[Propertalk] Proper 11 a 2017 - part 2

[Robert P Morrison]

Part 2

 The poet and scholar, Garth Lean, wrote

	  FEAR IS A LIAR, poisoning today with
  fantasies of what may come tomorrow,
  till every joy is clouded with a sorrow,
  and dreading all, we leak our lives away.

	_ _

	  If we have spouse or child, we fear to part,
  or, longing, fear we wont attain, or,
  snatching at it, even as we gain, we forfeit
  the Heaven, the Harmony, the Heart;
  But FEAR IS A LIAR!

	_ _

	  TRUTH IS, God moulds our days in love
  and with the same precision as
  He makes wings for flight, or
  petals fold within a sheath, or
  shapes an eye for vision.
  So, He makes us yearn for What is Right,
  Then swift and sudden, hurls us our Delight. 2

	_ _

	 Did Jacob fear? More than likely. Do WE fear? We all do, to greater
or lesser degrees. Somehow, though, we have to learn not to let fear
dictate to us. We have to address the fear, to call it out for what it
is, an attempt to influence us, to make us think that silence is bad;
that darkness is suspicable; that being alone is dangerous.

	 That’s why people try to destroy our hearing with a constant
barrage of what can often turn out to be nonsense. That’s why people
work to find ways to impair our vision and prevent us from seeing
things in totality. That’s why sensory deprivation is used as a tool
to break someone psychologically. If one person or group works to make
another feel isolated soon the will to complete tasks, even the will
to live, is drained from us. No matter what we do, sometimes it seems
as if we take one step forward and another back. Yet Jacob persisted,
like many of us today, no matter how many questions he had, no matter
what was making him less than confident.

	 Scholars have pointed out that this physical journey of Jacob
represents the spiritual journey that was being undertaken by our
early ancestors.3 They, four thousand years ago and more, were working
out their relationship with God. Abraham had come to the conclusion
the God had given him a specific call, and assured him that his life
would be blessed by remembrance throughout history. Abraham passed
along this hope, this teaching, this love to Isaac who, in as strange
a way as it seems that he did, passed it along to Jacob.

	 We too have inherited from our immediate parents and grandparents.
From our church families too we have been drawn into relationship that
reinforces the common bond that we all share. From all our
relationships, we know that God has promised to be with us, most
specifically in Jesus’ words, “I am with you, yes to the end of
time.”

	 Still, we have to journey, each one of us. We have to work about
drawing closer to God. We have to learn to set aside any idea that God
is, somehow, pretty aloof and beyond both compassion and interest.
Also, we have to remember that nothing is beyond what God can observe.
Jacob, in the episode we heard retold this morning, comes to a
slightly better awareness that God is present everywhere – and Jacob
is terrified. Jacob starts to sense that God sees and knows what’s
going on all the time, not just when the four-thousand-year-old cell
phone is left open for God to hear human conversations and thoughts.
God knows not only Jacob’s needs and necessities before he can
formulate them; and God knows OUR necessities before we ourselves do.

	 This is not to instill fear beyond the sense of being in awe of
God’s involvement with us. Brother Curtis Almquist wrote, “The
limitations of our life are a gift from God. All of us have finite
limitations and all of us have real needs, which are going to be
satisfied. We either address our needs for balance in a healthy way,
or our needs will be redressed in unhealthy ways. Nature abhors a
vacuum.” 4 We are called by all the nudges which God gives us. We
are called to understand how far short we fall, how much we brush off
God’s assists. AND we’re called to accept how much we don’t need
to fear.

	 Oh, yes, as Erin Kirby put it, “There is so much to fear:
terrorism, war, the economy, global warming,

	unemployment, hunger, poverty, disease, and death.

	 “Escaping the message that any and all of these things are eminent
is all but impossible. Just drive through any area near a hospital, or
even car dealerships and read the billboards demanding your attention
be riveted on your obviously poorly selected insurance against disease
or accident. Move to another neighborhood and off-base Christian
signage warns you of your doom if you don’t have another kind of
‘insurance’…”

	 But, like Jacob, we’re called to remember that God’s Presence
isn’t selective. “‘Do not be afraid.’ This is not whistling in
the dark comfort, but rather the reassurance that what is seen is not
all there is, a reminder that the fears real, or imagined in this
world, do not need to have the last word in defining one’s life. The
Gospel weaves a tapestry of claims about God embodied in Jesus and his
teaching. Jesus’ teaching entices us to place first things first.
The things of God are to be given the most urgent priority in every
Christian’s life. Neither fear nor worldly distraction is to lure us
away from God’s tender, attentive, care.” 5

	 We’re called not to fear, nor to succumb to lies, God knows our
necessities. All we need do is ask.

	NOTES:

	[1] Collect for Proper 11 a, B.C.P. page 231

	2 Quoted at _“__Truth is…fear is a liar. [1]”_ by The Rev. Dr.
Erin Kirby, Associate Rector of St. James Parish, Wilmington NC [2],
posted on December 24, 2014 [3]by stjamesblog [4] 
https://stjamesclergy.wordpress.com/2014/12/24/truth-is-fear-is-a-liar/
[5]  and via Susan C. Church.

	3 See, for instance,  _“__Jacob’s Ladder” _July 19, 2017 by
Tricia Gates Brown  https://www.episcopalcafe.com/jacobs-ladder/ [6]

	4 _“Balance”_ by Brother Curtis Almquist, SSJE, in _“Brother,
Give us a Word.”__ _17th July, 2017 http://ssje.org/word/?p=15249
[7]  

	5 The Rev. Dr. Erin Kirby, Op. cit.  

	 

Links:
------
[1]
https://stjamesclergy.wordpress.com/2014/12/24/truth-is-fear-is-a-liar/
[2] http://www.stjamesp.org/
[3]
https://stjamesclergy.wordpress.com/2014/12/24/truth-is-fear-is-a-liar/
[4] https://stjamesclergy.wordpress.com/author/stjamesclergy/
[5]
https://stjamesclergy.wordpress.com/2014/12/24/truth-is-fear-is-a-liar/
[6] https://www.episcopalcafe.com/jacobs-ladder/
[7] http://ssje.org/word/?p=15249

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