Gas is $4 a gallon

Sermon-Year A-6 Pentecost-Proper 7 –June 22, 2008
The Cloud of Unknowing,
"O God, our great companion, lead us ever more deeply into the mystery of your life and ours, that we may be faithful interpreters of that Life to each other, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen."
I want you to think of a time in your life when you were brave. Take a moment. Remember an event, a time, when you were courageous. Think about it. It’s not easy. I had a lot of time to think about it, and I had a hard time coming up with one. As a rule, we don’t think of ourselves as bold and daring. I asked you this one last week, what’s the phrase used most in the New Testament? “Don’t be afraid.” Why do you think Jesus kept telling people not to be fearful? I think it’s because he saw the fear in people’s eyes-a lot.
I was meeting with some clergy this week, talking about this gospel, and we were focusing on what we thought was important in this long reading. And finally one of them said, “until people dealt with their fear-they wouldn’t be ready to follow.” Until people deal with their fear-they cannot follow. And Jesus is about discipleship.
My friend Mark asks it this way, “Do you serve your dragons tea?”
It’s “a bit of ancient oriental advice that he read. Serve your dragons tea. It refers to our fears.
There are things we will be afraid of all our lives. Those dragons will be with us. To serve them tea means to respect them without giving in to them. True courage means to be afraid and yet act as if you are not. Courage is not the absence of fear; courage is carrying on in spite of fear.” That’s what he says. Serve your dragons tea-name your fears-acknowledge them-but don’t give in.
There is a dragon out there that I hear a lot.
Every day, several times a day, I hear this opening phrase, “since gas is at $4 a gallon…” then fill in the blank. Let me tell you a story. Debby was at a garage sale 2 weeks ago that was advertised as being “Enormous”, “the whole subdivision” but when she got there, it was only one house, and another customer, a woman kind of went crazy screaming, “GAS IS AT $4 A GALLON AND THIS IS ALL YOU HAVE!!!!”
The thing is, the price of gas, I think, has become a symbol for us. $4 a gallon gas stands in for war, terrorism, floods and earthquakes, foreclosures, jobs. It’s a scary time. And this is how we talk about our fears. Life can feel random, arbitrary, out of control. And when we feel afraid, we don’t say, “I’m afraid” we say things like “GAS IS AT $4 A GALLON AND THIS IS ALL YOU HAVE!!!!” We tend to focus our fears, our worries, our doubts on symbols.
“What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops.
Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul;”
Jesus’ disciples knew what fear was. They did not know what was happening, they did not know where Jesus was leading-and they were scared. Do you think Jesus kept saying “don’t be afraid” because we need to hear it? The people around Jesus knew that they were on the cusp, the edge of something new and different, and they were frightened. And so Jesus is always teaching, frequently reassuring, often challenging, and like today’s lesson- talking about fear and courage.
Ok, by now you have tuned out the whole time I was talking, trying to remember a . time when you were courageous, Have you come up with one yet?
Can you remember a time when you were brave?
Jesus has this long teaching about the cost of the gospel in today’s reading and he makes all these radical claims-love me more than family. Take up your cross, lose your life for my sake. These were scary words-then. “I have come to bring a sword…”
Listen, some days it’s good to be scared. It’s appropriate to be afraid of things that can hurt us. But nothing will hurt us as much as our own fears. Nothing can paralyze us, nothing can intimidate us, nothing can overwhelm us, as much as our own dread. I know, because I feel like I know a lot about fear.
And I know when I can finally name my fear, when I can ultimately serve tea to my dragons, that I have won the battle. When I can look at the symbols that I use and realize that they are just stickmen for my worries, that the fear can no longer win .
There is an old parable,
One night a house caught on fire. A young girl was forced to climb to the roof. Her father had gotten out with the rest of the family and saw her up there. He called to her, “Jump! I'll catch you!” He knew the girl had to jump to save her life. But all she could see between herself and her dad was smoke. The fire got closer and she was afraid. Her father yelled again, “Jump, sweetheart! I'll catch you!” But she protested, “Daddy, I can't see you!” The father said, “But I can see you, and that's all that matters!”
We are worth more than 2 sparrows. Don’t worry if you cannot remember a time when you were brave, we are often blind to our own moments of grace. We are called not to be fearless-but trusting. We stand on the housetops and shout, “It’s only $4 gas, it’s only fear. It can’t take our souls. God can see us and counts us, and knows us, and that’s all that matters.
Matthew 10:24-39
10:24 "A disciple is not above the teacher, nor a slave above the master;
10:25 it is enough for the disciple to be like the teacher, and the slave like the master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household!
10:26 "So have no fear of them; for nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known.
10:27 What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops.
10:28 Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
10:29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father.
10:30 And even the hairs of your head are all counted.
10:31 So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.
10:32 "Everyone therefore who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven;
10:33 but whoever denies me before others, I also will deny before my Father in heaven.
10:34 "Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.
10:35 For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;
10:36 and one's foes will be members of one's own household.
10:37 Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me;
10:38 and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me.
10:39 Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.