Awaken: "Breathing Room"
Psalm 4; Luke 24: 36b-48
April 30, 2006, Eastertide
You gave me room when I was in distress. Room to be me, to move through my feelings, to reflect on the situation…..breathing room….to discover who I am….all I can be. And my part in receiving this great gift is simply to take the time, stop!, make time…to ponder on my bed, no matter how angry/how disturbed, to stop and ponder so I offer "right" sacrifices, trusting the Lord will use them for good. Right sacrifices? Doing what is righteous, of the higher order of things…full of grace…a response rather than a retaliation, even in the face of wrong….trusting God is up to something in the other just as God is up to something in me….and I can help the whole of the process!
And if I do…then what I get is….peace. The psalms says I get to "BOTH lie down and sleep….in peace for God alone makes me lie down in safety." The only truly safe place in this world? God. God makes you lie down so you can both sleep/rest and know peace…but you have to be willing to lie there!
Peace….that would be joy at rest. And joy? Joy and fear come from the same root word: awe. When we are in awe, and show it outwardly, we know joy…awe coveted for our own selfish good, brings fear.
What are you afraid of?
To Fear (a clump of material sitting upon a chair):
Karen
Fear:
Karen
Fear
Karen
My fear sitting there. Something of what it might have been like for the disciples…their fears and doubts taking form as the Christ came to be with them. Real? Not real? What would help them now? How could Christ help them? How could he help you….believe in yourself the way God believes in you? That’s why Christ appears…not to get rid of doubts and fears and wonderings but to give you just what you need in order to begin to believe…in your new and resurrected life….so you can start living it!
Their fear…the disciples’ fear…is so real they cannot see Christ standing before them. They see a "ghost". And how does Christ deal with their "troubled and doubting minds"? He invites them to touch and look, to see his pierced feet, to watch as he consumes broiled fish. The disciples knew Jesus was real when they could apply their senses to test reality. They could see him, hear him; they could touch his wounds, they could eat real food with him. They were convinced, not by argument or doctrine, but by their own experience.
The piece of fish which Jesus ate was more than food. It was food for thought…faith food. It was for the whole person…fears and all, that we might believe he has indeed come to us yet again. And we who have felt God’s touch, tasted God’s mercy, heard God’s promise, and experienced God’s love, we apply our sensibilities to test what is really real in this life of ours….and we begin to believe right through our doubts and fears….begin to live…powerfully live…resurrected lives…as God’s young and adult children.He invites them to see the fulfilling of the promise…hope made really real….resurrected life right through their doubts and fears! Can Christ join you in your fears and so open your mind to resurrected life?
What are your fears?
Can you sit them right down here in the pew next to you and talk with them about the way things are…really are…really aren’t?
What would they have to tell you about….you…and your desires?
You see, God isn’t in the rational or irrational thought world we usually choose to live in. God lives in the non-rational world that defies the way things seem! God has become like us in order to make us become more like God.
Fear can bind us just as surely as the strongest cord. It can choke out our best selves. Or, it can be the catalyst for saving our very lives. It may be the motivator for us to seek a new way of doing things, of being…..us!
Christ invites the disciples to experience life with him…to unburden their fear on him. Relax! In doing this, he opens their minds to see beyond the immediate questions and doubts.
The nature of fear is such that it can become the main focus of our life. It can cause rational people to do very irrational things. Is this where you want your focus to be?
Some hope. Maybe not able to be hope-full today….but maybe hope-speck, hope-glimmer…hope-ish. Awake!
Christ is here today to eat with us…faith food…agape and Tippe Cafe…to open our minds and set us free…from the way things have been in our lives up to now…set us free from our own doubt and fear….if we will awaken and enjoy some breathing room.
: Well…..well, I am your fear and I’m in your body trying to tell you something. I am concerned about you. You are really pushing it and it’s too much. I am of you and I ache and need your help. I do care about you and I am not your enemy. I need you to go easier on me…softer on you. You do everything with your will. You think you can help all these problems one after the other all by yourself. It’s too much. No wonder you get afraid and fill with fear. I don’t want that for you. You know better. I’m not in here alone you know…wisdom is here, and play and joy and thoughtfulness and anger and sadness and desire and love. Why do you only give me your attention? Would you like to come back and sit here as yourself…your real, your whole self? I mean, I forgive you for not dealing with me before….dealing with all of us together. Would you forgive yourself so you can begin to turn things around for yourself?: (sitting in that chair) Oh…things don’t look as scarey as I thought they would from where you’re….where we’re sitting here. I think you’re right. You’re right. Life is softer than I’ve been making it….not so many edges as I thought….not so many edges to fall off of as I thought there really were! There’s more to life than what I’ve been seeing and focusing on. There’s more to me! Talking with you…me!, things don’t seem so scarey. There is more possibility here in the fear than I ever could have imagined on my own. I’m glad we’ve had this conversation…weird chair and all! There are so many things I can do differently…if I only will.: Well, I don’t know why I am so frightened, but I could try. It feels funny to just be with you though…sorta' like it feels funny to see you sitting there in a chair. What do you want me to do here? Do you think you could?: Ahhh….we’ve been together so long. And yet I hardly know you cause I often live on the surface of things. I struggle, so often I struggle with you…all my doubts and fears….am I good enough…what will happen next…will anybody notice…do I really deserve this…will I ever get better…will things ever get better? I’m so tired of being afraid. I don’t want to be afraid of anymore…afraid of my own fears! Do I have the courage now to take the time, make room to just go and be with you…be with the fear? …to learn about me through you?
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