] Anna Carter-Florence, “Nicodemus.”  Sermon on Day 1, March 8, 2020.  https://day1.org/weekly-broadcast/5e5693466615fb8fa8000207/anna-carter-florence-nicodemus.

[johnhardinsawyer]

Who Do You Trust?

John Sawyer

Bedford Presbyterian Church

11 / 4 / 18

Proverbs 3:1-12

Mark 12:28-34

“Who Do You Trust?”

(Fearless Generosity in Fearful Times)

When my friends Tony and Diana were moving into their first home, one of their new neighbors – an elderly fellow – walked down the street to meet them.  He seemed friendly enough, but, toward the end of the conversation – which, I presume was about life in the neighborhood, and buying a new house, and going to the store to buy the things that a new house needs – he man pointed his finger at Tony and said, “Hey man, don’t trust nobody but your wallet.”  “I’m sorry. . .  What?” Tony said.  “Don’t trust nobody but your wallet,” the man said, walking away.  “Welcome to the neighborhood.”

Tony told me this story, years ago, and I’ve wondered about it ever since.  Was this just some crazy thing that a crazy old guy said or was he actually offering some good advice?  For years, I have been trying to figure out what “Don’t trust nobody but your wallet” means, and, I think it might mean something like this:  “If you know what’s in your wallet – how much you have, how much you can buy – then you can trust in that, but you can’t trust much else beyond that.”  This is not the most clear bit of advice you can give someone, but there is some truth to it, I guess.  Ask anyone who is on a tight budget and they’ll gladly tell you that, in order for them to keep on budget, they can only trust what they have – not what they mighthave.  And, while it might be nice to dream about coming into a big inheritance or winning the Powerball lottery, you can’t always count on stuff like that.  But, if you know what you have earned by the sweat of your brow – you know what you have – and you don’t have to trust anybody or anything, except for that.  “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush,” some folks might say.  You can count on what you know you have.  Trust your wallet, and nothing else.

I have a problem with this line of thinking, though, because I am a person of faith.  And if I have faith – which is a trust and assurance in something I have not seen, but only hope for[1]– then I am led to trust in more than just my wallet, or my bank account, or the clear black and white, dollars and cents of things.  My bank balance – or what I have in my wallet – might determine what I am able to buy or give away, but it does not determine what and who I trust.

In today’s reading from the Book of Proverbs, we hear the words of wise King Solomon, who tells us not to trust in our wallets, but to “Trust in the Lordwith all your heart. . .”? (Proverbs 3:5)  In the original language, there is this sense that you take the whole of who you are – your inner self, your mind, your will, your heart[2]–and you throw it all down on the ground in front of the face of God.[3]  You are completely vulnerable, you can’t protect yourself, you are completely in God’s hands.  “Give yourself over completely to God,” Solomon is saying.  “And do not lean too much on, or try to support yourself,[4]with your own ability to understand the world and your place in it.”  Trust in the Lord, not yourself (or your wallet).

While there are many people who might agree with old wise Solomon, in theory, most of us – even people of deep faith – struggle with the idea of putting all of our trust in God and not in ourselves.  Because, we human beings know stuff, right?  And we are always seeking to understand the world and our place in it.  This is why we spend so much time educating ourselves in school and trying to figure things out, figure ourselves out, figure other people out.  And we are often under the illusion that we think we know what’s going on – with us and with the world.  We think we understand.  But, we never really have things fully figured out, do we?  I mean, the universe is a complex place, the world is complicated – and so are the people who live here.  Things are rarely as simple as we make them out to be.  Even issues that might clearly seem black and white to us, become grey under closer scrutiny.  As author Marilynne Robinson puts it:  

There is tremendous play in reality, or, to put the matter another way, there are far too many layers and orders of complexity in all of Being [capital “B”] to abide the simple accounts we try to make of things.[5]

We, human beings, like simplicity, and life is usually way more complicated than we like it to be.  When things get too complicated – which is fairly often – we can get anxious or downright afraid, and we compensate by clinging to and trusting only what we can know for sure, like our wallets or possessions, our own feelings or our own experiences.  These things can be trusted and nothing else, or so we think.

And yet, here is Solomon, in today’s passage, telling us that to lean on anything or anyone except for God is a foolish thing to do. Do not lean on your own way of understanding, or your own mind, or your own accomplishments, or even your own wallet. Because people can let us down – we even let ourselves down from time to time – and the money in our wallets does run out.  Usually, it runs out faster than we would like.  And, if we are trusting only in our wallets, or our bank accounts, or our stock portfolios, we might have the blessing of some material wealth, but we can also be cursed with the constant mindset of needing and wanting more.  You see, I can only trust in my wallet for so long before I start focusing on what is notin my wallet instead of how grateful I am for what is in it.  If I trust in the Lord with my whole self, though, then it means that my mind and heart are focused less on what I do not have and more on what I have been given.  Going through life with a mindset of scarcity robs us of being able to rejoice in God’s abundance.  

Over the past three years at Bedford Presbyterian Church, the message we hope you have been hearing with some consistency – from the pulpit, from our Stewardship team, in the letters and publications we have sent – is that we give to God, not because we hope to be rewarded, but because we are grateful for all that God has given to us.  We have been sharing this message again and again, because we trust it to be true.  We give to God because we have experienced God’s blessings in so many different parts of our lives and in so many ways, that we cannot help but be thankful – grateful to God for giving us reason after reason to trust in the Lord with all our hearts.  And, because we have been so grateful to God as a congregation, over the past three years, if you add our Capital Campaign giving to our regular Annual Stewardship Campaign giving we have raised nearly two million dollars[6]to support the ministry and mission of God here at Bedford Presbyterian Church.  There were those who were worried that it could not be done.  But, in the midst of doubt and fear, God inspired such gratitude, such sacrificial generosity, such trust.  And, for this, I am in awe and I am grateful.

We live in a time when trust seems to be at an all-time low, there are plenty of people who don’t trust their neighbors, or institutions or elected officials.  They don’t even trust members of their own family.  “Don’t trust nobody,” is the message you see on the news, and read on the internet, and even hear in rap lyrics.  And, it would seem that the less trust there is, the more fear there is.  Trust is a rare thing, these days.  Fear, not so much.

But trust is not dead.  Strangely enough, there are those who still find some way to trust in something beyond themselves.  They trust in God because they trust that God loves them.  And this love from God makes them grateful and, dare I say, more willing to respond with love and trust in their own lives.  I have seen this and know it to be true because of what I have seen here at Bedford Presbyterian Church.

Real trust always seems to go hand-in-hand with love. If we love someone, then we are more open to trusting them.  This is one of the reasons why Jesus said, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. . . [and] love your neighbor as yourself.”  (Mark 12:30-31)  To love something – someone – beyond ourselves is the very foundation of faith.

When we come to this Table, we come, trusting in the One whose love for us was so deep and wide that he gave himself away to us and for us.  Now, you might come to this Table with a faith and trust that are strong.  But, if you are like me, you come to this Table with a faith and trust that are in need of some strength for the facing of these days.

This is not the first time in the history of the world when people were worried about the future, when they were afraid, when trust in anyone or anything was at a low ebb.  God has a way, though, of speaking a Word of love and trust and hope in every age – even in the age in which we live.  This is a Word of generosity and sacrifice, a Word of great compassion and deep faith.  This is a Word who inspires trust in something beyond ourselves, beyond our wallets, beyond our own understanding.  This is a Word who calls us to set our minds and hearts on things that are beyond what we can see and know and touch.  This Word is Jesus Christ, the One who shows us how to live faithfully in fearful times, the One who is the very example of God’s fearless generosity, the One who calms our fears, the One who came to make all things well.

Jesus shows us that just when we think we have run out of faith and trust, there is always more of God – more that God will give us, more than we know, more than we will ever need – and you can put your trust in that.

Friends, do not be afraid.  Do not trust “nobody.”  Instead, trust somebody.  Trust in the One whose love for you knows no bounds.  “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.”

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

----------------

[1]See Hebrews 11:1.

[2]F. Brown, S. Driver, and C. Briggs, The Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon(Peabody:  Hendrickson Publishers, 1997) 523.

[3]F. Brown, S. Driver, and C. Briggs, 105.  With gratitude to Dr. Jackson Blake Couey for some clarity on this.

[4]F. Brown, S. Driver, and C. Briggs, 1043.

[5]Marilynne Robinson, What Are We Doing Here?  Essays (New York:  Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2018) 102.

[6]Approximately $1,900,000 over the course of 2016, 2017, and 2018, based on information in the most current church Stewardship Brochure: Fearless Generosity – Bedford Presbyterian Church 2019 Season of Stewardship.

[johnhardinsawyer]

Do Not Be Afraid

John Sawyer

Bedford Presbyterian Church

4 / 16 / 17 – Easter Sunday

 Matthew 28:1-10

 “Do Not Be Afraid”

(Joy is Stronger Than Fear)

In recent months, I have been thinking about why I do what I do – why I think this whole God-thing is important enough for me to put on a collar and robe and stand up in front of all of you and talk about it.  And even though I still have a lot of thinking to do, one thing has become very clear to me:  one of my tasks is to try to encourage people to see the world in a way that is different from how the world actually appears to be - to live in a new and different reality.  I am here to encourage people to see the world through the lens of God’s grace instead of whatever other lenses they might be using to see the world.  But this task is not just my task, or just the task of those of us who wear collars and robes.  It is something that belongs to all of us who follow Jesus because it is something that Jesus, himself, did.

Throughout the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, Jesus takes a lot of time to describe the “Kingdom (or Empire) of Heaven” and how God’s kingdom is different from the kingdoms, empires, powers, and principalities that you and I see and are part of every day.  In the Gospel of John, Jesus talks about “life” – with God and in God – a life that is different from the life that you and I think we’re living.  God’s kingdom is different – God’s life is different – a different way of seeing and encountering and living in the world.  And coming to embrace this difference as a very real worldview and way of life is one of the reasons why we are here, in church, on Easter Sunday.

We are here, today, to join our voices with Christians all over the world – and in every time and place – to say that even though we know that death is very real and people die everyday, God has conquered death. And we are here, today, to say that because God has conquered death we have been given a new way of seeing and living in the world right now.  And even though we are always being told and taught to “be afraid, be very afraid,”[1] by what we see in the news, read on the internet, hear from the lips of those we trust, and see with our own eyes, God says “Do not be afraid.”  (Matthew 28:5, 10)

God is always telling people “Do not be afraid,” and in today’s story – Matthew’s account of the resurrection – we hear this phrase twice. “Do not be afraid.”  “Do not be afraid.”  Now, even though most of us would never really think that there is anything frightening about the Easter story, because it is so familiar to many of us, let’s take a minute to put ourselves in the shoes of some of the people who were there when it happened.

Just to recap today’s story – we have two women hanging out in a graveyard at the tomb of a good friend whom they had watched as he was brutally killed.  We have armed soldiers guarding the tomb.  We have a great earthquake – a seismic event of mega proportions.[2]  We have a flash of lightning, and an angel from heaven who makes short work of a large and heavy stone.  If you look at it a certain way, there is not much about this scene that isn’t frightening.

Mary Magdalene was from one of the first towns that Jesus visited when he began his ministry.[3]  She had likely known Jesus for a long time.  The other Mary was the mother of James and Joseph.[4]  We don’t know exactly who these folks were, but they were – most likely – members of the early church community and known to the people who first heard Matthew’s Gospel. These two Marys had a lot to fear. Not only were they second or third class citizens with very few rights and privileges, but they had also been following a teacher who was a known by the authorities as a troublemaker and heretic. Their friend Jesus was a criminal – at least that’s what the people in charge had said.  These two women had a lot of reasons to be afraid – maybe they would be arrested, too, or mistreated by the guards in some way, or worse.  But then, as the story goes, everything changed. Fear of what had happened to Jesus and what might happen to them gave way to the fear of what was happening right before their eyes.  There was this earthquake and an angel of the Lord – with a face like lightning – descended from heaven and rolled the stone away.

You know, there are those things that happen right in front of us that cause us to quake with fear.  We might not see earthquakes and flashes of lightning or things even more powerful than that, but we do know what it is like when the test results are not what we want to hear, there are complications that we could not predict, hopes and dreams are dashed, bombs are dropped, guns go off, lives are shattered, accidents happen. . .  We are afraid.                                

And fear is a powerful thing – one of those basic emotions that we feel deeply in our bodies.  It cannot be reasoned with or predicted.  If you are afraid, your heart-rate goes up, you start to sweat, and you feel a primal urge to either run or fight.  When are afraid, we do things that are not rational and sometimes, not right.

The guards at the tomb and the two Marys were all frightened. The guards fainted out of fear.  But we read that Mary Magdalene and the other Mary did not faint.  They were courageous in the face of the miraculous, and even though they were afraid, they had “fear and great joy.” (28:8)

Hmmm. . .  Fear and fainting or fear and great joy. . .  What do you think made the difference?

If you were to ask some of our Confirmands who are joining the church this morning, they would say that the primary difference is faith. Put quite simply, the two Marys had faith that God was at work – doing something unheard-of – and even though they were startled and frightened by all that they had seen and heard, and didn’t fully understand everything that was going on, their faith led them to be filled with joy, despite any fear they felt.  On the other hand, the guards – who were quite accustomed to frightening things, due to their line of work – experienced the fear without the joy and would later deny everything they had seen and heard.

Fear without faith is a joyless enterprise.  Fear without the hope that there is something better, something peaceful, something pure, something healing, something holy, something loving. . .  well, it leaves us empty, and just-plain tired, and living in denial that God would ever do something for the likes of us.  Over a long period of time, if we are always afraid, it damages our health and impairs our spirits – it limits our ability to ever find hope in hopeless situations and joy when our joy has run out.

This is why I love the story of Easter.  After all that Mary Magdalene and the other Mary had been through – when their hope was gone and there was no joy – suddenly, God gave them some good news, some light in the darkness, some hope and joy when they needed it most.  God gave them resurrection.

The Easter story is full of fear and trembling – but not like you think.  It is death and fear who are trembling – the world as we see it that is trembling as the kingdom of God comes near, as heaven and earth are brought together.  God has shown the ultimate strength by being weak. As one commentator writes, “God’s power renders the empire and its mighty fighting machine lifeless [when the guards faint away]. . .  God out-empires the [human] empire”[5] with God’s own empire, God’s own kingdom. Those who seem powerful and strong are really the fearful ones.  Those who are considered weak or less-than. . .  or dead. . .  are lifted up.

The power and promise of the resurrection is one that says “No” to fear, “No” to the things in this world that cause us to be afraid, and “Yes” to a new kind of life in God’s empire, “Yes” to the joy of being called to serve God’s kingdom, “Yes” to the good news that no matter how much we fear death, death does not have the last word.  The power and promise of the resurrection means that God has said “Yes” to us.  And no matter what fears might keep us awake at night or cause us to quake in our shoes, no matter what fears might paralyze our spirits, God says, “Do not be afraid.  Do not be afraid.  Do not be afraid.”  

You know, one thing that I have always found kind of fun about the version of the Easter story we find in Matthew is that when Mary Magdalene and the other Mary quickly leave the tomb, the first people who have been empowered with the gospel and given the message to go and tell the good news that Jesus has been raised from the dead, suddenly they meet Jesus face to face and he says, “Greetings!”  You and I might say, “Hi,” or “Hello,” but we rarely tell someone “Greetings.”  Who talks like that?  Why would Jesus say, “Greetings!”?

In the original language, the word that Jesus used was a traditional way of saying hello to someone, but it’s first meaning – it’s original meaning – is “Rejoice!  Be glad!”[6]

If you hear anything at all this morning, I hope that you will hear the words of Jesus when he says, “Rejoice!  Be glad!”  “Do not be afraid.” (28:10)

Do you know someone who is afraid and needs to see the world in a different way, today?  Perhaps one of the best things you could ever do for them is to be present – face to face with them – and to tell them “Do not be afraid.”  If they ask you why they should not be afraid, you could tell them that death does not have the last word, but maybe you could start just by telling them that they are loved.

Do not be afraid.  You are loved.  Christ is risen from the dead.  You are not alone.  Heaven has come down to earth, bringing God’s kingdom with it.  God has done something new. May we see this new thing with open hearts.  May we live this new reality every day.  And may we share it, always, and in all ways.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

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[1] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091064/trivia.

[2] Walter Bauer, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago:  University of Chicago Press, 1979) 746.

[3] Magdala sits at the end of the ancient path that goes from Nazareth to the Sea of Galilee, the path that Jesus traveled as he began his ministry.

[4] See Matthew 27:56.

[5] Warren Carter, Matthew and the Margins (Maryknoll:  Orbis Books, 2000) 545.

[6] Bauer, 873.