Fear Not, Hang On.

11-17-19

Grace and peace to you from God our creator and from our lord and savior Jesus the Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit, amen.

The Holidays seem to begin a little bit earlier every year. The Halloween candy aisle cropping up like fields of some sort of massive sugar harvest… in August. Blowup and light up pumpkins in yards in September. Sales on cranberry sauce and turkeys in October. The morning after Halloween, on All Saints Day, some places are fully decked out for Christmas. Already, pumpkin spice lattes at Starbucks are “over” and done with– it’s not even thanksgiving and they are already pushing “winter holiday” drinks, like peppermint and gingerbread.

It’s almost as if by starting early we can make the holidays come a little faster. Or maybe our rush comes from the struggle to have everything ready and perfect for the holidays. We think that if we can just start a little earlier, we would feel just a little less stressed this year. All I know is, this year is going fast enough without the help of Elf on the Shelf and Christmas trees before Thanksgiving, thank you very much.

But looking back on last year, it might really be a GOOD PLAN to get a jump on some holiday shopping, before it REALLY gets crazy. Because plans are good. We like plans. They help us be organized and get stuff done. We’ve made all sorts of pithy quotes about plans: “A failure to plan is a plan to fail.” “Plan ahead: it wasn’t raining when Noah built the ark.” “To be prepared is half the victory.” “A good plan today is better than a perfect plan tomorrow.” “Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst.” “A man; a plan; a canal; Panama!” Actually, that last one is the same backwards as it is forwards, now THAT is planning!

But while the rest of the world is gearing up for Christmas, making plans and preparing, fussing and bustling, Jesus is talking about the end of the world. And, incredibly, he’s also telling us not to worry about it.

This week especially it seems like Jesus was quoting from last week’s newspaper as he is talking to his disciples. And then he says, don’t be terrified. Really, though, Jesus, it’s hard not to be at least a little freaked out when reading the newspaper headlines lately. The swirling chaos of the world going on around us and Jesus harsh words about what is in store for believers would make anyone want to shut the newspaper, turn off CNN or NPR, and hide under the bed until Jesus comes back and fixes everything.

But we MIGHT come out from under the bed, Jesus, if you would just tell us your timetable about things, in order to take the guess work out of it. Could you just be a little more specific?

But Jesus knows us better than we know ourselves. Jesus knows our tendency to take the littlest hint and make it into a fixed event in time to plan for. He knew that there would be people making predictions, writing books about being “left behind,” and that Hollywood would make blockbuster movies about the end of the Mayan calendar in 2012. Remember that? That was over 5 years ago!

But at the same time, Jesus wanted to give his followers a heads up on SOME things – like how following him would not be all snowflakes and lattes. By the time followers of Jesus were reading the Gospel of Luke for the first time, it was already pretty tough going for them. What Jesus was describing as future events were actually happening to those who joined this Jesus movement. They were getting called out and put on the spot, and were being treated in ways that we find hard to imagine withstanding today. The people of the early church, listening to Luke’s account of Jesus, needed some encouragement for living in the while waiting for Jesus to come back. They needed strength in order to continue to share their faith in Jesus despite all that stood against them.

And we’re still at it, two thousand years later, still trying to figure out what it means to live while we wait. And we need just as much encouragement and support from Jesus.

So when asked point-blank about the timetable of the end of the world, Jesus didn’t take the bait. Instead, Jesus echoed the refrain – fear not – found throughout the Gospel of Luke that began with an angelic baby announcement to a childless priest and his wife, announcing that Jesus’s cousin, John the Baptist was on his way. The message “Fear Not” continued when an unexpected visitor came to an unsuspecting teenaged girl to announce a second unexpected pregnancy – this time, Jesus. The message “Fear Not” continued through the sky with the angel host who scared the pants off some shepherds on the night shift the night that this baby was born. And Jesus says it over and over again to his bewildered and beleaguered followers, both then and now: “Fear not. Do not be afraid.”

There is so much to be afraid of in this world. And so, we make plans in order to be ready, and to help us feel safer. But we would drive ourselves crazy if we tried to cover every contingency. We would simply end up spending our lives under the bed, too afraid to come out.

At the same time, we can’t expect Jesus to do all the work. Sometimes, most of the time, doing God’s work is just about showing up or taking the chance to open your mouth.

But it’s really hard to live between those two realities. It’s daunting, and it’s exhausting, and we’ll still want to give up. But it’s sometimes the tiniest things that God decides to use, the smallest action that you never think about again, but changes someone’s life.

I worked at a Lutheran Bible camp, like Crossroads, in Wisconsin for three summers. My third summer I was on the leadership staff, so we came early to welcome all the regular counselors for staff training. The morning they were all due to arrive, I don’t remember why I was in a bad mood, but I just remember feeling terribly grumpy about something. irritated that I had to be cheerful and welcome all these first-year counselors. But I put on my big girl pants, showed up, and did my job.

Much later in the summer, I got a note from one of these “chipper first year counselors,” telling me that when she had first pulled up to the camp, anxious about this new experience, I was the one who greeted her, and put her at ease.

And miraculously, just this last week, I got a note in the mail from another person, whom I had not seen or talk directly to in many years, saying, “if you ever wonder if being a pastor has made a difference in somebody’s life and faith, keep this [note] somewhere where you can find it. You made a difference in my life and faith journey.” This was someone who had remained connected, though eventually being on different parts of the country. Over the years, my friend has been through many rough patches, but had seen the ministry work I had posted about on Facebook, and had inspired him from a distance.

Siblings, do not be weary in doing what is right. Whether the world itself is falling apart around you, or you are just having a bad day, by your endurance you will gain your souls – or, in the words of another translation - by holding fast, you will gain your lives. By holding fast to what? Jesus, of course. And we can’t do that with our hands full of fear.

We let go of fear and hold fast to the hope that there will be a day where what is evil in the world will be burned up and blow away like paper… where evil will have not a root or branch to grow from. It is by holding fast to the name of Jesus, who  will give us the strength to face the next sunrise, no matter what it brings. Amen.