With Fear and Slipping

Luke 9:28-36

Now about eight days after these sayings Jesus took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him. They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. Now Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep; but since they had stayed awake, they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. Just as they were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah” —not knowing what he said. While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were terrified as they entered the cloud. Then from the cloud came a voice that said, “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!” When the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and in those days told no one any of the things they had seen.

Eight days later, my wife took with her, our dog and me and led us to our long table to “talk".  I thought, “This is really bad.”  The dog was fine with it.  There, she became super serious, so before she could say anything I said, “Hey, it’s good you brought us here, because I’ve been thinking about building some birdhouses,” (not really knowing what I was saying.) And while I was still yammering, a voice came from the clouds and said, “Erik, this is your beloved, she is really quite… QUITE a bit smarter than you.  Shut up and listen to her.” 

You see, eight days before that I had driven to Augusta and when I left to come home, I started down this giant, steep hill.  The road was covered in that thick, not-quite-slush… not-quite-snow, sort of snotty, winter mess and as I applied the brakes, my very bald tires slipped and the anti-lock brakes did all they could but I still slid all the way down that hill. The GOOD news was that I stopped before I slid into Water Street. The REALLY good news is that I stopped before going into the stuff beyond that for which that street is named! The bad news was I needed new tires and that filled me with great fear. 

Now, I don’t have a weird new-tire phobia.  What I fear is spending money.  I wanted to take a couple of months to squirrel the money away and pay with cash.  But that snow was just the pre-blizzard, which was going to be followed by the REAL blizzard, which was then going to be followed by a post-blizzard, and Kelly said, “I know you fear putting tires on a credit card.  I know spending $500 will feel like death to you. But I also know your fear won’t magically go away even if I tell you not to be afraid.  So, invite your fear into the car with you, tell it to buckle up, and the two of you GO… get new tires on your car TODAY... because new tires means life.”  So, my fear and I got into my car, buckled up and we went and got new tires, because God was right… she's quite…QUITE a bit smarter than I am.  

The thing that happened eight days before today’s lesson is that Jesus told the disciples he needed to go to Jerusalem, where he would suffer and die and be raised from the dead. The disciples had no idea what he meant by being raised from the dead but they were all TOO clear on what suffering and death was! They, very understandably, had a real fear of going to Jerusalem.  But in the middle of the disciple’s yammering, God spoke and said, “Disciples listen, this is my Son, my Chosen, he is quite… QUITE a bit smarter than you, so shut up and listen to him.” With that they shut up, loaded themselves… and all their fears… on the disciple-bus and drove down the mountain and on to Jerusalem.  Because in that encounter… even though they still couldn’t wrap their minds fully around it, and even though they were still scared… they knew that somehow going down that mountain following Jesus toward suffering and death was somehow ALSO the path Jesus was leading them down toward abundant life.  

Here’s the second most important thing about these stories… Kelly knew that telling me not to be afraid wouldn’t magically take away my fear.  Jesus telling the disciples not to be afraid didn’t magically take away their fear either. But you and I are called to FAITHFULNESS… NOT FEARLESSNESS.  Faithfulness is taking your fear, inviting it onto the bus with you and driving on down the mountain toward new life, even with fear riding shotgun and incessantly changing the radio stations the whole way down.  

If we wait to be fearless BEFORE we make a step toward the Abundant Life God created us to live, we'll never even take the first step.  Cornel West says it this way, “To be a Christian is to live dangerously, honestly, freely - to step, in the name of love, as if you may land on nothing. Yet to keep on stepping… because “the something” that sustains you… (is something) no empire can give you… and no empire can take away.” To his “dangerously, honestly and freely”… I’d add fearfully. We as Christians are not called to wait for safety or comfort. We as Christians are not called to wait for fearlessness. We as Christians are called to take a step… just one little step in faith and in self giving love… then another… and then another… on down the mountain and out into the world.  One tiny, seemingly insignificant little step toward loving God and loving neighbor... one step… after another, toward LIFE.

All of that is true. But true doesn’t make it easy. Fear is still very real and, by it’s nature, fear is REALLY scary! But here’s the part of this lesson that I think is MOST important for us today. Notice HOW those disciples came down that mountain. They came down that mountain and walked into the scary world following Jesus… TOGETHER. TOGETHER... that’s how God created us to do this thing called life!

Following Jesus. Walking the Jesus Way. Living life in the Jesus Way of living… Loving God. Loving Neighbor. Giving of self. Caring for the lost, last and least of our world. We’re called to ALL of that… BUT NEVER… are we called to walk ALONE! This is the stuff us fear-filled humans can only do when we do it TOGETHER! Today we officially welcome new members to join us hiking down the mountain and out into life with us TOGETHER. It is an incredible gift! To us AND, I hope, to them.  Because we need each other if we’re going to keep stepping out in love and putting one foot in front of the other down the mountain and out into the world. We ALL need others who in our moments of fear are “quite a bit smarter” than us to help us invite our fear on the bus and keep driving. We ALL need others, to remind us that every step taken in love lands on “that something”, even when that next step is anything but clear. We ALL need each other, to remind us that in this life, there’s a Promised Land on the other side of EVERY wilderness and there’s an Easter on the other side of EVERY Good Friday. May we TOGETHER… TOGETHER as the Body of Christ that we call Christ Trinity Church, dangerously, honestly, fearfully and freely, keep on stepping out, each and every day, in the name of love. Amen.