Sermon for Advent IV
Scripture: Luke 1:26-30
Well for me, the word that best describes the disturbing headlines of this past week is, "Good Grief!" GOOD GRIEF! After nearly 50 years of drawing his Peanuts comic strip Charles Schultz, due to health reasons, is retiring on January 4th. I don't know what to say! I'm shocked! All good things must come to an end, I suppose. But, for those of us who grew up on Peanuts, and who still daily log in on the adventures of Charlie Brown, Linus, Lucy, Snoopy and the rest of the Peanuts gang, well, "Good Grief!" Good grief! I'll miss the football being pulled out from under Charlie Brown at the last moment before his attempted kick and watching him fall on his back-side. I'll miss tart-tongued Lucy handing out advice at a nickel a pop. I'll miss the baseball team that could never win, and I'll miss Snoopy's occasional fantasy flights with his WWI arch rival the Red-Baron. Maybe what I'll miss the most is the life-long familiarity of these characters, and the youthful comic parody of real life frustrations they daily delivered, and the kind of soothing assurance that came with their regular visits. No matter what was going on in the world, one could always count on Peanuts. My world, and I dare say the world of millions, simply won't be the same! Oh, I know, they'll rerun the old ones, but it won't be quite the same!
I don't know about you but I don't want to face my adult day without the companionship of the forever youthful Peanuts gang. I mean what kind of a world is this where not even Peanuts is invulnerable to the march of time and disease? It's not fair, I say! It's not right! I mean if you can't depend something as dependable as Peanuts, then what can you depend upon in this undependable world? I guess it all reminded me this week that nothing is immortal - not even Peanuts. For you see, I had momentarily forgotten that. It's easy to forget that the lives of those eternally youthful characters emanate from the heart and mind of a real flesh and blood human being - the now 77 year old Charles Schultz recovering from colon cancer! I'd forgotten that!
As I reflected on the end of Peanuts this past week, what I discovered underneath all the layers of my feelings, when I peeled away the layer of disappointment, and when I peeled away the layer of sadness, and when I peeled away the layer of grief - I discovered to my surprise, FEAR! Yes fear - the fear that comes with the realization that ultimately we are not in control - that control is a powerful and intoxicating illusion; perhaps the greatest illusion with which we live! And most of the time we live in denial, or we call it something else. But fear it is! And every once in while something comes along, or something happens that strips away that grand illusion: maybe a pain in the chest, or an illness, or the death of a loved one, or another birthday - or even the end of a favorite comic strip - sometimes it doesn't take much. And I believe the base emotional response to that stark awareness camouflaged beneath all the layers of other emotions is fear. When we realize that we are really not in control, and that all our attempts to be in control, and to feel in control, and to seize control is an illusion and ultimately futile - we can be afraid!
Mary's life was suddenly out of control. An uninvited divine presence entered her life as a total shock and surprise and told her that things were never going to be the same for her again. Can you imagine what it must have been like for her to hear the message that the angel brought? I don't think we can! I don't think we can! I don't know that the angel saw in her eyes, but part of what the angel saw must have fear because the angel said, "Mary, don't be afraid!"
Yes, God is intervening in your life in a miraculous way - but don't be afraid!
Yes, people are going to talk and rumors are going to spread - but don't afraid!
Oh, you're afraid of your fiancee's reaction - well, don't be!
I don't know what the angel saw, but I believe he saw some fear and he said,
Now, I did a little Biblical research this week, and I looked up all the places in the Bible
where God through someone or in some way says "Do not be afraid!" And there's a bunch of them - dozens!
For example, at the very beginning of the Bible in Genesis, God puts the finger on Abraham and calls Abraham to discipleship, to a whole new way of life, and one of the first words out of God's mouth was, "Don't be afraid!"
In Exodus, the people of God were fleeing the slavery of Egypt, and Pharaoh having second thoughts sent his army out to get them. Caught between a rock and hard place, backed- up against the Red Sea on one side and Pharaoh's vicious army advancing on the other, Moses says to a panicking people, "Don't be afraid!"
Centuries later the people of God are languishing in despair in exile in Babylon, and the prophet Isaiah comes along, and speaking for the Lord he says to the people, "Don't be afraid!"
Young Jeremiah, shaking in his shoes, terrified at the prospect of being called by God to be God's spokesperson to a rebellious and sinful people hears the Lord say, "Don't be afraid!"
Peter, suddenly feeling totally inadequate and sinful in the presence of Jesus, falls to his knees in fear, and Jesus gently assures him by picking him up with the words, "Do not be afraid!"
Fussing about the importance of material things, Jesus talks to the disciples about the life-style he intends for his disciples, that is people who don't put all their trust in material things; and I'm sure Jesus seeing the look of shock, surprise and fear on their faces says to them, perhaps with a wry smile, "My friends, Do not be afraid!"
The disciples are caught in a deathly squall in their vulnerable little fishing boat out on the Sea of Galilee. And Jesus comes to them, walking on the water and first thing he says is, "Do not be afraid!"
Jesus, facing the prospect of his death, is telling his disciples all about it, that he will be gone from their midst, but he assures them with the words, "Do not be afraid!"
Joseph, fearing public disgrace because of Mary's pregnancy, was about to dismiss her and leave her, until an angel appeared and said to Joseph, "Do not be afraid!"
I could on for an hour just reciting all the places in the Bible where people are told not to be afraid!
Now fear isn't all bad! It's a self-preserving, defensive reaction to perceived threat. Fear, to a certain extent is protective. There is such a thing as healthy fear. There are a lot of things to fear in the kind of world we live in. Call it what you want, but the bottom line is, it was fear that closed Columbine H.S. on Thursday because of a threat that came through a student's e-mail. Fear is powerful! It can move and mold and motivate many people!
Fear is good business! It sells everything from surveillance systems to protective computer software. In the face of Y2K we've seen con men and flim-flam artists literally crawling out from underneath the rocks playing on people's fears offering such bogus items as Y2K proof credit cards and interest in fraudulent gold mines.
I'm convince that the words, "Do not be afraid!" appear so many dozens of times in the Bible because God knows how easily we cave in to fear; how easily we're controlled by fear; how easily we surrender to fear.
Just think if Abraham would have surrendered to his fear - there may not have been a people of God?
What would salvation history look like, if at all, if Moses, or Isaiah or Jeremiah would have caved in to their fear?
Or how about Mary and Joseph, overwhelmed by fear, perhaps the Spirit of God could not have blessed Mary in such a way, and Jesus would have never been born!
Or what if the disciples, later on each facing persecution, would have been totally controlled by fear? Perhaps there would be no church!
Or what if Jesus as he knelt in the garden the night before his crucifixion would have been overwhelmed by his fears, and carried by them disappeared into the darkness, never to be seen and heard of again?
I don't know if you've noticed but there is a great ongoing struggle happening as we speak; a great war is being waged all around us; a great battle is being fought right in our streets; and it's been going on since the dawn of Biblical time: IT'S GOD'S STRUGGLE, IT'S GOD'S WAR, IT'S GOD'S BATTLE - AGAINST FEAR!
Time and time and time and time and time again in the history of God's people, God, or one of God spokespersons, has announced the struggle and fought the fight by declaring "DO NOT BE AFRAID!"
You see, fear can put up an almost impenetrable barrier, keeping God's life-giving Spirit out; keeping God's Spirit from flowing freely into our lives. Fear has that kind of awesome power! Fear has the power to stifle a human life - your life! Fear has the negative energy to keep you from living fully in the present. Fear has the power to keep you locked up within yourself.
I ask you my friends; I ask you with all that is within me:
How many human dreams have died unrealized in the ashes of fear? How many of yours?
How many broken relationships have never been mended because of the power of fear? How many of yours?
How much forgiveness have you never asked for? And how much forgiveness have you withheld all because of fear?
How much pain has been inflicted because of fear? And how much pain has not been comforted all because of fear? How much with you?
How much hatred has been increased by the adrenalin of fear? And how much prejudice has been passed from one generation to the next through the vehicle of fear?
My dear friends: It's the fourth Sunday of Advent and God in Jesus Christ is about to be born once again into a fearful world. God's struggle with fear, God's war with fear continues on. It's not over because God is not done with the world. God has not given up on the world. And God has not given up on you - or me! The first little place God desires to win a victory over fear is in your life and mine!
The only mangers left in this world in which he can be born are the mangers of our hearts. I do believe we live lives that are far too often controlled by fear; fear that aborts his birth! I don't know of what you live in fear: I suppose it could be anything from the end of a relationship, to the end of life, to the end of a comic strip! I do believe that fear can seal you off from God's life-giving Spirit, and I do believe that fear prevents you from living your life fully.
So prepare yourself and along with the angel and all the other of God's Biblical messengers I say to you, "Do not be afraid!" His birth is about to occur! I pray that the manger of your heart will provide for him a place! Let him minimize your fear and empower you to live with greater love and courage. Amen!
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