1 John 4:18
18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love.
Jeremiah 29:11
11 For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.
1 Peter 2:9
9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
Sermon #2 in Weird Church Series: “From Fear to Freedom”
My husband Paul and I live in Beverly, Massachusetts, which is right next to Salem. Over the years, we have known a number of people who have had jobs in the tourism industry, since Salem is a tourist destination primarily because of the history of the witch trials--and also because of the city’s openness to a variety of spiritual practices. One of our acquaintances, let’s call him Fred--not his real name--was working on his PhD in English literature at Salem State University, and to make ends meet, Fred took a part-time job as a fortune teller, reading tarot cards for tourists. He took this job not because he believed in any magic behind tarot, but because he understood symbolism and was good at making up entertaining, optimistic predictions to go along with the symbols on the cards. The tourists who came to him for readings enjoyed his predictions, didn’t take what he said too seriously, and paid him for his services, money that he sorely needed as a full-time student. A win/win all around.
Until Fred got a repeat client. A local woman started coming to him for readings every time she had a decision to make in her life and was fearful she would make the wrong decision, fearful her future would be bleak. The woman believed in the magic of the cards and wanted direction from Fred--assurances that would quell her fears--assurances that her future would turn out well and be pain free. She looked for Fred to advise her what job to take, which relationship to pursue, what house to buy.
When Fred realized what she was doing, he could not with good conscience continue telling the woman’s fortune. He told her something to the effect of, “Your trust in me and my fortune telling is misplaced--I need you to know that this is supposed to be entertainment--I am making everything up.” Fred was more than a bit worried that having said this, the woman would complain to his boss and Fred would lose his job. But that’s not what happened at all. The woman, interestingly enough, did not believe Fred. She said something to the effect of, “Maybe you think you are making things up, but the cards don’t lie.” It turned out there was nothing Fred could say to make her change her mind--to make her take him less seriously. So, despite his needing the revenue, Fred, led by his conscience, quit his job.
My point? In some ways, we are all like this woman. We all harbor some fear of the future, and we all want to control--to some extent, at least--what our futures look like. We all crave assurances that one choice is better than another, and, if are honest, I think we all could admit that, at least sometimes, it would be nice to have someone point out exactly which choice we should make to get the outcome that we want. Wouldn’t it be nice, in some ways, to be told how to live so that pain could be eliminated--or at least minimized--for us and our loved ones? It is very human to want this kind of control.
And as Christians, haven’t we at times looked to God or the Bible for similar assurances and clarity of direction in order to quell our fear of the future, minimize pain, and get the outcome that we want? Please don’t get me wrong, it is very appropriate to bring our fears to God and to look to God for direction and assurance. In fact, our Scriptures for today all give us assurance that God loves us and wants the best for us--a future with hope.
But here is what our Scriptures don’t say. They don’t say that pain will be eliminated. They don’t say that if we pray hard enough, we can control our future or that every step along the way will be happy and comfortable. They don’t say that if we have faith we can maintain the status quo and that nothing will ever change in our lives.
In fact, the middle Scripture, from Jeremiah 29:11 that talks about God giving the people of ancient Israel a “future with hope” was written to them in 597 BCE, when they were in exile in the foreign land of Babylon, having experienced the overwhelming pain of losing homes and livelihoods and loved-ones--even their own freedom. (New Interpreter’s Bible Commentary, Vol. VI, p. 791) The hope in their future is not to be found in specific assurances that they will be restored to the same level of wealth and comfort they experienced before. The hope in their future is to be found in relationships. God’s love has never left them, and they will find hope and peace not in a restoration of wealth, but in an investment in relationships with God and with each other in their faith community.
And even beyond the faith community. Earlier in this same chapter (Jeremiah 29:7), the prophet directs them to also invest in the people around them who are NOT part of their faith community. Specifically, the people of ancient Israel--the displaced exiles-- are directed to do something that must have seemed radical to them, counterintuitive. They are directed to seek the peace and well-being of the foreigners among whom they are living--including the leaders who conquered their country and took them captive!
It is in focusing on relationships--not outcomes--that we can move from fear to freedom. When we focus on allowing the gift of God’s Love to fill our lives--when we focus on loving our neighbors as ourselves, regardless of our circumstances, that is when our fear will be cast out. Our first Scripture (from the first letter of John the Elder) tells us that “perfect love casts out fear.” Another way to translate the Greek word for “perfect” is “mature.” Mature love. (NIB, Vol. XII, p. 431) This is love that has moved beyond the rudimentary understanding of love as “warm feelings” to a deeper understanding of love as that which seeks the welfare of the other. This is the kind of love that God has for us; it is a gift that we accept from God, and it is a gift that we can offer others.
When we love like this, in the words of our last Scripture, we move “out of darkness into God’s marvelous light.” When we love like this, our fear is “cast out” and both the present and the future shine with possibilities.
Now, I realize that I am preaching these words in a time when we are-- hopefully--coming to the end of the worst pandemic the world has experienced in 100 years. A pandemic that has led to the loss of over 3 million lives world-wide, according to statistics provided by the World Health Organization (who.int). And I know that a number of people here participating in this worship service have lost loved ones in this pandemic--which is painful beyond words. If you have experienced that kind of loss, know that your church family stands with you in that pain, and continues to hold you in our hearts.
I also realize that on top of that pain that has affected some of us, there are, other pains as well that affect us all. The pandemic has also led to--and/or exacerbated-- huge shake-ups in all of our world’s systems: government systems, health systems, economic systems, communication systems, education systems, justice systems, just to name a few. We are still feeling the effects of these shake-ups, some more than others, and although we are in recovery in many ways--thanks be to God!--we are not out of the woods yet. All of our institutions have been affected by these shake-ups, including the institution of church.
As you may know, I have just started preaching a sermon series on a book called “Weird Church”--which has an upside down church building on the cover as a symbol of all of the social and cultural shake-ups we’ve been experiencing. And in this book, chapter 1, entitled “Fear to Freedom” (where I got the title for today’s sermon), it says that the world is changing and predicts that we will see “the end of the institutional church as we have known it by 2050.” Or perhaps a lot sooner--because this prediction was based on cultural shifts happening in 2016, when the book was written, which have been made worse by the pandemic.
Now, we could react to our fear of this impending loss by just collapsing in despair--OR by trying hard to hold on to the institutional church as we’ve always known it, praying hard for God’s intervention to keep things the same and spare us the pain of change.
However, while it may well be our natural, human tendency to react this way--to try to control the future to get the outcome we want and spare ourselves pain--reacting this way is not what God calls us to. It is not God’s way.
God’s way is to focus on building loving relationships rather than spending energy keeping the status quo in our systems. Or in the words of the authors Estock and Nixon, p. 12 of the book, “It is incumbent on us to dare to cast aside fear, let go of our need to control the outcome, and put our hope in God.”
This will free us up to try new ways of doing things, new ways where the marvelous light of God’s love can shine both for us and for people around us, some of whom may have never experienced God’s Love before.
Let me give you an example--from your own experience here at Franklin Federated Church. Last summer we--you--dared to try the new experience of having an outdoor worship service in the church parking lot. It took A LOT of planning and organization and hours and people and equipment. But you did it! And not only did you provide a way for church members to connect with each other face-to-face, you provided an opportunity for folks in the neighborhood--people who just happened to be walking by, to hear the inspirational music that Julie planned and members of the choir sang with her. And on top of that, you figured out how to livestream worship so that the congregation could expand beyond a physical location. (Since we started meeting again in person, an average of 15 people watch live every Sunday morning--and many more watch during the week.) And, who knows what seeds may have been planted by those moments of spiritual encounter when people saw and heard the faith community that meets in this place?
So, may this book Weird Church and our own experiences of trying new things continue to inspire us to let go of our fear and trust God. Specifically, may we dare to let go of our fear of not being able to control the future--in terms of the church and other things too. And may we trust in God--that when we allow ourselves the freedom to focus on relationships, God will provide amazing opportunities for the marvelous light of God’s Love to shine in ways that transform the world.
Let us pray.
In the words of Rev. Al Carmines, we pray:
God of change and glory, God of time and space,
when we fear the future, give to us your grace…
As the old ways disappear,
let your love cast out all fear.
God, Hear now our prayers for our community and our world…
[LOOK AT PHONE]
- Moment of silence…lifting up in prayer those we hold in our hearts.. others in this room and in our livestream… [PAUSE]
- O God, bless the sick… those who are struggling… those who are grieving…caregivers… Give them strength and healing…. In Jesus name, Amen
PLEASE JOIN ME IN THE LORD’S PRAYER
- Our Father, who art in heaven
Hallowed be Thy Name
Thy kingdom come
Thy will be done on earth
as it is in heaven
- Give us this day our daily bread
And forgive us our debts
As we forgive our debtors`
- And lead us not into temptation
But deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. AMEN
Rev. Dr. Marlayna Schmidt
Franklin Federated Church
Franklin, MA