I heard of a survey taken recently that asked youth and adults what they fear. The top fears for teens and young adults were: personal failure,
disappointing others,
uncertainty of the future,
financial difficulties,
death of a loved one.
The top fears for older adults were: the direction of our country,
finances for retirement,
aging,
loss of memory.
And interestingly, many adults stating being less fearful as they grow older. Perhaps experience helps; that the things we were afraid of never came to pass. Wisdom of life is a great teacher.
Now obviously there are more fears than that, for there issues of gun violence, nuclear war,
terrorisms, fear of strangers. So what do we do with our fears?
Well, I invite all the teen-agers to come up here and demonstrate. [I have them do trust falls, that is to fall back into someone’s arms]. Now that is scary, correct. What makes it less scary?
I think that it is trust. It is easier when you know the person catching you, right? We can still do, but it is harder. It is also easier if the person behind you is bigger than you.
This weekend is near the end of the liturgical season. Every year, the readings seem to be focused on the gloom and doom of the end of the world. There is lots of symbolic language used, as we heard today . . . with the sun going dark or stars falling from the sky. We can look at the end with fear or with faith.
Usually we are wired to be afraid, that is our nature . . . our senses sends signals to our brain to flight, fight or freeze that is how we survived. So of course when many of us think of the future or we think about the Second Coming, our first response is to fear it.
Most of politics is set-up to make us fearful. For example this past election, we heard again how bad the world was going to become if we vote for the candidate. Why didn’t candidates tell us what they could do instead of the problems with the other person? Because of fear. Fear sells.
Fear motives. Fear is one of the easiest things to preach on. “God will bring down fire and destroy all of you sinners.” [Said in my preachiest voice]
But there is another way. A way to imagine a different world. A way to imagine what the other side will be like. [Sing: I can only imagine what it will be like when I walk by your side.]
Goodness does happen. God’s grace is all around us. It involves falling into something bigger than we are. That something is God. It is as if God says, I got you. I won’t let you fall.
[Have a small teen fall back into the arms of a larger person] Wasn’t that easier?
Does that means that there won’t ever be hard times, or terrible situations like the fires of California or disease or death. Of course not. But God doesn’t intend them. In fact most of the bad things that happen in life are things that God doesn’t want, but God is there to catch us. God is there to assure us that we can get through this.
Recently, there was the death of a young person. Such sadness. But from that death, the heart was used in a transplant for one of our parishioners. Matt Johnson has had a bad heart for all of his young 30 years. And he had been in the hospital for 266 days waiting for a heart transplant. And because of that one death, Matt now has a new life.
One of the most common themes throughout the bible . . . is fear not, and be not afraid. God has got you. Fall into God’s arms. How? Talk to God. Communicate with God. Pray. Tell God your fears, your worries. Then trust. God won’t let you fall.