A Sermon for Jan. 13, 2013: With the Holy Spirit and Fire

A Sermon for January 13, 2013 (Epiphany 1, RCL C)

Offered by Nathan Ferrell for The Church of Saint Mary

Texts:             Isaiah 43:1-7; Psalm 29; Luke 3:15-17,21-22

Primary Message:  Christ drives out our fear and fills us with courage
Call to Action:          trust in Christ and live boldly
Title:               With the Holy Spirit and Fire

My dear sisters and brothers: when we are overwhelmed by the grace of God, our fear is driven away; then courage and boldness carry us forward in hope.

Let me ask you a question. And yes, this is a true question to which I want you to answer – vocally, out loud, for all to hear.

What single message, what single idea, do you think is the most commonly repeated, the most often delivered one throughout all of the Bible? What is the single most common communication from God to human beings in the Scriptures?

(Answers from the congregation…)  

All good thoughts, worthy attempts. But the answer is found in these four words:

DO NOT BE AFRAID.

 

That’s it! And that message is found in today’s passage from Isaiah as well – twice in fact! “Do not fear, for I am with you” (Isaiah 43:5).  

And although the exact words are not spoken, this theme punctuates every single sentence of this passage:

“When you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.”

The idea of walking through fire is an ancient way of testing one’s faith.

Have you ever heard of or seen Indian gurus walking over burning hot coals?

Well, let me tell you a very old story about walking through fire and the courage of faith.  

In the year 1219, St. Francis of Assisi traveled to the city of Damietta in the north of Egypt. He went there with one simple and primary purpose: to do what Jesus and the apostles did - to preach the good news to those who have not heard it.

In this situation, however, there was one major difference in circumstance. Damietta was a city under siege. It was the height of the Fifth Crusade. The combined European forces had just suffered a painful defeat in their attempt to capture the city, and now they regrouped while maintaining a siege out in the desert surrounding Damietta.

Within the city, leading the Islamic defenses was the famous Sultan of Egypt, Malek Al-Kamil. With stunning bravery, St. Francis and one of his little brothers, a Friar Minor, approached the enemy lines with a request to speak with the Sultan.

Now, picture this in your mind! Can you imagine what those heavily-armed, battle-scarred Muslim soldiers thought when they considered this short, poor little man with the funny haircut who carried nothing with him, but who asked with such boldness and audacity for a direct audience with the Sultan?!  

We have no idea as to why exactly, but his request was granted. You must understand that Francis was perfectly ready and spiritually prepared for martyrdom. He knew perfectly well that he was risking his life by such a venture, and he was ready to lose his life in this way for the sake of the Gospel.

This meeting between Francis and the Sultan in the year 1219 is an historical fact. But the reports of what actually occurred in this meeting are a bit less certain.

It is said that a very civil and respectful dialogue ensued between Francis and his brother Friar, and the Sultan, along with the imams in his court. Both sides tried in vain to convert the other. Finally, it is reported that Francis offered to undergo a trial by fire to prove the validity of the Gospel.

Francis offered to walk through fire in order to prove that God was with him, as long as the Sultan’s imams were willing to do the same.

Now, that sounds crazy, right? But there was a method to his madness.  

Back in the days of Muhammad, when he was beginning to gather a group of followers around him in the first decades of the 7^th century, it is said that he challenged a group of Christians to a similar trial. Leaders of both groups would walk through fire; the ones who came out unscathed were the ones who had God on their side, the ones who spoke the truth about God.

If you know anything about Muhammad, then you will know that this is clearly a challenge that he would relish. But those Arabian Christians declined, saying that they did not wish to put Christ to the test in this way. And so Muhammad left feeling justified, that his message was inspired and the faith of the Christians was not REAL faith, since they were too afraid to face the test of fire.    

600 years later in Egypt, I think that St. Francis was intending to make up for the supposed failure of those timid Christians in their meeting with Muhammad.

With courage and boldness, he offered to walk through fire with his counterparts, but this time the imams refused. They did not wish to put allah to the test in this way.

With his courage, Francis won the respect of the Sultan. He and his friars were treated as honored guests, and they were given free passage to travel throughout the Sultan’s lands - including the Holy Land! – in peace.

“When you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lord your God…Do not be afraid, for I am with you.”

My friends: something happens deep within the heart of a person who is overwhelmed by the grace of God. When all of your defenses are broken down, all of your pride washed away, when all of your strength is gone and you realize that there is nothing solid or dependable or trustworthy in this life except for the grace and love of God, then you can live without fear.

“Perfect love drives out fear.” So we are told in the first letter of John, and this is what I think it means when John the Baptizer preaches to the people about the coming Messiah:  “He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”

The Messiah immerses us in a life of trust and confidence, courage and boldness, because it is a life of intimacy with God who is pure goodness and mercy.

Now, let’s be clear: I am not suggesting in any sense at all that we actually attempt walking through fire. There are still lots of people who do this!

There was an event in San Jose, California this past July hosted by the famous motivational speaker Tony Robbins. It was a four day conference called “Unleash The Power Within”, and as part of this conference the attendees were invited to – yes, you probably guessed it by now - walk through fire! Actually, it was a 10 foot swath of burning coals around 1500 degrees Fahrenheit.

Supposedly, he has offered this type of activity for many years, but THIS time at least 21 people were taken to the hospital with severe burns! Bystanders spoke of hearing people screaming as if they were being tortured! (http://www.mercurynews.com/crime-courts/ci_21125630/san-jose-21-people-treated-burns-after-firewalk)

OK, this is NOT what I would suggest! It is NOT courageous to put yourself in dangerous situations. That’s just plain stupid.

The boldness and courage which the Holy Spirit and the fire of Jesus bring into our lives is much more basic, and simple, than this.  

It is the courage to speak the truth, even when it might hurt your own position or threaten your own position.

It is the courage, sometimes, just to get out of bed in the morning, to not give up, to keep on going. The will and courage to persevere.

It is the courage to turn the other cheek, to choose to love your enemies and never to seek revenge.

It is the courage to not care about your prestige, to not be attached to your possessions, to not be anxious about your income or your assets.

Above all, it is the courage to love, the courage to care, to pour yourself out for those who need you.

Will you allow yourself to be touched, and overwhelmed, by the Holy Spirit and the fire of Christ, so that your fear is driven away, so that you can walk forward into the unknown with courage and boldness? Let it be so. Amen.

 

 

 

The Value of Fear and Love - A Sermon for 8/19/12

A Sermon for the Sunday after Pentecost (RCL B) 8-19-2012

Offered by Nathan Ferrell for Trinity Episcopal Shared Ministry

Texts:            1 Kings 2:10-12,3:3-14; Psalm 111; John 6:51-58

Themes:        wisdom, fear of the Lord, discernment

Title:              The Value of Fear and Love

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Psalm 111:10).

My dear friends: What does it mean to be wise?

Think of someone you know whom you consider to be a wise person. Then consider what exactly it is about that person which earns them that title in your mind.

What does it mean to be wise? For most people in today’s world, I’ll bet that a wise person is someone with good common sense, maybe even someone who is street wise. Someone who knows how to survive, how to get by and maybe how to work a deal. Perhaps a wise person today is someone who understands money and how to maneuver it, how to manipulate it, how to multiply it.

But what does it mean to be wise in a biblical sense?

You know that Solomon is famously described in the Bible as being the wisest man who ever lived.

To be honest, that’s mostly royal propaganda! Yes, when he was young, Solomon was known to be wise. Here in this famous story, Solomon asks not for wealth nor long life nor for the demise of his enemies. Instead, Solomon asks for wisdom and discernment.

This is a nice tale, and it may have reflected some truth about Solomon when he was young.

But as a grown man, fully in touch with his royal power, he was known to all the Israelites as a tyrant, a ruthless ruler who taxed them without mercy and subjected the people to forced labor for grandiose building projects. In addition, the Bible clearly states that he paid homage to foreign gods and that he most certainly did NOT walk in the ways of his father’s God!

In fact, as soon as Solomon died, there was a revolt and the northern tribes declared their independence from the corrupt royal government based in Jerusalem.

Whatever wisdom Solomon did possess in his early years rapidly turned into narcissism – into an over-inflated sense of his own importance.

But the essence of what it means to be wise in the biblical sense is found in our Psalm appointed for today: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Psalm 111:10).

Now I ask you: how do we square this up with the clear calling that we receive in the New Testament to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength? (cf. Matthew 22:37)

How can you simultaneously fear the Lord and love the Lord at the same time?

Is that even possible?

Yes, I say! In fact, let me suggest to you that it is not only possible to fear and love God at the same time, but that in the Bible’s vision of a full and healthy life – these two are in fact the very same thing.

We fear God and we love God when we make God the highest value in our life.

It is all about values and priorities and focus.

Some of you know that my family was blessed this summer with a new puppy. We found this puppy during our summer vacation up north.

Her name is Clare and she is a mutt – a mixed breed dog, with her mother being a pure Saint Bernard. So we can figure out pretty clearly that she is destined to be BIG!

Now, having a big puppy requires a lot of work!

You may then forgive me if my thoughts have invariably been taken up lately by thoughts of puppy training. And if any of you have ever trained a new puppy – especially a large dog, then you know the amount of work and vigilance that is required – that is, if, in fact, you intend to end up with a well-behaved and disciplined dog!

It is especially a challenge right now to walk this big puppy. She is so easily distracted!

Clare is not a good walker. Not yet! But we are taking her to puppy training classes

One of the things that we are learning about is to teach the puppy to watch us – to look at us, to pay attention to us as her owners.

Right now, she is so distracted that walking her is a major challenge!

Yesterday on a walk, she even started to chase after a few leaves that were blowing in the wind! Every car that goes by. Every dog or cat or squirrel close by. Every person. Everything distracts her and then she pulls, because she wants to check it out!

And all the while, she is not even looking at me! Not paying attention at all to what I am doing, where I am going, what my plans might be! This is a real challenge.

The goal in this training is that I will no longer have to hold her so tightly on the leash, and no longer fight with her to go for a walk.

More than that: the goal is that eventually I may even be able to walk her without any leash at all! You see, the goal is that Clare will be so attuned to me, be so in touch with me, so conscious of me as her owner and as the most important thing in her life, that a leash will no longer even be necessary!

I am sure that any serious theologian would be utterly disgusted by my attempt to draw an analogy between puppy training and our relationship with God, but it makes sense to me!

Remember: we fear God and we love God when we make God the highest value in our life.

The analogy with puppy training breaks down at some point, of course, but consider that the goal of our training in Christ – our apprenticeship, our internship with the Master – is that we can learn to be so attuned to God, so in touch with God, so conscious of God as our leader and as the most important relationship in our life, that we can move with God in a synergy of motion, as a conjoined flow of energy working – and walking! – toward a common goal!

To understand how fear and love relate to value, consider this example. I love my wife, Erin. And because I love her, I also fear her. (But no, not the way that you are thinking! Ha!)

What I mean is that if I truly love her, then I treasure her. In fact, my love for her means that I place immense value upon our relationship.

Outside of my relationship with God, my relationship with Erin is the most important of my life! And that means that she has tremendous value to me.

And how do we treat those things in our lives that have the highest value?

We are afraid to lose them, aren’t we! We humans create all kinds of security systems to protect those things which we value the most, because we are determined not to lose them!

We love those things, and so we fear what might happen if they are damaged or lost.

I love my wife Erin, and so I fear what might happen if I damage her through my words or actions, or if I lose her because of my own stupidity.

Remember what Jesus taught us: “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” 

Because we become personally invested in our treasure.

We love it; we value it; we fear the loss of it.

This is how it goes with us: we fear God and we love God when we make God the highest value in our life.

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom”, because we allow God to become the center of our lives, the center of our hearts, the conscious focus of our energy.

We do this because we love God, and we know that there is nothing more precious and valuable than this connection with the living God, the Creator of all!

And we are afraid to do anything that might damage this relationship, severe this connection. We are afraid to do anything that might cut us off from God!

We fear the loss of God’s presence, because we know the power of God’s love.

Make sure that you do this, my friends, because there is nothing more valuable than this! Make sure that you place the highest possible value in your heart upon your relationship – your connection -  with God.

This is the beginning of wisdom, because this is the beginning of living fully into our new life in Christ. Amen.

Why are you afraid?

Sermon for Proper 7 B (RCL), Offered by Nathan Ferrell at HS, Bellmawr & St. Luke’s, Westville
Texts: 1 Sam 17:1,4-11,19-23,32-49; Psalm 9; 2 Cor 6:1-13; Mark 4:35-41

Welcome, my friends, to the summer of King David! Welcome. All summer long, every week we will hear a passage in our Lectionary about the life of David, and in mid-August it will continue with the life of his successor, Solomon the wise.

David’s life story is revealed to us in greater detail and clarity than that of any other life in the Hebrew scriptures. He has set an example to the people of God for 3000 years. Today, we are given the task of hearing again the familiar old story of David’s defeat of Goliath.

I am certain that many of you glazed over while hearing this story read aloud, because most of us have heard it now a thousand times. But if we listen carefully to the familiar old stories, even here can we discern the voice of the Holy Spirit speaking to us.

David is our prime example of a risk-taker in the Hebrew scriptures. His boldness in the face of such overwhelming odds is a testimony to his own determination as well as the strength of his trust in God. When all others were stuck in their fear – paralyzed and unable to act, David walked forward, straight out to the battle line.

And in the amazing courage of David we have this truth confirmed: to have faith, to trust in the living God means having the capability of taking risks.

Think about this, my friends: if we honestly trust that God is the Master of all things, that God has a good and loving purpose for our lives, then when an opportunity to act for good presents itself, we ought to be people who are ready to move forward, even in the face of overwhelming odds.

I am sure that many of you have heard the Risk Poem. This poem has floated around in popular culture for quite some time. I tried to research its origin, but was unsuccessful. The author is not known. It certainly smacks of trite pop psychology, but I see truth in it nonetheless. This is the Risk poem.

To laugh is to risk appearing the fool.

To weep is to risk appearing sentimental.

To reach out to others is to risk involvement.

To expose feelings is to risk exposing your true self.

To place your ideas, your dreams before a crowd is to risk their loss.

To love is to risk not being loved in return.

To live is to risk dying.To hope is to risk despair.To try is to risk failure.

But risks must be taken,because the greatest risk in life is to risk nothing.

The person who risks nothing,does nothing, has nothing, and is nothing.

They may avoid suffering and sorrow,but they cannot learn, feel, change, grow, love,
live.

Chained by their certitude, they are a slave,they forfeited their freedom.

Only the person who risks is truly free.

There is deep truth here, I believe. If we avoid taking risks out of fear, then we are bound by our past and unable to grow. This is the dynamic at work in our Gospel reading for today. Jesus had just called the 12 apostles, and they had left their old lives to follow him. But they were still dominated by their fear. They did not yet understand who this Christ is. We, of course, live on the other side of the resurrection. We know who this Messiah is, and yet the Lord’s question is just as fitting for us as it was for them: “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?”

So let us all be clear about this: to overcome our fear, to live by faith and trust so that we are inspired to boldness and courage – this is the task of our lives in Christ.

And when we take these steps of faith, God can act. There are times when God intervenes in history and in our lives in a way that cannot be explained by any other means. Luck is not part of a Christian’s vocabulary. We cannot, and we should not, attribute the good things in our lives to mere happenstance.

But, let us also be clear about this: risk-taking does not always turn out the way we hope. Faith is not a magic formula to achieve success. We must not be naïve about David’s example and what it means for us. As we will hear about in the weeks to come, we need to remember also that after David’s amazing defeat of Goliath, Saul spent many years trying to kill David. The young man had to live for years in the caves and hills of Judea, constantly fleeing for his life. The Psalms attributed to David pay tribute to the range of experiences that David encountered. In some of the Psalms, we hear David uttering the deepest laments of the human heart. And we know, of course, of the death of his son after his illicit tryst with Bath-sheba. David’s faith and courage did not shield him from the pains of human life.

The Lutheran pastor, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, took a risk while living under the reign of the Third Reich. He felt compelled by God to join in a covert attempt to assassinate Hitler. For Bonheoffer, this was akin to dealing with a fictional madman in a town who drives every day in a reckless manner. Eventually, the man drives up on the sidewalks and begins running down pedestrians. The typical pastoral response is to minister to those who are the victims of the madman driver. But Bonhoeffer believed that his responsibility as pastor was instead to stop the madman driver from ever driving again. He took the risk of joining this effort. However, the plot was foiled. Bonhoeffer was arrested and was killed by the Nazis just a few weeks before the Allied troops arrived. His risk-taking, his courage, inspired by his faith, failed to achieve its goal and ultimately cost him his life.

And what about the apostles themselves? By the grace of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit, they learned to overcome their fear and to trust in God in all things. Because of their courage, we are here today. But remember that all 12 of their lives ended in tragedy in one form or another. Receiving the Holy Spirit as tongues of fire did not protect them from pain and hardship in this world. Their boldness cost them their lives, but God was able to do amazing things through them.

And so the question for us remains the same: why are you afraid? In spite of our failures, in spite of our foolishness and blindness, if we can move forward in courage and boldness and truly live our lives by faith, then God might be able to do something amazing in your life. You have to simply take the first step. As the Lord said to St Paul, so it can be said about all of us: “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9).

You know, we pray for this every week. After receiving Christ in the sacrament, we pray:

“Grant us strength and courage to love and serve you with gladness and singleness of heart.”

And so may the great God of life find us always ready and willing to turn this prayer into a reality in the real world. Amen.

Fear and Love

Sermon for the 4th Sunday after the Epiphany (Year B -RCL): Fear and Love

-My sisters and brothers, we are taught in the scriptures that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and that those who act in accordance with this fear have a good understanding. Holy and awesome is the name of the Lord. The Letter to the Hebrews reminds us that our God is a consuming fire. As the Almighty Creator of all things seen and unseen, it is right to serve our God with fear.

-But I ask you this: how do we reconcile this with our love for the Lord? You know the first commandment: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.”

-How do we then both love and fear God at the same time? Are these competing commitments that cancel each other out? Let me assure you that this is not the case.
-In fact, the truth is, my friends, that love and fear must always grow together in the life of a Christian.
-There is no true love that is not grounded in fear, and there is no godly fear which is not fulfilled in love.

-The summer after I finished seminary, we went to live with Erin’s grandfather in the mountains of North Carolina. Her grandparents were pioneering Southern Baptist missionaries in Nigeria, Africa, and they had come back to North Carolina to retire. Erin adored her grandparents, and for good reason. They were amazing people – the kind of folks that are rarely seen in this world today. Their love for others was tremendous, and their generosity was known by all around them. But they were good Baptists, and drinking was one thing that they knew to be wrong. (By the way, you do know why…)
-Well, while we were living there that summer, I found a job as a finish carpenter in a new housing development – hanging doors and installing trim. And after a hot day of working with my hands, you know that all I wanted was to sit and enjoy a cold beer. I am a straight-up, blue collar Jersey boy, and I was raised to drink some beer. But I couldn’t do it.
- I pleaded with Erin. I said, “Maybe I could hide a six-pack in the back of the fridge that was in the garage?!” But it wasn’t going to be. Ice tea would have to do. Neither Erin nor I agreed with him. We did not believe that alcohol was absolutely bad. But out of her deep love and respect for her grandfather, Erin would not do anything that would sow seeds of confusion and misunderstanding in her grandfather’s mind.

-This is the same principle that Paul is teaching in his letter to the Corinthians. The context here is very different – eating meals in temples dedicated to greek gods.
-But the principle is the same. The church is to be the community which embodies the love of God. And if the members truly love one another, then they will be careful not to harm each other. Even if one member does not believe that the meat sacrificed to idols is polluted, out of love and respect for the others, that one is to abstain in order not to sow seeds of confusion and doubt.

-Here we see a practical example of how godly love and fear are so closely intertwined.

-True love and fear are always intertwined. You cannot truly love another if you do not also fear the other. This is true in any relationship in our lives.

-To love someone means to cherish them, to honor them. If I truly love my wife, Erin, then I hold her in a sacred kind of awe, careful never to do anything that might cause her harm.
-If I simply say that I love her, but then if in my actions I consistently hurt her – emotionally or physically – then I am a liar and the truth is not in me.
-True love for her causes me to treat her as if she were the most precious, fragile treasure in my world. This is the kind of fear which is intertwined with love.
-It is not that I am afraid of her – though sometimes I am, because she’s a hot headed Irish girl! But that’s not what I mean here! I mean that I fear the great harm that I, in my blindness and my foolishness, could easily cause her if I am careless.

-For those of you with children, this is like the feelings that are brought about by the birth of your first child. I don’t know about you, but for us, the birth of our first-born son gave us an entirely new understanding of what love really is.
-We never knew that we could love someone so dearly, and at the same time be so terribly afraid all of the time.
-For me, before we had children, my emotions could range about this far (hands held up and close together). But after our children came, my emotions are stretched out about this far (hands far out)!
-Now, after the birth of our children, the depth of my love is so much greater now, but so also is my capacity for fear! The more we love another, the more we fear the harm that could befall them. True love and godly fear always grow together in the heart of a Christian.

-In his book, The Weight of Glory, C.S. Lewis has an amazing passage in which he describes the kind of awe and respect that we rightly should have toward others if we see clearly.

"It is a serious thing," wrote Lewis, "to live in a society of possible gods and
goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you talk
to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly
tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if
at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree, helping each
other to one or other of these destinations. It is in the light of these
overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to
them, that we should conduct all our dealings with one another, all friendships,
all loves, all play, all politics. There are no 'ordinary' people. You have
never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilisations -- these
are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals
whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub and exploit -- immortal horrors or
[else] everlasting splendours.”

-When we see clearly with the light of Christ, we stand in awe of the people around us. There are no ordinary people, and no ordinary days.

-All of this is, of course, even more true when it comes to our relationship with God!
-God is to loved and adored. We love God because God first loved us. Forgiveness, healing power, mercy, grace are freely given to us through Jesus Christ.
-But God is also to be feared. Not the groveling kind of fear where we are afraid to be struck by lightning if we happen to spill the blessed wine of the sacrament. God is not capricious in this way, smacking us when we mess up.
-No, it is the loving fear of reverence and awe that develops in our heart when we truly encounter the living God.
-In America, we tend to act pretty chummy toward Jesus, like he’s our best friend, our buddy who hangs out with us at the ball game.
-And in a way, this kind of familiarity is good, I suppose.
-But we tend to forget that this is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. This is the one who speaks with authority, the One who went around tearing evil spirits out of people.
-Those around him were amazed and I can promise you that typically he made them feel very, very uncomfortable.
-We would do well to recover a bit of reverent fear and awe when we speak or think about God. During the Great Thanksgiving, when we sing the Sanctus, it is ancient custom to bow in recognition that we are joining in with something that is way over our heads. The heavenly beings, and all the saints, in some mysterious and profound way are living now in the presence of our Creator and singing this song of praise endlessly. It is our privilege to be allowed to join in for a brief moment.

-By the grace of God, may we be strengthened to grow in true love and godly fear, and may these be expressed in all of our relationships to those around us, and most especially in our relationship with the almighty and everlasting Lord. Amen.