"Living Our Faith…NOT OUR FEARS!"
1John 4: 7-21; Acts 8: 26-40
May 14, 2006

"There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love. Those who say, "I love God," and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen. The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also."

These words of wisdom are for us and we feel their truth deeply (we know!)...and yet we do "fear and fail" to love. We are afraid to really love....we fear fully loving those we know...let alone those we don't know.

Why? Why are we afraid to love? What do we fear in loving? What is the punishment we fear? …that we will lose our sense of control, our sense of security, make us vulnerable? Do I fear loving you because you may not love me back? Do I fear loving you because you may turn on me or use me? Do I fear loving you because no one has ever really taught me how to love unconditionally, as Jesus loved, without becoming a door mat?

Three powerful passages are before us this morning. They ask us to face the faith, not the facts, in living this word….in our loving. Face the faith, not the fact that indeed you will be at risk if you love as God would have you love, and yet it is only when you risk such loving, that you will know love as never before.

The John passage which forms our confession, holds up for us the image of the vine and the branches....our needing each other and God's needing us. This is the source and flow of genuine love. 1 John, which Matt reads, holds up this notion again using a different image: God is love and God's love is known through us. And, lastly, the Acts passage holds up the importance of action otherwise love is nothing more than a longing and we are left alone with only a concept.

God, in love and wisdom, has tied the success or failure of the whole Christian experiment to the action of the branches....us! God created us able to love the world. But it is up to us: we love or not....we become one with the vine or not....we companion the eunuch or not....

Who is the eunuch? He was a double outsider--not just an Ethiopian, but of color, stripped of his sexual identity. He was despised by some for he was the treasurer. He was far outside the stereotypes of the Jewish/Christian community....and yet he had a favorite passage which he longed to understand and only asked, "Can anyone guide me through this?" And the spirit drew Philip to him as a guide. He shared the Good News about Jesus' life and the gift of love that is offered to everyone.

And Philip baptized him. Philip just did it...because baptism honors God's love already present within all people. I wonder who else Philip would have just baptized…brought into the inner circle of the faith? the homeless, the abandoned, the addicted, the mentally and emotionally challenged, those alienated by religion itself? Don't you have to believe he would have baptized all who sought to understand, all who professed a beginning belief (and confusion)....regardless of their race, their age, their sexual orientation, their gender, their economic status? We know in our heart of hearts he would have....because that's the point of the Good News....oneness in God that frees us from prejudice, corruption, abuse, power over...a oneness of love.

But in our heart of hearts, would we baptize these "outsiders"? Would we welcome deeply and sincerely those whom society casts aside and labels and stereotypes? Blacks, Hispanics, homeless, poor, gay and lesbian people? Moody people, bossy people, whiney people, assertive people? We say we would. Would we? DO WE? DO YOU? And what part of you feels "the Eunich" longing to be loved and feeling unwelcome….right here?

We are not what we say we are....we are what we do. Our actions define us, not our words. Our Sunday morning experiences begin our week, but are nothing more than feel good moments if we don't take them into our lives and use them for the things that matter most in the world.......love and justice for all people.

If you are sitting here this morning and can feel your own prejudices within you, you are normal. If you are sitting here justifying your own prejudices or hiding behind the need for them in this unsafe world of ours, you are normal. But you are not Christian if you say it's OK to live your life by these fears and feelings.

Christians know their prejudices, name their faults, see their hypocrisy....and do something about them! Being Christian isn't about believing or understanding. It's about doing and becoming.....beyond what we can understand and even in our unbelief.

Being Christian asks of us to seek God's deepest desires for all people. Being Christian is about becoming one with God in love...being grafted into the true vine. After all, what is one without the other? The vine without the branch? The branch without the vine? You know, you can get fruit trees now with 14 different varieties of apples growing on the same tree. I think this is a good image for our changing, multicultural, inclusive church. And it's the only way the tree stays alive or the apples can grow!

Being Christian asks of us to seek God's deepest desires for all people.

Being Christian asks of us to seek God's deepest desires for all people.

So, let's err in our Christianity on the side of risking inclusion instead of risking by exclusion. The oneness God desires in the gospel is the oneness of love...and love challenges all the alienation and estrangement directed toward all the eunuchs of our age....because prejudice and exclusion prevent love....we prevent love.

We don't want to.....but in our complacency and fear, we often do. So, lets do something beyond our words. Let us truly welcome each other this morning and welcome each person we meet this week....perhaps talk to a eunuch, or walk with a eunuch, commune with a eunuch.....oh, we're all eunuchs! Let us face the faith, not the facts, as we live as God's people this week.

Breathe. Relax. Awaken! Be….and do!