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“Bypassing The Influences Of Fear” Sermon Delivered By Rev. Dick Stetler – April 2,
2017 Centenary United Methodist Church
Psalm 130, John 11:38-57 One of the fascinating dramas
during my last several years has come from my attempt to tame a
beautiful tortoise-shell
feral cat that came to us as a starving kitten.
Many lessons have materialized for me as a result of caring for a
creature that did not know how to respond to me.
She eventually learned that I was not going to hurt her, but she
had no skills of showing that she felt safe in my presence.
When she finished eating, she would walk away and sit facing away
from me. After years of trying to call her, she eventually recognized my
voice and began to come. She appeared glad to see me because I had the
food. In recent months, she
has allowed me to pet her but only while she is eating. So far, this has
been a remarkable adventure of a creature connecting with another
creature. My
caring and affection for her has never depended on her responses to me.
In some strange way, I have realized that this must be the
experience we have with God who gives even when we register no response
to what we receive everyday without asking. Think of what would happen
if we demonstrated to each other the same love and respect even when no
recognition comes of what we have been doing. Last week, we talked about how our divergent points-of-view have
divided people since the dawn of civilization. All of us have reasons
why we hold each other at arm's length, however, underneath all of our
reasons for doing so is a level of uncertainty that has been inspired by
fear. In our lesson today, instead of the Pharisees, chief priests and
members of the Sanhedrin looking at Jesus as
one of their own who
possessed extraordinary gifts, they felt threatened by what they did not
understand just like the cat when she first wandered into our domain.
Rather than appreciating what Jesus had just done by restoring
the life of a man that was presumed to be dead, they said among
themselves: What shall we do?
Look at all the miracles that this man is performing! If we let him go
on in this way, everyone will believe in him.
When the Roman authorities learn of this, they will take action
by destroying our
Caiaphas, the High
Priest exclaimed 'What stupid fools you are!
Don't you see that it would be better for one man to die than to
have our entire nation destroyed by the Romans.
From that day on
the Jewish authorities made plans to kill Jesus.
(John 11:47f) What we are seeing in this episode are intelligent men that are
being threatened by someone who is
good and
loving.
We can also sense how easy it becomes for people to see
light as
darkness, or
how new experiences may not be supportive of anyone's best interest. One of the reasons why The
Institutional Church never permitted its Latin Bible to be
translated into European languages was so that only
learned priests could read
and interpret its words for the masses.
The barrier of fear that kept the Bible in its
Latin prison was shattered
only after numerous people were publicly executed for making native
tongue translations available. What the Church feared the most actually happened when people
began to interpret Scripture for themselves.
Lay people began to see that many
Christian teachings had no
basis in Scripture. For instance, if a friend or a family member was thought to be in
Hell after their death,
believers could liberate them by a giving a sizeable donation to the
parish priest. There was no
Scriptural reference concerning the selling of
indulgences.
The resulting social unrest from corrupt church officials
inspired Martin Luther's discontent. One
day he defiantly nailed a copy of his ninety-five
complaints to the door of the Wittenberg Castle Church on October 31,
1517, spelling out the horrors of greed and misuse of power by Church
officials. Someone removed his complaints and liberated them from their
Latin prison. Luther's
complaints were translated into common German and posted once again on
the door. That posting inspired
a revolt among believers known as the Reformation. The Roman Church was
fractured. Today, social
red button
issues are more numerous than
at any other time of history.
Many of these issues cause others to fear that the fabric of our
society is being shredded.
Societies do not like it when individuals begin
to paint outside the lines by
breaking rules that once governed and guided the way most people lived.
Change started
accelerating once guidance from the home and church no longer carried
the authority that it once possessed. Most marriages today are performed for couples that have been
living together for some time.
This, along with divorce, was unacceptable when most of us were
teenagers. Today the
practice is so common that parents ask, "What are well-meaning parents
to do with these kids of ours?' People are dealing with the needs of gay, lesbian, transgender
people, same sex marriages, people playing
the race card to support
their claims, the legalization of marijuana, opening the doors of
society to gambling, issues facing our aging population, dealing
effectively with mental health issues, drug addiction, hungry citizens,
higher taxes, gang warfare, and hospitals that have no room for new
patients. We could go on and on with lists that contain concerns we have
that go beyond our borders. Once again the world is
proving itself to be a perfect
classroom or laboratory for us
spirit-beings.
We are living in an era where everyone is free to do with their
lives whatever they wish and there is little that others can do about
it.
Individuals have become their own authority. The blame-game
is over.
Everyone is responsible for the
results of their own lives even though they may vehemently deny that
this is so. Jesus clearly understood that people can only live on the level
of awareness that they have achieved.
He was also aware that no one can make loving responses mandatory
by law.
This is the
perfect time to be alive
because living by love or fear comes from our personal choices rather
than by rules that are enforced by some higher authority.
Religions have always addressed social change by passing laws
forbidding various behaviors or publicly displaying attitudes associated
with a certain life-style. The fear of living in a collapsing society
has existed for thousands of years.
King Solomon knew that "Where there is no vision, the people
perish." (Proverbs 29:18) When there is no guidance from values that everyone once shared
by common consent, people begin to experiment. This is what we all do.
Experimenting helps every industry to discover what works and
what does not. When it comes to people, all of us are defining our own
destiny through the spirit by which we live.
Often during that period we do a lot of trial and error testing. If you believe that our society needs a lot of help from
a savior, take a few minutes
this afternoon and read Leviticus 18 beginning with verse 6. Read the
problems that the author claimed were so bad that God had to provide
rules to address what was taking place in the lives of
his chosen people. Every
society in history has gone through periods when they felt that some
savior was needed. No matter what has been happening in our past, history continued
to unfold until our present time.
We are no worse than the dramas that took place in our past. With
instantaneous news coming to us of events around the world, and the
mix of truth and falsehoods
that are generated by social media, we have become amazed at how
crazy we think our
world has become. It is hard for us to imagine that all is well. The truth
is that all is well.
Caiaphas, the High Priest
exclaimed "What fools you are!
Don't you see that it would be better for one man to die than to
have our entire nation destroyed by the Romans."
Caiaphas and his group of
defenders-of-the-truth
succeeded in their mission.
They engineered the crucifixion of Jesus.
They went to bed that night believing that they had done a
good thing for their nation.
The flame of Jesus'
message, however, did not go out. What has caused Jesus'
truth to survive over thousands of years?
Jesus taught and modeled that love rids our spirits of being
afraid of anything.
Among the things that Jesus could not do was to put people in possession
of his awareness and loving energy.
Neither can we. This
is just the way life is. We each function from our learned levels of
awareness. We evolve at our
own pace. Consequences from our
quality decisions and decisions that are ill-advised both come from
experimenting with life as we pursue our dreams.
This is how we learn what works and what does not. All Jesus
could do during his three years of ministry was to teach and model what
loving in all circumstances will produce.
This is what he said about that process: As for Caiaphas and his religious leaders, Jesus had a higher
allegiance that went way beyond preserving the Jesus knew that just because a message is not received does not
mean that it was unworthy of being sent.
Jesus was killed for teaching that God is within each of us.
(Luke 17:21) In spite of
the attempts by religious leaders
to put out his flame, Jesus' message has been received by followers all
over the world. Today, such people stand as
sentinels in a sea of
accelerated change. Love is an energy that
protects the spirit of people
who have discovered this presence as they live in a world where little
is held sacred.
For those who have learned to live without fear, the world is a
very entertaining place. It
is also an arena that is filled with opportunities to make a difference,
not by taking sides or fighting for
just causes but by living so
that our love shows up everyday.
Jesus took his last breaths on the cross with love on his lips.
This very act is what Christianity has missed almost entirely.
The mantra that Jesus died for
our sins is a theology that no one can explain.
What Jesus was teaching is quite different. He was communicating
that his loving spirit was untouchable by anything that people could do
to him.
He demonstrated that his spirit was just
as compassionate as always even during the moments when the energy of
his physical form was waning.
We are all spirit-beings that
have nothing to fear from the material world, a world that all of us
will leave behind when we exit. Our major problem is that we do not know
this truth that Jesus was demonstrating as he was dying.
As
was mentioned, the world is a perfect environment for
spirit-beings to work on perfecting their nature. (Matthew 10:28) Jesus was teaching from the cross that he did not pass
judgment on what other people had chosen to do with their lives.
Everyone is living on the level of their personal awareness that they
have achieved. What they need is understanding and encouragement, not
punishment.
Our task is not to judge people but to
help others to discover a path that has the power to transform their
responses into ones that are filled with love and forgiveness.
The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.
Why not allow the spirit to take
the lead on this dance?
When we show up enthusiastically in people's lives, God will take
care of the details. Just as Jesus faced life unafraid, so can we. CONGREGATIONAL PRAYER Loving God, from the beginning of time, you have surrounded us with
invitations to live in harmony with you and each other.
Your guidance comes in many unique and different forms.
Many of them are only recognized when we are prepared to
understand. Thank you for giving our spirits the ability to be drawn
into your presence through the harmonies of music, spoken words and all
that happens when we come together to worship. Our spirits yearn to be
free from the worries and fears of uncertainty.
Fill us with your Spirit so that through us the world might be
blessed.
Amen. PASTORAL PRAYER Loving God, we thank you for sensing our
desires long before we express them. We thank you that you have
filled our lives with such remarkable abilities and
talents that enable us to remain confident once we have found
them.
When we discover such
a treasure trove of potential
and possibilities, turning the other cheek is no longer a chore,
remaining flexible during challenging circumstances comes more easily
and being creative in our thinking appears to come more as a natural
extension of who you created us to be. All of these skills surface when our
minds, hearts and spirits are no longer preoccupied by the cyclical
events that have always presented themselves in every generation. When
we are transformed by your presence, such events fuel our imaginations
to become agents of positive change. Thank you for leading us during these
days of Lent.
We have
learned from Jesus as we watched him navigate through events
that would have threatened most people. Help us to remember
that in every way, Jesus modeled for us the kind of people we can be
even when our pride and feelings are hurt.
He was hurt and eventually killed, but he knew that his
resurrection was always a part of what you have in store for all of us. Help all of us to understand what the
unselfish giving of ourselves will do to inspire others to begin their
own journey of self-discovery. We pray these thoughts through the loving
spirit of Jesus, the Christ, who taught us to say when we pray . . . |