Fear, Itself/Open and Shut

Sermon

Well, friends, it’s always true that when I choose a sermon title a few days or a week or so before writing the sermon that things shift in the world and a new title emerges as I write the sermon. Hearing the scripture now, I’ve changed the title of this sermon to “Open and Shut.” You can guess why: we are all wondering how long we are going to be shut behind closed doors for fear of our lives. Just as after Jesus’ death his closest friends were shut behind locked doors, afraid, there is another similarity in our current situation with that ancient time. Thomas “nails” it by expressing his doubts about what he cannot see. And that’s the crux of it, isn’t it? We can’t see the dangerous virus or even see who may be infected. We can’t see the exact date that we can begin to open up things again or when we might begin to find a new “normal.” So, we are physically separated and stewing in our fears. 

I chuckle when I think about The New Yorker from last week. It shows a person in a hazmat suit sitting in their apartment. The dog and the parrot are also in hazmat suits. There are cases of canned salmon, pasta, Top Ramen, and coffee. Rolls of toilet paper are stacked in rows under the coffee table. The person is sitting on the couch, looked freaked while reading a book entitled Is Now When I Panic? On the coffee table there are two other books, Am I Too Worried? and Am I Not Worried Enough? There is so much truth in this humor.  

And yet, there is no lock or separation that can keep Jesus’ presence and love from us. In the safety of your space, take off your mask. And breathe in Holy Spirit.  

President Franklin D. Roosevelt, in this first inaugural address in 1939, said this: “This is preeminently the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly. Nor need we shrink from honestly facing conditions in our country today. This great Nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper. So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.”  

There is power in fear. Fears can be used to manipulate. We experience floods of information, but also floods of misinformation. It is difficult to parse out what is fact and what is false. Some people refuse to believe any of it. Lies stoke fears and bring out our worst. 

Is fear itself the only thing to fear?  

We are being presented a new time, now, and when things begin to open up again. The gift in that opening is to allow our hearts and minds to be opened to what has been made so clear to us in this crisis: the problems of unequal wealth, the vulnerability of the marginalized, the racism which delivers inequitable healthcare and prevention, the broken political and information systems that need wise transformation. 

“When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked, for fear. . . Jesus came and stood among them.” 

One of our wonderful librarians at Westminster, Leslie Wykoff, sent an article with some wise words by poet W. H. Auden. He told a fearful, young reporter to remember this, in a time of fear and anxiety: “Rest in God.” Friends, breathe in Holy Spirit, and rest in God. 

This is a time to not to question, “How could a thing like resurrection happen?” But rather, to ask “What is looking like resurrection right now?” 

Blogger Peter Wood noticed the connection in the Greek text between kleiso and ekklesia. Kleiso means closed. Ekklesia was the word that came to describe the early church. The called ones, the disciples of Jesus, were afraid and locked away behind closed doors. The ekklesia (“not closed”) came from the idea of Greek democracy. The ekklesia was one of Greek society’s greatest gifts to the modern world, celebrating freedom from systems of dominance and oppression. It is powerful that the early church mothers and fathers chose ekklesia to describe the community of Jesus’ early followers.  

From our scripture, it is clear that the tomb-breaking resurrected Christ is not to be cocooned by fear, and neither are his followers. 

Even if we are limited in where we can go now, we are summoned out. Not closed, but unsealed, out-ed and free. Jesus breathes his life-giving spirit-breath into us. He is saying, “You are not to remain kleiso; you are ekklesia. Come out!” 

Another great thing I read this week came from blogger Julio Vincent Gambuto. He cautioned that when life opens back into “normal” commerce and activity, we should brace ourselves for the flood of messages that will encourage us to rely on material things to make us better. He wrote: 

“From one citizen to another, I beg of you: take a deep breath, ignore the deafening noise, and think deeply about what you want to put back into your life. This is our chance to define a new version of normal, a rare and truly sacred . . .opportunity to get rid of the * (extraneous things) and to only bring back what works for us, what makes our lives richer, what makes our kids happier, what makes us truly proud. We get to Marie Kondo … it all. We care deeply about one another … That can be seen in every supportive Facebook post, in every meal dropped off for a neighbor, in every Zoom birthday party. We … want to define — on our own terms — what this country looks like in five, 10, 50 years. This is our chance to do that, the biggest one we have ever gotten. … We can do that on a personal scale in our homes, in how we choose to spend our family time on nights and weekends, what we watch, what we listen to, what we eat, and what we choose to spend our dollars on and where. We can do it locally in our communities, in what organizations we support, what truths we tell, and what events we attend. And we can do it nationally in our government, in which leaders we vote in and to whom we give power. If we want cleaner air, we can make it happen. If we want to protect our doctors and nurses from the next virus — and protect all Americans — we can make it happen. If we want our neighbors and friends to earn a dignified income, we can make that happen. If we want millions of kids to be able to eat if suddenly their school is closed, we can make that happen. And, yes, if we just want to live a simpler life, we can make that happen, too.”  

Friends, we can do this, if we keep open and focus on those whom Jesus would focus upon: the lost sheep, the most vulnerable. We can do this if we support one another in coming out from behind locked doors, fearful of changes.  

Jesus says, “Peace be with you.” 

(Breathe on me breath of God, fill me with life anew, that I may love what Thou dost love, and do what Thou wouldst do.) 

 * https://forge.medium.com/prepare-for-the-ultimate-gaslighting-6a8ce3f0a0e0