About the Author: Sunday Sermons from Sell Chapel are written by Rev. Preston Van Deursen, Director of Pastoral Care at the Masonic Village at Elizabethtown.
I had someone in my office recently who is considering moving to the Village in the next year. One of the reasons she wants to come here is she feels it is safer here because we have security round the clock.
That is a question many people are asking. Where can I be safe? It comes up very high on the resident satisfaction survey. This is about as safe a place as I know to live.
All of us want to know that our home is safe, our family is safe, that those we love are protected. Just for fun to keep you awake, Some unknown wit has suggested some signs that you can put around your home to keep it safe from burglars. Perhaps you will find these signs helpful:
Sign #1. Dear Mr. Butcher, starting tomorrow, please leave eight pounds of meat for Brutus. Six pounds only makes him angry and vicious!
Sign #2. Dear Mr. Mailman, Please be sure to keep all parts of your body well clear of the mail slot opening. PS. Any sign of that book we sent for, “The Care and Feeding of Wild Jungle Cats”?
Sign # 3. Selma, don’t come in! The boa constrictor got loose again . . .
Sign # 4. Dear Mr. Exterminator, be very careful when you go inside! The termites have eaten through most of the floorboards and you will fall into the basement where all of the rats are!
Sign # 5. To whom it may concern: some of the items in this house have been engraved with Federal Identification Numbers. Others have merely been wired to explode when touched. Good luck . . .
Well, maybe those will do the trick. Maybe they will keep your cottage or apartment secure.
One of the truths about today’s world is that people are more afraid than they use to be?
Many of you used to live in the larger cities of say Philadelphia or Pittsburgh and you probably did not even lock your homes then. Now you are afraid to drive through the same area without locking your car door.
One summer evening during a violent thunderstorm a mother was tucking her small boy into bed. She was about to turn off the light when her son asked with a tremor in his voice, “O Mommy, will you sleep with me tonight?”
The mother smiled and gave him a reassuring hug. “I can’t dear,” she said. “I have to sleep in Daddy’s room.”
A long silence was broken at last by a shaken little voice saying, “That big sissy.”
I’m not saying that we are becoming a nation of sissies, but people do seem to be more afraid than ever before. People are home-schooling their children in record numbers–partially out of fear–fear that a class-mate may go on a rampage–fear of the drug culture that has evolved among many of our young–fear of unsavory influences.
People are afraid. Have you noticed that people are more concerned about the quality of our environment than ever before? Consider the growing number of people consuming bottled water and organically-grown food. Many of these people are suspicious that the experts are not telling us all the facts about the things we take into our body.
Despite the controversies over gun control that erupt after each new episode of carnage in our schools, there are more guns in our nation than ever before. Some of this is out of fear. One of the most bizarre comments made after the Columbine tragedy in Littleton, Colorado was that it wouldn’t have happened if the teachers had been armed. Can you imagine teachers going to school carrying semi-automatic weapons? But people are afraid.
FEAR IS A TERRIBLE THING. Fear keeps us from living life to the
fullest. It keeps us from pursuing our dreams. Fear causes us to settle for second best in life.
I was reading recently about a pair of dice which are enshrined on a velvet pillow under glass in the Las Vegas Desert Inn. It seems that back in 1950 an anonymous sailor made twenty-seven straight wins with the dice at a game of craps. Now some of our more worldly people will have to tell the rest of us exactly what that means, but according to the report I read the odds against such a feat are 12,467,890 to 1. Here’s what is interesting. Had the sailor bet the house limit on each roll he would have earned $268 million. As it was, he was so timid with his wagers that he walked away from the table with only $750.
Now I am certainly not endorsing gambling, but imagine that! He could have made $268 million dollars but he only made $750 dollars because he was too timid, too conservative with his money.
To me that analogy is what so often happens in our faith life. We could do such great things for Christ,
Writer Jim Stovall addressed this concern. Stovall notes that truly successful people have the same fears and doubts that unsuccessful people have. They get scared. They wonder about things. But they don’t let their fears and doubts stop them from pressing forward! They do something with their lives, and they take risks in spite of their fears.
Stovall once interviewed actress Katharine Hepburn. He asked her, “What makes you so special?” Her answer was quite interesting. She said, “Most actresses of any skill look at my work and find themselves saying, “I could have done that.’ The difference is,” she continued, “I did it, and they didn’t.” Stovall believes that what she said is true for most great people. Others can always look at their work and say, “I could have done that.” But, they didn’t. Successful people overcome fears and do what they set out to do, no matter how scared they may be while doing it.
Fear is a terrible thing. Fear causes us to settle for second best. FEAR MAY EVEN KEEP US FROM ANSWERING GOD’S CALL. As one person has written, “We can sing nine million heartfelt choruses of “Our God is an Awesome God,’ and yet still cower in fear when God actually calls us to trust in Him. We think our faith is rock-solid as long as it doesn’t require us to leave our comfort zone.
“Our three most common responses to God,” this writer continues, “when He places a radical call on our lives are “Not me, not there, or not yet.’
“Not me,’ we say. “Choose someone who’s smarter, or younger, or braver, or more spiritual, or more eloquent. I’m not the one you’re looking for. Please don’t ask me to go. (Think Gideon, Moses, Esther)’
“Not there,’ we plead. “Don’t ask me to go to Bosnia, or Africa, or any place where I might be in danger or can’t speak the language. Don’t send me into the poor part of town; I’m not used to hanging out with those type of people. Don’t ask me to take Your word to my family and friends. They wouldn’t understand. They’d laugh at me. Please don’t ask me to go THERE. (Think Abram or Peter)’
“Not yet,’ we protest. “This just isn’t the right time. Maybe when I’m older . . . when the kids are out of school . . . when the bills are all paid . . . when I’ve retired . . . when we have the money saved up . . . Later, when I have time to prepare myself, and everything is perfectly in place. Ask me then. But please don’t ask me to go there now. (Think the rich young ruler)’
“Not me, not there, not yet.” We let fear keep us from answering God’s call. We let fear determine the quality of our service. Fear is a terrible thing. IF WE COULD JUST CONQUER OUR FEARS, WE COULD TURN OUR LIVES AROUND. No wonder the Bible says, “Fear not!” so many times. Many of us could be dynamic ambassadors of Christ if only we weren’t so afraid–afraid of looking silly, afraid of what others will think, afraid of being taken advantage of, and a host of fears too long to list.
Do you remember the song, WHO’S AFRAID OF THE BIG BAD WOLF? The song became enormously popular with Americans fighting the Great Depression in the 1930s. But how it became a hit surprised even its creators.
The song was in Walt Disney’s animated cartoon, THREE LITTLE PIGS, which opened at New York’s Radio City Music Hall in May 1933. Disney expected a good response but, to his disappointment, critics and audiences were ho-hum about it.
Then the lightning struck. After the movie was shown in other theaters, it suddenly caught on. Radio stations and band leaders were asking Disney for permission to play one of the songs featured in the film: WHO’S AFRAID OF THE BIG BAD WOLF?
Disney hadn’t even arranged to publish the music, and to meet demands for sheet music, he had to send musicians with flashlights into darkened theaters to copy down words and music from the screen.
The song soon swept the country as a plucky response to the grinding economic times. Even President Roosevelt said the movie was one of his favorites. (5) Of course, this was during the time when Roosevelt was telling Americans that the only thing they had to fear was fear itself.
And Roosevelt was right. The only thing most of us have to fear is fear itself. Who’s afraid of the big bad wolf? Wouldn’t it be wonderful never to be afraid again? Where shall we go where we will be safe? Where shall we turn so that we never live in fear again? The Psalmist tells us: “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day. Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; he lifts his voice, the earth melts. The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Come and see the works of the LORD, the desolations he has brought on the earth. He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth; he breaks the bow and shatters the spear, he burns the shields with fire. “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.’ The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.”
These words have brought comfort to millions of people across the centuries. “God is our refuge and our strength, an ever-present help in trouble . . . Be still and know that I am God.” There is a place that is safe. It is a place near the heart of God. If we could live our lives in God’s presence, if we could trust God in everything we do, if we could align our lives with God’s perfect will, we would never have to walk in fear again.
There is an old rhyme that goes like this:
“When in danger, when in doubt:
Run in circles, scream and shout!”
“This old rhyme is not advice,” says author A. Philip Parham. “It’s a description of what we generally do when we are fearful and confused. We know it’s futile, but we do it anyway! This tendency is addressed in the British navy by a custom known as “the still.’ In cases of sudden disaster aboard ship, the call for “the still’ is blown. This is a whistle for the crew to come to complete silence. When “the still’ is blown every man aboard knows what it means: “Prepare to do the right thing.’ This moment of calm has helped avoid many a catastrophe that “running in circles, screaming and shouting’ could cause.”
Opera star Beverly Sills has known her share of tragedy, including a child born deaf, never to hear her mother’s magnificent voice. She was asked how she copes. She spoke of a “stillness” and said: “When “the stillness’ comes, you simply realize that it is not important for everybody to love you. It’s more important for you to love them. It turns your whole life around. And the very act of living becomes the act of giving.”
Finding a place of stillness will turn your life around. When you are afraid and wonder where in the world you will be safe, be still. Stop for a moment and reflect on God’s great love for you. Don’t ask how much others love you, but ask how much you love them and how much you love God who created us all. Fear is a terrible thing. Fear causes us to settle for second best in life. Fear keeps us from answering God’s call. Often, the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. “God is our refuge and our strength, an ever-present help in trouble . . . Be Still and know that I am God.”
