Abundant Love - No Fear

February 24 Genesis 15. 1-6*Luke 13.31-35 “Abundant Love – No Fear” 

If you’ve ever had children, you have probably been around the block a time or two with what is called “puppy love.”  Puppy love is a phase of young life. It refers to the adoring affection that young people may have for each other or someone that they admire.  Puppy love is basically innocent. There is another kind of emotion that we call love that is not as innocent. Psychologists warn us that when we fall head over heels for someone, we are at risk. When you think about it, none of us wants to fall, especially in regards to love. Strong, intense emotions that sweep us off our feet are more of a warning to step back rather than a signal to rush into a relationship. Relationships are not necessarily healthy just because the bump in one head fits the dent in the other.  (That may have been the case with ex-law enforcement officer Drew Peterson in the news this week who lured 4 wives into his wicked clutches.)

They say love is blind, but close relationships open both our eyes.  When we finally open our eyes, we may be shocked to see that love is not a bed of roses. Love is hard and satisfying work. It may even involve blood, sweat and tears. We want love to be free and easy, but that is so unrealistic because nothing great is free and easy. Education is not free and easy – ask any homeowner who pays taxes, any graduate who passed from one grade to the other. Ask any teacher, doctor or lawyer who spent $90-$175,000 dollars in tuition and fees.

Being a good US citizen is not free and easy – ask any parent who commits to raising children in this world full of greed and obscenities. Ask anyone who has experienced months of unemployment in this the richest country in the world, ask the judges who sentenced the 2 million prisoners we have, costing as much as $60,000 per year to feed and house. Ask the United Methodist Board of Pensions who last year divested a million dollars from private-for-profit prisons used for white collar criminals and detained immigrants.

Nothing of any value is free and easy.  Why would we ever think something as profound as love could be free and easy?

Perhaps we read too many fairy tales. We may live our whole life in fear of losing that perfect life and love that we can only experience in fairy tales.  But, scriptures (1 John 4.18) tell us - There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears has some things to learn. Our fear tells us that we have more growing and maturing to do in our faith in God.

Max Lucado tells the story of a woman who was returning home from her niece’s recital when a 20-year old driving in the other direction stuck his head out of his window and threw a frozen turkey into her windshield. The only reason she survived was because the surgeons managed to put her jaw back together and reconnect her cranium. We live in fear of what hurts each day may bring. If hurts were hairs, we’d all be grizzly’s. We are learning to face each day with faith. God has our back and always has a plan to work all things together for our good. Nothing is too hard for God. Nothing can separate us from his love.

The Pharisees warned Jesus that Herod had a contract out on his life. (He had already beheaded his cousin John the Baptist.) Herod had it out for Jesus because he thought Jesus wanted to take over his throne, since there were many who followed him as he turned water into wine and fed the 5000.

Usually, the Pharisees competed and argued with Jesus. This time, the record says the Pharisees tried to protect him from the Herod.  The Pharisees weren’t all bad. There were even times according to Luke’s gospel that they invited Jesus to dinner ( Luke 7:36, 11:37; 14:1).   Invitations to share meals were taken even more seriously in the ancient world than they are today.  Eating together meant unity, fellowship, and peace where war was brewing. If the Pharisees invited Jesus to dinner, they no doubt were open to a holy covenant, a sacred communion. It was a serious matter to sit together at table in the presence of God. Keeping a holy covenant makes us all feel secure and keeps fear at a distance.

Jesus boldly and fearlessly told the Pharisees  “Go tell that fox,   I will be casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work…” Instead of running from Herod, Jesus sent a defiant message. He showed no fear. There are three reasons why Jesus was not afraid. Those three reasons have to do with his will, his well-being, and his work.

The first reason Jesus had no fear was not because he was not doing what he wanted to do. He was doing the will of almighty God. Our will does not add up to a hill of beans. Our will does not lead to the salvation of those who are lost or to the outpouring of blessings that God has for each of us. Our will is too often a selective and self-centered will. We have the will of God in us. Even if we know nothing of Christianity, Romans 1 tells us we are born with a conscious and a sense of God’s will in our hearts. When our will lines up with God’s will, we have less to fear.

The second reason Jesus had no fear was because he trusted in his heavenly father for his well-being. Every day we get up in the morning, we have no guarantee what great blessing or challenges we will face before we lay our heads down again at night. Life is much too complicated for us to keep up with every detail. Our lives are too big and too delicate for us to take care of ourselves. Has not our Creator promised to be our healer, our savior, our counselor, our provider? When we fearfully and feverishly try to control our lives, we may be tempted to do so at any cost. We may go across forbidden lines and wind up farther away from God than ever. When we trust God for our well-being, we have less fear.

Thirdly, Jesus had no fear because he had work to do.  He worked to heal and cure and he had a timeline to finish that work. Each of us has some work to do to fulfill God’s purpose and plan. Each of us has something in our hearts that can heal. Each of us has something in our hands that can cure some evil, even if it is only our own.  We have less fear when we are doing God’s work.

Jesus was not afraid because love drives fear out. God’s will is filled with love that drives out fear. Trusting in God to take care of us fills us with love that drives out fear. Involving ourselves in the work God has for us connects us to a whole lot of love that drives out fear.

James Dobson tells the story of a dog competition. A dozen dogs were commanded to “Stay!” and then expected to remain statue-like for eight minutes while their owners left the ring. Judges scored them on how well they were able to hold their composure during their master’s absence. About four minutes into the exercise, a magnificent German shepherd named Jake was beginning to lose  his poise, slinking slowly toward the ground. By the time his trainer returned, poor Jake was lying flat on his stomach with his head on his paws. Jake saw the disappointment in his owner’s eyes and began crawling toward him on his belly. Everyone was expecting the trainer to scold the dog for his poor performance. Instead, he bent down, cupped the dog’s head in his hands, and said with a smile, “That’s OK, Jake. We’ll do better next time.”  

As we grow and mature, we are able to sense God smiling at us and hear God’s heart, not condemning us when we lose our poise or lose our way, but encouraging us, loving us and saying, that’s ok we’ll do better next time. Love drives out fear.

“A recent study at the Yale University Infant Cognition Center reminds us that we are created to show and receive loving kindness. In the study, researchers had babies—ranging in age from six to ten months—watch a wooden toy try to climb to the top of a roller-coaster incline. As the toy climbed, some toys came along to help it over the top, while others came along to push it back down. Then the babies were given the chance to play with any of the toys. Almost every child chose the toys that had helped!

We are created in the image of a loving and kind God. That means we are drawn to kindness—and even search for it—from the time we are very young. We never lose our need for kindness, but as adults we sometimes value ambition and prestige more.[ Particularly in the business world, it can be easy to forget that] our minds and emotions were made to respond to kindness, not harshness.

When we act kindly toward others, they will be drawn to us and to God. That's why being kind is so energizing. When we are kind, we are acting as we were created to act.”( Gary Chapman)

Love is strong enough to drive out the fear that could easily overwhelm us. May God’s abundant love take us to a place where there is less and less fear and more and more love and kindness. Amen.

Abundant Love - No Shame

February 17 Deuteronomy 26.1-11, *Romans 10.8b-13 “Abundant Love – No Shame”  

This week we heard that Pope Benedict is leaving his post within two weeks. This creates a few rumbles around the religious world. He is breaking a 600 year-old tradition that holds that the job of pope is not over until you leave this earth.  What’s helpful about the rumbling is that the pope draws our attention to the church in Rome. The church to whom apostle Paul wrote the letter from which we read this morning.

Rome, Italy was the heart of the Roman Empire whose aristocracy has impacted so much of our modern society. Our libraries and courthouses have Roman columns and fountains.  Children use Roman numerals in school and study the works of Michelangelo and Leonardo Da Vinci.  

If you have visited St. Peter’s square, you are perhaps an eyewitness to the 4000 year old red granite Egyptian obelisk – a 453 foot high pillar that was moved with the force of 1000 men, 140 carthorses, 47 ancient cranes. Architect Benini’s fountain is in the square that stands just before St. Peter’s Basilica, the church where St. Peter is commonly said to be buried. St Peters is not far from the Sistine Chapel where Michelangelo painted 12,000 square feet of the creation story with 300 figures.

Our Christian roots encompass the vastness of a Rome that is still so breathtaking in its reminders of the Church that existed there in the first century when Paul wrote his letter.  

The first century was a time of political turmoil and great debate about Christianity in the Roman Empire. Emperor worship was preferred over the worship of God. You can imagine the competition. You can imagine the tension in the air when Paul dares to write a letter of encouragement and direction to the church in Rome. There was a great deal of tension. Suspects were getting arrested, acts of violence were a regular threat, there were more fearful frowns than sweet smiles in many neighborhoods.

Humans in this world are still learning the art of smiling in the midst of tension. There is an art to disagreeing without being disagreeable. It starts with our family history, our cultural history, our political history. Then it all boils down to whether we even care enough to speak the truth in love, whether we are disciplined enough to exhibit self-control, whether we are secure enough not to be too defensive! Whether we are skilled and determined enough to seek peace and pursue it as Psalm 34 directs us.

Paul writes the letter to the church in Rome in spite of the threat of religious terrorists. It is no surprise that terrorists were part of the ancient world. They are certainly a part of OUR world. According to one graduate of Princeton and the University of Pennsylvania, (Austin Cline), since 9/11, there have been 45 domestic terrorist plots involving Muslims. On the other hand, there were 80 terrorist plots by non-Muslims. There were 63 domestic terrorist plots involving Christians –anti abortionists, racial supremacists and others. We see this with the suicide plane attack on a Texas IRS building in 2010, the bombing of the Arizona Office of Diversity and Dialogue that injured three employees in 2003, and the torching of a Planned Parenting clinic last year. Just last week there was a report that arsonists had set fire to 4 United Methodist churches in North Carolina. This week’s news also indicated that efforts to resolve conflicts in Syria came to a halt because both sides simply refused to come together to talk.

How blessed we are when we enjoy a season of rest and peace. Still, we are not naïve enough to believe that times of peace and rest just happen. Just as the devil is always busy, so God’s people are always busy. We know the things that make for peace and we do them. We know how to access the resurrection power that help us to be peacemakers, speak the truth in love, create safe places for new people, dare to dialogue, care enough to communicate, smile sweetly in the midst of tension, and speak the truth in love.

We need the resurrection power to keep our hearts right with God. If our hearts are right with God, they will be right with everyone else. As Elaine Richardson reminded me a few weeks ago, we only love God as much as we love the one we love the least. We only accept God as much as we accept the one we accept the least.

For those who have everything they need, the resurrection is crazy talk. Those who understood that we desperately need each other and we desperately need the God who created us know that we die daily and we need the power of the resurrection all the time to bring us new life.

To be without the resurrection power is a living hell. This week a business woman in her thirties told me that she forgot all about God until she realized she needed help running her business. In desperation, she prayed and asked God for help and the very next day, she felt God’s presence in a special way and made a pledge to keep her hand in God’s hand. She was concerned about her husband who shares the business but does not share the richness of her faith. She does not want to go to church without him. I reminded her that just like she asked God’s help for her business, she can ask God’s help for her husband. I am praying that she has the vision and the courage to take the next step, whatever that might be.

Those who need God and care enough about people to learn to speak the truth in love also care that Jesus was raised to a new life. They care that the old ways can pass away and all things become new. The resurrection power is the power of creation, the power of Spring, the power of new beginnings, the power of holy change, healthy habits, and hearty hope. It is a power that has touched all of our lives. That’s why we have an opportunity to post something on the Resurrection Cross, noting  – God Did It. God has done something awesome in all of our lives. I hope you will take advantage of Linda Condy-Wynn’s inspired artwork and make a post on the cross as an act of gratitude and acknowledgement of God’s blessings.

We are not hopeless with the power of God on our side. We are filled with hope. We know that our bodies can get better, that we can endure every crisis with God’s grace. We know that loneliness won’t last forever, that love can be had by all, that the fruit of the Spirit is delicious, and if we dedicate our spiritual gifts to the Glory of God and answer God’s call to serve, the church will thrive and flourish according to God’s will, purpose and plan.

Verse 11 tells us that if we believe in God, we will not be ashamed. In other words, God will not guilt us. Rather, believing puts us in position to experience God being gracious to us. Our sins will not overcome us. Believing puts us in position to experience Jesus as covering us with his righteousness.

The journey of the Lenten season positions us to enjoy who we are and whose we are. The altar is purple because the soldiers assigned to detain Jesus mocked him by putting a purple robe on him. It is a dark purple signifying the darkness of the crucifixion. He was accused of treason since he was in Jerusalem which was officially territory ruled by the Roman Emperor, and he was claiming to be the son of God, the king of Kings. Crowds were following him and organizing around him. They followed him as if her were a king.

The synagogue rulers considered Jesus a threat because they were afraid their synagogues would become emptier and emptier as the crowds followed Jesus. The synagogue rulers had become more political than faithful at that point. Some in the crowds that were now following Jesus were not interested in a religion that was overgrown with hypocrisy and corruption. They saw that Jesus was innocent, pure and kind. The Roman government used the synagogue rulers as political allies to keep the little people in line. The synagogue’s high standing with the Romans came because they had political power and economic influence. They were afraid to lose it.

Caesars’s Roman governors were not threatened by Jesus, but they did want to do favors for the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Sanhedrin who ruled the synagogue. The Romans knew there was no real case against Jesus, but to save their political connections, they arrested him. While abusing him, the Roman soldiers laughed and draped a purple robe around his shoulders, and they took it off before they led him to Calvary to be crucified. They had to take it off. No one could be crucified wearing a king’s robe. We put it back on to remember that Jesus rules our hearts and lives.  In the Methodist church, Bishops wear a certain shade of purple that other United Methodist Clergy don’t wear. The pope wears symbols and liturgical garb that is only worn by the pope. If you do not work for the government and you wear a government badge, you are considered fraudulent. The soldiers took the purple robe off after they mocked him. The king of Kings was now as low as one could get.

This morning we have read the 10^th chapter of Paul’s letter to the Romans, but in the first chapter Paul says I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.

Shame distracts us. Our lowliness is not our bottom line. Love takes away our shame. We are royalty. We are children of the king. Our focus should always be on Jesus when we are following him. The Lenten season is an invitation to follow him more closely, knowing that in the light of his love we find the truth that sets us free. With him we find the solution for all our problems and the strength and courage we need to do what is important.

The Lenten season is an invitation for us to test our own faithfulness. Mass media is such today that everywhere we turn we have an opportunity to test ourselves. There are surveys to help us know if we are the best parents we can be, if we indeed are happily married or likely to get the next promotion on our jobs. Lent is a way to survey our covenant relationship to our God.

Many people give up sweets for 40 days like I have decided to do for the first time this year. The giving up does not necessarily include giving up on Sundays because Sundays are not counted in the 40 days. Afterall, Lent is not supposed to be a means of self-punishment for one’s guilt. Rather, giving up something can help us come face to face with certain evil impulses lurking in our midst. It can help us learn to resist temptation. We may never know how strong the devil is in our homes and hearts until we try to resist the devil. And, if we resist the devil, scriptures tell us the devil will run away. It will be worth the fight as God leads us in the battle. We can trust God to help us every step of the way.

You may have been through camp exercises where you are invited to trust your group. They ask you to close your eyes and fall backwards trusting that everyone will be there for you and catch you. In the same way, we trust God. Lean back, lean back, lean back, all the way….all the way….all the way…..so what happens next? Easter, of course. Easter. We can trust God without shame!! Amen.