Self-Imposed Fear

WESTMINSTER PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
May 1, 2011
Rev. Mark R. Miller
Communion Meditation
John 20:19-31
“Self Imposed Fear”

My two favorite Sundays of the year are the Sunday after Christmas and the Sunday after Easter. That may seem strange but it is true. It is not that I have something against Easter and Christmas. My reasons are pretty simple. Actually I only have one reason. The scriptures that follow the great celebrations of our faith are not very encouraging but they speak of a faith that is far more real.
On the Sunday following Christmas we hear the stories of King Herod killing babies to protect his power. The birth of Jesus is a joyous celebration but killing babies is not the story we like to tell on Christmas. Then, the Sunday following resurrection Sunday, the disciples are hiding behind locked doors in fear. They do not seem to trust one another when some start telling news they have seen the Lord. Frankly, is it any wonder why the attendance drops off on those two Sundays? Given the trouble in our own time it seems much easier to allow the church to become another place of distraction from all the trouble in our lives and the world.
Do not hear me wrong. There is much in our lives that elicits fear and finding a refuge from those things is not, in itself, wrong. Global warming, failed banks, falling housing prices, recession, increased violence in Iraq and Afghanistan. On a local level there is fear of rising waters, crime in our neighborhoods, personal health concerns, and even the future of our own community. Because of the many real fears in our lives when the peddlers of fear come knocking on our door it is easy to be wound up, caught up, and even act up out of our fears. That is why the story of the gospel is always – Do not fear.
Being aware of the power of fear and how it permeates our culture is vital for people who know the tomb is empty. Fear is a powerful motivator. You can rally people to war on unfounded rumors and fears. You can find people stocking up on duct tape one day and blaming gay and lesbian people the next for the downfall of the republic. Fear can help bring a government to its knees and fear can build powerful religious institutions. But usually, fear motivates in far more subtle ways. But the worst and most insidious fear is that which we internalize. What I mean by this are the fears we take from the peddlers of fear and make them our own.
Acting out of these fears is, I believe, the foundation for most of the worlds’ evils. And on a more personal level it leads us to close inward. We lose the ability to truly listen to others and we limit our creativity. If we are to break from that way of responding to the ways of fear our challenge and calling is to lead with faith and belief in something powerful and worthy that draws us toward a higher goal and not against the most recent real or imagined threat.
A few years ago I read a book by Debra Dickerson called An American Story. It is a memoir of her experience of growing up in north Saint Louis at the end of the 1960’s. It is a powerful look at the realities of race in this city and in the nation. In 1999 she wrote an article for Salon magazine called The Last Plantation. In that article she talked about the power of the mind to internalize the external fears and ultimately end up doing the work of the peddlers of fear for them. Though she was talking about the state of race in this country, her final comments have an even wider wisdom. Unless we are able to move in the directions of our deepest dreams and hopes, we will be satisfied fighting over how the furniture is arranged.
When the disciples are held up in the room, they already know there is an empty tomb. They have heard the news but choose to live in willed ignorance about the reality. The words of a woman were not enough. For Thomas, even the words of all the other disciples were not enough. I will not believe he is alive until I can put my hands on the certified copy of the resurrection certificate, and even then… This way of thinking is why Jesus leads with “do not fear.” Before the disciples can believe and be witnesses they must deal with the fear that is guiding all their actions.
So where are the places of our fear? Where are we doing the work of the peddlers of fear? Don’t wait until you can place your hands in the side or on the paper certificate. The tomb is empty and death is not the end. We are called to live as free people and it is fear that will hold us back. The fear may be real, but the resurrection is too. Amen? Amen!