Fear and Love: April 28, 2024

Year B, Easter 5                                   1 John 4:7-21         

                    I am afraid of a lot of things: cockroaches, mice, large crowds, Philadelphia drivers, cancer, COVID, infections…just to name a few.  Some of these are rational fears.  Some, not so much.  Thus when I see this line from 1^st John that says, “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear…”--- I want to know how I can get this kind of love. I am pretty sure I know God’s love.  I know that I am loved by God.  It’s something that I have felt certain of my whole life and has held me up, even when I doubted every other thing.  So why do I still have these fears? Unfortunately the author of 1^st John wasn’t talking about the more mundane fears like rodents and aggressive drivers, or even the serious fears like disease.  John was most likely talking about the fear of God’s judgment, which was a much more prevalent fear in this time period.

          Especially in our modern age, most Episcopal clergy tend to focus more on love than judgment.  Our presiding bishop, Michael Curry’s favorite thing to say is, “If it’s not about love, then it’s not about God.”  There is no doubt that Jesus talked a lot about love and that is an obvious theme in all of 1^st John. In the New Testament, you will find some version of the Greek word agape (translated to love), 140 times.   However, judgment also shows up a few times in the New Testament…not as much, but it’s definitely there.  While 1^st John was written a little later than most of the gospels and Paul’s letters, there were still a lot of people at that time who thought that Jesus was returning sooner, rather than later, and when Jesus returned people would be judged. That judgment would determine who was saved and who was not. That meant it was more on the forefront of people’s minds, this fear of God’s judgment. 

Frankly, I think that would be better to focus on that fear rather than all the others fears that preoccupy our minds because there is a clear solution to that fear.  All these earthly worries don’t have clear solutions, but there is an answer to the fear that we hear about in 1^st John.  That answer is God’s love.  John wrote: “perfect love casts out fear.”  Perfect love is God’s love. God casts out fear.

I wonder if we were really confident in God’s love for us and we felt that love, then maybe we would not worry as much about the concerns of this life.  So often we find we worry about how others might be judging us or we might even be pre-occupied by our own self judgment.  While few people like to contemplate God’s judgement, that would be a more productive thing to worry about—because God can help us in very tangible ways to find freedom from that judgment. That is what God’s love can do. It can free us.  Yet it is really hard to free ourselves from these other worldly concerns, probably because they are our own creation.  It’s hard to let go of what we create.

          While I love the Episcopal Church, I worry that we have watered down God’s love a bit too much. We have allowed it to evolve into a Hallmark emotion.  God’s love isn’t an emotion.  God’s love is action.  This text from John spells it out: “God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only son into the world so that we might live through him.  In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.”  I would like to get into a long discussion on what the “atoning sacrifice” means, but I am pretty sure that would only be interesting to about 5 of you.  (You can let me know on the way out who you are.) 

What I would rather focus on is the act of God sending his son to this world…this world that had disappointed God over and over again.  God sent God’s son to be with us, to live with us, and then die on a cross so that we might understand the depth of God’s love.  According to John, that is how God’s love was revealed to us.  God wanted us to see his love in action, up close and personal so that we could then show that love to others.

          I fear many things, but I don’t fear God’s judgment. And that’s not because I am perfect.  It’s not because I am an extraordinary Christian.  It’s because I know that God’s rooting for me.  God is rooting for all us.  In sending God’s son, God was saying, “I’m all in.”  And you don’t do that for a people you intend to damn to hell.  No, you do that for people you are intent of saving…in this world and the next. 

One of my favorite passages in the Bible is in Romans and reads, “If God is for us, who is against us?” Honestly, when I think of that text, or quote that text, that is the only part that I remember.  However it popped into my head while writing this sermon and I looked it up to make sure I had the quote correct. Then I looked at the lines right after. ^“He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else? Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.”

          I realize that there are so many things that weigh on each of your hearts.  Even those of you who may not be prone to worry, still has something that burdens you.  I feel like the majority of my adult life, I have labored over the juxtaposition of my anxiety, versus my confidence of God’s love. That’s right, I worry about my proclivity to worry. So here is what I am going to try and I commend it to you as well.  I am going to try to dwell in God’s love, rest in the assurance of God’s love for me and God’s love for all of us.  Because God’s love is so much greater than the sum of all of our concerns.  I am going to remind myself that it’s ok if there is still fear in my love because my love is not the axis on which this world turns.  God’s love is the axis on which this world turns. That is the love I choose to dwell in. One day, I hope that my love and you love might look a bit more like God’s love…but for now, we can dwell in God’s love.

May 2, 2021: Being right isn't enough

 Year B, Easter 5                                                                 1 John 4:7-21                                                             

            In the church, we like to discuss the humility of Jesus Christ.  Typically when we are referring to his humility, we are talking about his humble origins—being born in a barn to a poor couple with no connections.  Or…we focus on his death on a cross, the experience of being stripped, whipped and then hung on a cross between two criminals.  It was a method of killing that was meant to humiliate.

However, while his birth and death are powerful images, they are not very relatable displays of humility.  Where I see Christ’s humility most abundantly is in his ability to love people, even when they were wrong.  Jesus was the very embodiment of the truth, yet ironically, he was often considered wrong.   He was judged or scolded by not only the religious leaders of the time—but sometimes--- his own disciples.

 He knew he was right.  If he had wanted to, he could have forced people to see the error of their ways, but he chose not to.  Why?  We know he wasn’t a pushover.  He still corrected people and taught people.  He spoke the truth.  He engaged in debate, but it was always out of a place of love.  He was right.  He was always right and even he allowed himself the humanity of not being able to convince people of how right he was.  That….from an all-powerful, all knowing God…that is humility.

            We often act like church conflict is a modern phenomenon, or at least a phenomenon of the last 500 years.  But conflict in the church has existed as long as the church has existed.  1^st John was written in about 100 AD.  By this time, the Christian community was somewhat established.  There was some structure and even doctrine to an extent.  Once there was a core set of beliefs, people started arguing about that core set of beliefs.  That was what was probably happening in this community that the author was writing about.  People were arguing and they were so mad at one another, some left the community all together. 

            The author of 1^st John was working hard to remind people in the community to love another—not because they were all of one mind, not because they were Christians, not even because they deserved to be loved, but because God loved them.  That was it. That was the only reason that mattered—the only reason that still matters.  We love one another because God loved us first. 

And it wasn’t a gentle admonition the author was giving.  He said, “Those who say, ‘ love God,’ and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars…”  If you cannot show love to your fellow believers, then you cannot love God.   That was the interesting part of this.  He wasn’t even talking about their enemies; the author was talking about the people in their own community.  And that makes sense when you think about it. It’s harder to sincerely love the people we know than those who we don’t really know at all.

            This idea of loving one another is not new to 1^st John.  We hear about it in the Gospels, most potently in the Gospel of John.   At the Last Supper, Jesus told his disciples, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another.  Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.  By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” 

Jesus said this to his disciples, right after Judas left to betray him and immediately before he told Peter that he would deny him (which by the way, Peter told him he was wrong about that.)  In the midst of all that pain, he washed their feet and shared a meal. He was showing his disciples what it was to love people, even when they have betrayed and denied you, even when they have deserted the community.  Jesus knew what they would face after his death, resurrection and ascension.  He knew how hard it would be establishing the Christian community.  He wanted them to see what it looked like, to love people who hurt you. 

            On the one hand, this all seems so obvious.  Of course we are supposed to love one another. We hear that over and over! But the rationale is less obvious.  Imagine a parent saying to his/her bickering children, “I love you and therefore, you must love one another.” I am not sure that would be very effective. 

But there is more at stake than simply how we treat one another.  The author wrote, “if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us.” The word that is translated to perfect in Greek doesn’t define perfect in the way we perceive perfection. It doesn’t mean without flaw or sin. It means completed or fulfilled its purpose.  We must love one another because that is how God’s love for us is complete.  It’s a full circle.  God loves us. We love one another.  God’s love is made complete when we love one another.  God’s love lives in us and thus we love God.  This is not simply what we are asked to do as Christians, it is our primary purpose.  It is our very reason for being.

There has been a constant tension in the Christian faith between maintaining the doctrine of our faith and loving those who we may perceive are compromising that doctrine. We have seen it in a microcosm in the Episcopal Church over the last 20 years.  We could not agree about gay marriage and ordination, so a large amount of people left.  I am not saying they were wrong to leave.  That would kind of defeat the purpose of this whole sermon.  But it split the community.  It didn’t help us get along.  It didn’t solve any problems.  It just ensured that we wouldn’t even try to talk anymore.  They can’t learn from us. We can’t learn from them.  That makes it a lot harder to love another.

So what is the answer?  For once, it’s fairly obvious—but not easy.  We do as Jesus did.  We continue to engage in dialogue with those whom we disagree. We recognize that no matter how well we make our case, we may never convince our brothers and sisters in Christ of that case.  Yet despite that, we continue to come to the table as Jesus did at the last supper. We share the bread and the wine.  We even serve one another as Jesus did when he washed the disciples’ feet. We follow Jesus’ example. 

That doesn’t mean we can no longer stand up for what we believe in.  The author of John says that when we love one another and make God’s love complete, then “we may have boldness on the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world.” That is the great irony in this.  We think that not being victorious in an argument makes us look weaker. But in terms of our relationship with God, we have become bolder, more fearless.  I think the key is that we never stop trying to make our point. We do it as gracefully as possible, but we keep doing it, while also making sure that we listen even more than new speak.  I know this is hard, especially for a preacher.  But it is what God asks us.  Be bold. Be fearless. But above all, be loving.

Photo by Harli Marten