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"No Fear, Only Love"
For my own health’s sake, I’ve got to quit watching television preachers. Saw one last Sunday late afternoon—and boy, was he ever on a rant—you know, like we preachers get on once in a while. He was describing his hopelessness for the world, specifically our country. I said he was on a rant concerning his hopelessness for our country. He said things like “God is bringing America to its knees.” And “God struck a blow to our country on 911 but that’s nothing compared to what is going to happen.” And he said, “I’ve lost hope in the churches. Revival isn’t going to come through the churches—the churches of America are lost.” Of course, he was referring to churches like yours and mine, not churches like his own. In fact, he went on to say, “I was talking to a person who said he was a reformed Episcopalian. And I told him, the best way to be a reformed Episcopalian is to come to this church.” (Meaning his own.) “The best way to be a reformed Presbyterian is to get yourself to a Bible church, one that believes the Bible and takes it at its word. It’s the only way…” What had this television preacher so riled is the ongoing conversation and debate over homosexuality. That’s the one sin the TV preacher believes matters most. The one sin (his word, by the way) the one sin that defines whether or not you are a Bible believing church or a church that will lead America to hell and destruction. Never mind Jesus speaks most often about economic sins, the accumulation of wealth and the neglect of the poor. Never mind Jesus doesn’t utter one word, not one word about the subject of same sex attraction and relationship. Never mind that Jesus spends his time in prayer, healing, and teaching about the kingdom as a place that will surprise most of us as to who it will include and who it will not. Never mind the Bible, the TV preacher wants to scare you. "America is on its way to destruction at God’s own hand because we are immoral, impure and have not done what is pleasing in God’s sight!" Perhaps. But if you take the teachings of Jesus at face value, the place where we are most immoral, most impure and where we most fail to do what is pleasing in God’s sight, it is our pursuit of wealth, individually, and as a nation, while burdening our most vulnerable neighbors. Do you hear the fear in the TV preacher’s message? Do you hear the scary message he’s bringing from the pulpit? Fear that he hopes will make people run away from the world, fear that he hopes will make people run away from their own churches, fear that he hopes will make people run away from family, neighbors, and friends so as to run into his church. His church, that he claims is a Bible believing church. “Hear again these words from this little letter written by John. “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. We love, because He first loved us.” Vacation Bible School was held this week in our church. Nearly 90 children participated in the wonderful songs, crafts and Bible stories each evening. We weren’t here to frighten them into a relationship with Jesus Christ. We were here to love them into a relationship with Christ, love them into an understanding that God is love. That to abide in God, and to allow God to abide in us, is about love. And love…casts out fear. In the end, love cannot and will not force us to love in return. Fear tries to do that. Love can only show itself in such a way that we might desire to love in return. God knows this better than any one of us. In a moment, we'll see a small part of the Movie “Bruce Almighty.” An average Joe, or in this case, an average Bruce, gets on a rant of his own at the Almighty, who responds by giving Bruce the omnipotent powers of God, who is played in the movie by Morgan Freeman. Bruce uses these powers the way most selfish human beings might, to make his own life more convenient, enjoyable and prosperous, which of course, creates most of the comedy in the movie. But God has told him from the beginning, there are things he cannot do even when endowed with God’s powers. The most important of these is that Bruce will not be able to overcome free will. Therefore, he cannot make anyone choose anything they otherwise would not choose for him or herself. This includes love. Bruce makes a mess of things, as you might suspect. The world, or at least Buffalo is in chaos because of his inept use of God’s power. And…his girlfriend has left him. He wants desperately to make her want him, love him again. But then…there’s that freewill business. This is perhaps his lowest moment. In complete despair, Bruce asks God, "So, how do you get somebody to love you without affecting freewill?” To which God replies, "Welcome to my world, son. When you figure that one out, you let me know.” Welcome to God’s world. Where love is never forced. Where it is never driven by fear. Where it is always welcomed in return for the love that God lavishes on us first. I want nothing of a God where fear is the primary motivation for my embracing the Divine. Thankfully, that is not the revelation of Scripture. God is one who loves, indeed, One who is love, personified in Jesus the Lord. We are not forced to love in return. We are given the choice. The space. The time. To love back. For God understands completely, love forced is no love at all. Love offered freely, is the sweetest gift there is. May we continue to show the love of Christ, so that others may choose to respond to that love and enter the kingdom of God.
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