Love and Fear
Third Sunday after Pentecost - Year B
Sunday, June 21, 2009
National Aboriginal Day

Let us pray: O God, we gather as your people, considering what it means to be bound together as people of different cultures, backgrounds, teachings and learnings. May we hear your voice in the words of teaching that come to us in varied ways and with diverse voices. Guide what I say that these words may add to our knowledge of you and your way. Amen.

I want to start off this morning with three different sort of mini-reflections and then explore how they connect with each other.

Mini-reflection number one: I came across the following comment in the material I use to prepare for worship.

“Contemplate this well-known assertion by cartoonist Michael Leunig”

I'll talk about the assertion in just a moment, but first I want to parse that sentence. First of all, I didn't realise until I had gone back to it that it didn't say what I thought it said. You see, what I remembered is that it was the cartoonist, Michael Leunig that was well known and not the assertion. I kind of pride myself on knowing a little bit about a lot of things, and so I was kind of befuddled when I thought I read about someone being well-known that I had never heard of. Well, of course, researching in this internet connected day and age is not any further away than the same keyboard that had provided me with the statement in the first place, so off I went to find out about Michael Leunig. And what a delight it was to learn about him. It turns out that if I was Australian he probably would be well-known to me, as he is a very popular and well-known Australian cartoonist. In fact he has been named an Australian living treasure. Some of the material suggested that he is a political cartoonist, but I read somewhere else that he doesn't like that description of himself because while he does do many political cartoons - some of them quite controversial, he does lots of other cartoons as well. I also found out that he is a poet. While I didn't read any descriptive material about his faith life, it didn't take me long to realise that this man is someone of spiritual depth, as attested by his blog which is titled spiritedwritings.blogspot.com.

I love learning about people like Michael Leunig and it was an informative and helpful digression for me to read and view his work.

As I said, however, and as I re-discovered when I went back to re-read the sentence that sent me on that digression - and by the way I don't really consider it a digression when I end up learning something important and when it contributes to the message I've been given to share on a given Sunday morning. Anyway, the sentence really said it was the assertion, more than the author of it that was well-known. Again, I am still surprised, because I didn't think the assertion was all that well known either. Here's the sentence again, with the addition of the referred-to assertion : (and this is the second mini-reflection to which I referred at the beginning)

“Contemplate this well-known assertion by cartoonist Michael Leunig noting the immediate thoughts or images that come to mind:

There are only two feelings. Love and fear.
There are only two languages. Love and fear.
There are only two activities. Love and fear.
There are only two motives, two procedures,
two frameworks, two results. Love and fear.
Love and fear.

So, not only did I have a delightful and informative foray into learning about Michael Leunig, but I spent considerable time since I read that poem in the form of an assertion reflecting on it and it's relevance to faithful living and the things I wanted to say this week at worship.

First of all, is it really true that everything can be framed into those two feelings: Love and fear. I must say that it has a lot of merit. But before I delve any further into it, let me quickly tell you about the third mini-reflection.

Not quite three years ago, at the last General Council of The United Church of Canada David Giuliano was elected Moderator. His term will end this summer in early August when the General Council meets again in Kelowna and it is likely I was thinking about him this week as I completed my registration for the council, which I am entitled to attend by virtue of my office as president of conference. I clearly remember watching the video of his acceptance speech in which he reflected on how it was that he was elected as moderator. He gave much credit to the fact that his theme in speaking to the commissioners to the General Council was “Don't be Afraid” and that it was a theme that spoke to the souls of a majority of the people entitled to vote. I've told his story before, a story that is both poignant and prophetic. Only a few short weeks after being elected, he was diagnosed with life threatening brain cancer and equally life threatening surgery to remove the cancer. He has said on many occasions that he has come to learn that it was his vulnerability that God was able to use rather than his strength to make him such an effective leader of the church for this time. I'm sure he had no idea of how important his own words “Don't be afraid” would be for him.

Well, all of these reflections of fear and love - and the mini-reflections that they spawned for me this week are based on the passages we heard a few moments ago. We heard the classic tale of fear and fearlessness - the fear waged upon the army of Saul by the giant bully Goliath and the fearlessness of the underdog David, who used the situation to build his reputation and solidify feelings about him as the right choice as king of the Hebrew people. We also heard Paul extolling the Corinthian Christians not to be daunted by past hardships - and live open and fearless lives, for the gains far outweighed the risks. And finally we heard the stormy weather story from Mark and those same words: “Don't be afraid”.

By far I spent the most time reflecting on that assertion about Love and Fear by Michael Leunig with respect to it's connection with this day on the calendar and this time in our history. Naturally I am referring to National Aboriginal Day. How much does that assertion about Love and Fear have to say about the state of relationships between aboriginal and non-aboriginal people in this land? Can all the other feelings that invariably get raised in discussions of the troubled and dismal relationships between European colonists and the people who originally lived on this continent be subsumed into those two pre-eminent feelings of love and fear? Can the horrible legacy of the residential school system be defined as a response to those two feelings - Love and Fear? Well, those are some of the questions that occupied me this week. Of course, all of this reflection did not result in any clear answers - why should I think they would after so many others have pondered the same questions with such varying responses.

Paul reminded the Corinthians of all the hardships he and others had endured in order to be a good example to them of dedication and commitment. He told them that the hardships were all worth it for the desired result - a life lived with openness and expansiveness.

And ultimately, that's the message I want to take from all of these reflections. I want to hear David Giuliano continuing to remind us, like Jesus in that boat, “Don't be afraid.” I want to hear Michael Leunig reflecting on the two emotions - love and fear and I want in all of the relationships I forge in this life to choose love over fear. I know it's the way God wants us to choose. Amen.