Shovels and Brooms

Psychologists tell us that we are born with two primary fears, the fear of falling and the fear of noise; but as we grow we soon develop many more fears. In 1991, a movie called, What About Bob came out.
Why don't I start ?
The simplest way to put it,
I have problems.
I worry about diseases, So,
I have trouble touching things,
In public places it's almost impossible.
I have a real big problem moving.
As long as I'm in my apartment, I'm ok.
But when I go out, I get Weird.
Well, I get spasms.
Cold sweats,
Hot Sweats,
Difficulty breathing, difficulty swallowing,
Blind Vision, involuntary trembles
Numb lips.
Finger nails sensitivity,

The doctor responds.
Are you afraid of something?
What is that you're truly afraid of ..

What do we fear?

My fear can certainly get the better of me. Even turn into panic and paranoia. If Amy were here she would be happy to laugh at my ‘cowardness’. I don’t like the dark. I’m 29 years old and if Amy is not next to me in bed, I sleep with a night light on. I fear the dark!

What are you truly afraid of?
Terrorism. Identity theft. Death. Is job security on your mind? Will your retirement be enough? Will your children cross their hurdles without pain? Do you have enough gas to get to work? Does God love me? Will the war spill over, here? Is it possible you might fear other Christians?

Matthew 10:26 says, “so, have no fear of them”. It is them that I fear the most. We could define them in many ways but I’m using ‘other Christians’. Let me narrow my definition of other Christians, to be explicit.

I fear when our faith is used to manipulate others into belief. I think we already face environments of fear and abuse, church should not continue to be an institution of terror. But, a place where love is lived. Fear is not conducive to faith but a detractor.

When fear is used as a tactic for belief in God and not a conscious choice. We have done wrong when we begin with fear and not love.

At Iliff, I have a classmate who recently adopted a baby girl with her partner. Some of my classmates decided we would have a shower after class for her. She walked out of class to find a table full of diapers and baby supplies. She looked at that table began to cry. She told us how her family did not have a celebration of any kind for her or her partner. She turned to us and said, You guys have totally destroyed my image of Christians. Her experience with Christians was fear, not love.

We have all had bad encounters with Christians. Those that speak with hate about love. What love does most of all is leave you safe, and standing tall. Any other kind of love is a disease. We are called to use this love well, in faith, for others.

If God is love…where doe fear fit in into our Christian doctrine? I spent the week at a camp in Eastern Kansas, actually is was at a Methodist college so no campfires or bugs. It was amazing to sit with 8 youth twice daily and dive into deep faith conversations. They know fear, it’s a constant in their lives. But, they don’t have a balance of fear and love, there is a skewed one-sided faith that is being presented to them. One evening, they performed a drama interpretation of a song. This skit began with a young woman encountering Jesus and the love of Christ. But, this love was portrayed as playful and romantic. As the skit progressed, she moved away from Jesus toward other influences: drugs, drinking, self-mutilation, and suicide. Then the skit turned violent into a ‘battle’ between the demons and Jesus. It ends with the sacrifice of Christ for the young woman. I struggled with this skit because it does represent our faith tradition, Jesus dies for us but the hope of Christ was not represented. Our fear is REAL but is our love just as REAL. Does it have the same passion and influence as our fear?
The God of fear is not my God. The God I experience is a God of love. God is love, first, foremost, and last. The question is: do we know the radical love of Jesus. Do we live the radical love of Jesus?

Live without fear
How do we live without fear? Is it even possible? I think fear is here to stay so we have to acknowledge this fear and find a response.

During camp, the youth were encouraged to share their faith stories. These are amazing moments during worship, 3 minutes, where the youth shared tragedy, triumph, and belief. Caitlyn shared her story one evening. She shared that her parent’s had separated and she was forced to drive her sisters between them every weekend. This caused her to feel alienated, angered, and she belittled her young siblings. One evening as she was driving, her left tire blew, the tread shredding off and the car was catapulted threw the air, rolling and rolling, finally landing in the ditch. Caitlyn’s fear in this moment, fear for herself, fear of death, anger at her siblings was totally erased. Her only thought was, had she buckled their seatbelts. The deep love for her sisters caused her fear to vanish and her love to radiate. They were lucky, no long-lasting injuries. But, it is a powerful image of letting love shine through our fear.

This may be controversial. There is a large amount of Biblical language indicating we are to fear God. I cannot do this. I do not fear God. I can’t fear love. I want love. I want to be loved. I want God in my life. I have faith in God and if I believe that our faith will fight our fear. Leaning into God, centering ourselves in Christ, letting in the Spirit of hope. Our faith is a foundation for life and love.
Author Philip Yancey tells of a time in 1979 when he was on a houseboat off the coast of Miami awaiting Hurricane David. His first inclination is to strap down the boat, to secure it.
We do the same with our life. Strap it down, keep it safe, secure it. Fortunately, a seasoned sailor came by and saw what was happening. The sailor said, “Tie her to the land and you’ll regret it. Those trees are gonna get eaten by the (hurri)’cane. Your only hope is to anchor it deep.”
Great advice for houseboats in hurricanes and for holding onto our faith. It is in setting the anchor deep in the love of God that we find our hope. It is not in strapping down and attempting to shelter ourselves from life’s trauma; it is in setting the anchor deep in our faith that we are able to weather the fears of life.
Facing fear is tough. Being a Christian who responds with love and not fear is tough. Having the courage to act is tough, because the act of our faith is a gutsy thing to do in this world.

Proclaim Your Christianity
Are you living your Christianity in your life? I’m talking about in your life away from Christ church. It’s easy to live the Christianity we believe here but in the other world, it is very difficult. Vance Havner, a southern preacher says, A soft and sheltered Christianity, afraid to be lean and lone, unwilling to face the storms and brave the heights, will end up fat and foul in the cages of conformity. Are we afraid to admit to our beliefs? Are we willing to face this fear and proclaim our Christianity?

Today, several in our congregation are proving God’s love. They are saying, I’m a Christian, and I love you with no boundaries, qualification, limits, or stigmas. Today, they are walking in the Gay Pride Parade. What a testament to proving the love of God.
Our gospel lesson continues when Jesus tells the disciples, What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light and what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops. Proclaim what Jesus has told you. Proclaim what Jesus has told you. Proclaim what you believe, stand up tall for the persecuted, marginalized. Prove that love can conquer fear.
Are you scared to admit you are a Christian?

And then at camp, there was Alan. Alan is a young man who has deep faith and a variety of friends. He’s captain of Fellowship of Christian Athletes, President of his youth group, member of the Conference Council of Youth Ministries, and struggling with a heavy weight. Bryce has some friends that challenge his beliefs. He is friends with non-believers. He is friends with loosy-goosy Christians (his term). And his best friend is gay. Alan came to camp not knowing what to do. He fears how he will be treated in school. He fears what his response is supposed to be. In our discussions, we all agreed God is love. I asked Alan what do you need to prove to your friend? He said, that Christians are about love and not hate. So, what will you do Alan? Be the friend I’m supposed to be. Alan had to prove his love to himself before he can go back and prove it to others.

There was a Christian Bishop living in Caesarea in the 4th Century who would become known as St. Basil. He fought for the poor and underprivileged and believed in the merits of manual labor in monastic life. He says the road of fear is smoothed with shovels and brooms.

I flew back last night from camp. I really try not to use the word, HATE. So, I really really really really really don’t like flying. It is unnatural and not a normal feeling. And we had some rough turbulence last night. I don’t like that even more. My anxiety was high, but there not much you can do locked in a tube flying 481 miles an hour through the air at 35,465 feet. (They have those neat little maps that tell you where you are and how high and how fast you are going, like that helps either!) And I could not think of any comforting words to calm my fear, I was trying to read but could not concentrate. I tried to sing some lyrics in my mind and couldn’t think of anything. So, I grabbed my ipod and ran through some favorite songs. This made it a little better. And suddenly, the sun burst through the clouds, the light had entered the darkness. And above clouds there is virtually no turbulence.

We walk in a trouble world, a world where the road is filled with debris. It is filled with our fears, making the road rough and impassible. We have to take our shovels and clear the road—fill in holes of darkness with the light of Christ. We have to take our brooms and sweep away the piles of dirt, sweep away the fears, making the road manageable. And when we do this for ourselves, more importantly, we prove a God of love to others. It is not a road we walk alone but a road we clear for all God’s people. Grab your shovel, grab your broom and clean the road for others to come to God.