Joke: A friend of mine told me something that happened to him a while ago, he came out to his car parked at the Crossroads Mall in St. Cloud and noticed a ding in the side. “Oh rats,” he said. (I don’t believe that’s really what he said but I am giving you the homily version.)
Then he noticed a note on his window-wiper. “Hey.” So here’s the note:
“I have just put a small dent in the side of your car. There were witnesses
who saw what I did and they are now watching me. They think I’m writing
down my name and address. I’m not.”
Isn’t that weird? I suppose the person who wrote that was…. fearful. Perhaps fearing that they’d have to pay, or fearful that he’d get his car dinged in revenge . . . I don’t know. But fear is a funny thing. Fear can be useful in many ways, but most often, it hinders us or hurts us.
There are people in the US who would never visit a country overseas for fear of being
killed there, so they stay home . . . where the risk of murder is 20 times greater.
There are people who are afraid of lightning storms, and some of those are smokers
and so when there’s lightning, what do they do? . . . light up a cigarette to calm
their fears. But actually, smoking kills more people in an afternoon than
lightning does in a year.
Or on the way to the airport, there are people who are afraid of flying and obsess about an air
crash while doing one the riskiest things Americans ever do: driving without paying attention.
I recently met a woman who feared she might have contracted a “flesh-eating disease”
that she had seen on TV. (Gee, I wish that she would have told me that before shaking my hand.)
No, she doesn’t have the disease, nor mad cow disease, nor is it likely that she’ll die in an earthquake or a jet crash. But anxiety kills more of us than any of those other dangers. Stress kills us through high blood pressure, heart attacks, depression . . . and still we choose to worry.
In a recent poll, over half the adults surveyed had these worries:
being in a car crash,
having cancer,
inadequate Social Security,
not enough money for retirement.
being a victim of violence,
food poisoning,
These are biggies! Our TV news spends many hours a day telling us about those who have fallen to disasters and what’s coming next. I am surprised the nightly news doesn’t just begin by saying: “Welcome to the news, we’re surprised you made it through another day. Here’s what happened to those who didn’t . . . ”
Well, that would make sense if we only listened to the Nightly News, but we also have the Good News (which is where the word Gospel comes from). Good News…Gospel.
And all through the Gospel, the message is loud and clear . . . DO NOT BE AFRAID!!!!
On one level that makes sense because just as this is a dangerous place, it is also a safe place. On any given day, we move safely around huge machines that could kill us: cars, elevators, tractors. And our homes have all these high-voltage electrical currents and gas lines and we’re safe. It’s like what Mark Twain said near the end of his life, “I have had a great many troubles, but most of them never happened.”
We have the message of the Gospel that says “Fear Not.” That does not mean to be foolish ….e.g. texting while driving, or to leaving the potato salad out all afternoon. “Fear Not” means to not waste your time worrying. Whatever it is, let it go . . . LET GO and LET GOD.
In the first reading, Elijah is fearful. He’s hiding out to save his life and he wants to hear a message from God in a clear, huge manner. But he doesn’t. Instead, God speaks to him in a whisper.
Or in the Gospel, the disciples are on a fishing boat in a storm in the fourth watch of the night (which is between 3:00 and 6:00 in the morning) and they are afraid. Or when Jesus comes walking on water to them, they think that he’s a ghost. And good ole’ Peter takes a step out of the boat, but what happens? He begins to fear and starts to sink.
I believe that we all have had a “sinking experience” in our lives.
But we, as people of faith are invited to endure the storms and stop hiding (like Elijah) We have the promise of “Not Being Afraid” in the Eucharist on three different levels . . .
- We remember how God has helped us through in the past,
- We celebrate that we don’t have to do it all alone right now in the present (God is rooting and caring for us)
- We believe that God will be there in the future….for tomorrow and tomorrow’s tomorrow.
So “fear not.” Let go of whatever it is . . . and remember, celebrate and believe.