3rd Sunday after Easter Easter Continues To Unfold….A New Story Is Being Told: “Breathing Room....Letting Peace Replace Your Fear!” Psalm 4; Luke 24: 36b-48
You gave me room when I was disturbed, angry. Room to be me, to move through my feelings, to reflect on the situation…..breathing room….to discover who I am….all I can be. And my part in receiving this great gift from You, O Holy One, is simply to take the time, stop!, to be silent and keep from reacting, to make time…to ponder on my bed, no matter how angry/how disturbed, to stop and ponder so I offer “right” sacrifices, trusting You will use them for good. Right sacrifices? I know right from wrong. I am to do what is of the higher order of things…full of grace…a response rather than retaliation, even in the face of wrong….trusting God is up to something in the other just as God is up to something in me….and I can help the whole of the process by the choices I make!
And if I do…then what I get is….peace. The psalmist says I get to “BOTH lie down and sleep….in peace for God alone makes me lie down in safety.” I often get to lie down. But, you know rest is hard to find. The only truly safe place in this world to rest? God. God makes you lie down so you can both rest and know peace…but you have to be willing to lie there!
Peace….I’m thinking…that would be joy at rest. And joy? Joy and fear come from the same root word: awe. When we are in awe, and go with it, show it outwardly, we know joy in ourselves and with others…but awe coveted for our own selfish good, brings fear. Fear. That is where the disciples were even with Jesus right there amongst them….awe was turning in on them….they let it. Where is awe today? Where is joy? Fear? What are you afraid of?
To Fear (a mirror on the stand labeled: fear):
Karen: Ahhh….we’ve been together so long. And yet I hardly know you because so often I make myself live on the surface of things rather than go to the heart of the matter and face you. I struggle with you…you: my doubts and fears….Am I good enough? …What will happen next? …Will anybody notice? …Do I really deserve this? …Will I ever get better? …Will things ever get better? I’m so tired of doubting myself and being afraid. I don’t want to be afraid anymore…gosh, at this point, I’m afraid of my own fears! Do I have the courage now to take the time, to go silent with the world around me, lie on my bed, and make room to just be with you…be with the fear…so I can know myself better? …to learn about me through you?
Fear: Do you think you could?
Karen: Well, I could try. It feels funny to just be with you though…sorta' like it feels funny to see you there on the table top. Gee, you really are a reflection of what’s going on, my perception of what’s going on. What do you want me to do here?
Fear: Well…..well, I am your fear and I’m in your body trying to tell you something. That headache, that stomach, that pain in the neck…that be me trying to get your attention to tell you go deeper to see what it’s really going on in you! I am concerned about you. You are really pushing it and it’s too much. I am of you and I ache and need your help. I do care about you and I am not your enemy. I need you to go easier on me…softer on you. You do everything with your will. You think you can help all these problems one after the other all by yourself. It’s too much. No wonder you get afraid and fill with fear. I don’t want that for you. You know better. I’m not in “you” alone you know…wisdom is here, and play and joy and thoughtfulness and anger and sadness and desire and love. Why do you only give me your attention? Why aren’t you willing to be your real, your whole self? We could team up with you…rendezvous with you…on your bed!...silently!.....right here….now….and together begin to turn things around for…make that….WITH you!!
Karen: (being in the place of the mirror) Oh…things don’t look as scarey as I thought they would from where you are….where we are. I think you’re right. You’re right. Life is softer than I’ve been making it….not so many edges as I thought….not so many edges to fall off of as I thought! There’s more to life than what I’ve been seeing and focusing on. There’s more to me! Talking with you…the whole of me, things don’t seem so scarey. There is more possibility here in the fear than I ever could have imagined on my own. Why some of my best stuff is right here in the fear! I’m glad we’ve had this conversation…weird mirror and all! There are so many things I can do differently…if I only will.
My fear….here and now. The disciples fear…there and then. Their fears and doubts were speaking to them loud and clear as the Christ came to be with them. Real? Not real? What would help them now? How could Christ help them? How could Christ help you….help you believe in yourself the way God believes in you? That’s why Christ appears…to give you confidence to move forward….not to get rid of doubts and fears and wonderings but to give you just what you need in order to see what’s beneath them and then free yourself…to live a new and resurrected life! But you have to stop, drop, and roll onto that bed…Yes! You do!
If you don’t see your fear and engage it, your fear and your anger are often linked! ….chances are, just like the disciples, you won’t be able to see the Christ standing with you, won’t be able to see you can choose to be different and respond differently to what’s going on around you and within you.
The disciples’ fear…is so real they cannot see Christ standing before them. They see a “ghost”. And how does Christ deal with their “troubled and doubting minds”? He invites them to touch and look, to see his pierced feet, to watch as he consumes broiled fish. The disciples knew Jesus was real when they could apply their senses to test reality. They could see him, hear him; they could touch his wounds, they could eat real food with him. They were convinced, not by argument or doctrine, but by their own experience. Do you let your own experience convince you of anything new? And they grew in confidence…which literally means they faced life with faith. Will you? You can. Yes, you can!
The piece of fish which Jesus ate was more than food. It was food for thought…faith food.
It was for the whole person…fears and all, that we might believe he has indeed come to us yet again. And we who have felt God’s touch, tasted God’s mercy, heard God’s promise, and experienced God’s love, we apply our sensibilities to test what is really real in this life of ours….not go toward what is broken or ended, but toward what is life giving and energizing. And we begin to believe right through our doubts and fears….begin to live…powerfully live…resurrected lives…as God’s young and adult children.
Christ invites the disciples to experience life with him…to unburden their fear on him. Saying….Relax! I gotcha! In doing this, he opens their minds to see beyond the immediate questions and doubts to what can be. He invites them to see the fulfilling of the promise…hope made really real….resurrected life right through their doubts and fears! Can Christ join you in your fears and so open your mind to peace being offered in a resurrected life?
The nature of fear is such that it can become the main focus of our life. It can cause rational people to do very irrational things. Is this where you want your focus to be?
What are your fears? Can you sit them right down here in the pew next to you and talk with them about the way things are…really are…really aren’t? What would they have to tell you about….you…and your desires? You see, God isn’t in the rational or irrational thought world we usually choose to live in. God lives in the non-rational world that defies the way things seem! God has become like us in order to make us become more like God. Fear can bind us just as surely as the strongest cord. It can choke out our best selves. Or, it can be the catalyst for saving our very lives. It may be the motivator for us to seek a new way of doing things, of being…..us! It just may be the forebearer of peace! Christ is here today to eat with us…faith food…agape and Tippe Cafe…to open our minds and set us free…from the way things have been in our lives up to now…set us free from our own doubt and fear….if we will name it, sit on our bed with it, and respond because we then…now we can enjoy some breathing room…..
Some rest. Some peace. Maybe you are not able to be peace-full today….but maybe you can find a peace-speck, a peace-glimmer…and be peace-ish. But…You can! Yes! We can!
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