- by Decon Sean Michaelson - May 14, 2006 -

I have been torn all week about what I might say to you this morning/evening. Today is, after all, Mother's Day, and a very happy mother's day to all the moms, grandmothers, expectant moms, and mothers superior who are with us. Mother's day is of course a secular holiday, officially it is not a part of the Church's calendar. But it would be an appropriate occasion I think for us to talk about motherhood and what it means to our faith. In many ways we have today a very broad and sophisticated secular understanding of what it is to be a mom. Indeed, I think we may have a more sophisticated understanding of what it is to be a mom than we do for what it means to be a dad today. But on the other hand our theological understanding of 'father' is much more complex and developed than is our theological understanding of 'mother.' We are only beginning to think about, or think again about, what moms and motherhood can tell us about our God.

Unfortunately moms, there is another event on the secular calendar this week that is threatening not only to eclipse Mother's day but almost anything else you can think of. Indeed, it is an event which claims mat it might just overwhelm Western civilization as we know it. That's right, the DaVinci Code opens Friday at a theatre near you.

I don't know if you are as fascinated by this whole DaVinci Code phenomenon as I am, but I am amazed at how much interest this book and now this movie has generated. And I am really fascinated by how many people, Catholics and other Christians are afraid in some way of what this book says. There have been talks and lectures, I think we had one here in fact, 'debunking' or at least addressing what the DaVinci Code has to say. It has been discussed in newspapers. It is all over magazines, the radio. It is DaVinci Code week on the History Channel.

If you have not read it, The DaVinci Code is a great story. It is not good theology, and from what I am told, it is not good art history either. But if you love spy-novels and thrillers, it is an excellent book, a genuine page-turner, and I suspect it will be an excellent movie as well.

But I can't tell you the number of people who have in essence asked me, directly or indirectly, if it is alright for them to see this movie. 'I can't decide if I should see it. Are you going to see it?' I was asked that recently. Tm not sure I should see it, but maybe I will. What do you think I should do?' I got that question last week at a wedding. For whatever reason, there is a certain fear among many Christians surrounding this movie. People are afraid of what the book says, afraid to see what this movie might show, afraid of what it might do to their faith, their blood-pressure, the Church, Western Civilization as we know it.

It is this feeling of fear that I find most interesting, and I think is most relevant to us, for it is 'in fear' that our readings for today begin as well. Saul, or Paul if you prefer, arrives in Jerusalem and tries to join the disciples. But as Luke writes, the Apostles 'were all afraid of him.' As well they should have been.

While we read this story five weeks after Easter, and while Acts makes it seem like this meeting happened soon after the Easter event, we know from Paul's letters that this meeting came at least three years after Paul's conversion and who knows how many years after the death and resurrection of Jesus. For all those years this is the man the Apostles feared most. This is the man who had been persecuting them. This is the man who has been trying to wipe out the memory of Jesus among the Jewish people. And now he has come to the followers of Jesus, claiming to be one of them.
So of course the Apostles had every right to fear Paul. But this reading from Acts is not so much about fear as it is about the overcoming of fear. What the reading shows is that fear is something that the Apostles had to overcome if they were to carry on their work and, as the passage says, 'live in peace.' And I would suggest to you my brothers and sisters that this is also true for us.

Some of you may know the answer to this question: but can anyone tell me what is the most repeated phrase in the scriptures? What phrase appears most often in the bible, Old Testament, New Testament? Does anyone know? WAIT FOR ANSWER
'Do not be afraid.'
'Do not be afraid.' Old Testament, New Testament, God, Jesus, prophets, apostles, more than anything else what our God wants to say to us is 'do not be afraid.' Because it is fear, perhaps more so even than sin, that prevents us from loving God and our neighbours, from living out the gospel message, and from bringing it to the world that so desperately needs it.

Think of the images in the gospels that show fear as the real obstacle to faith and union with God. Think of Peter walking on the water toward Jesus until he becomes afraid and starts to sink. Think of Peter on Good Friday who in the Garden of Gethsemane draws a sword and attacks a man to protect Jesus, but then later denies knowing Jesus when he becomes afraid of what might happen to him. Think of Christ appearing to the Apostles after the resurrection. Where does he find them? Carrying on his work? Proclaiming his gospel? No, he finds them locked in a room, hiding, because they are afraid.

Fear debilitates unlike any other emotion. And fear more than anything else prevents us from carrying out Jesus' desire that we bring the good news to all the world. It is this fear that we must overcome, just as the first disciples had to overcome their fear. And what I think today's readings say to us is that we overcome fear, not through courage, not through bravery, but through love.
The letter from John tells us that we know that God remains in us, and that we are confident in God, when we love one another as Jesus commanded. When we love Christ, when we live in the love of Christ, fear is overcome. It is Jesus' commandment that we love one another, that we love our enemies as well, that allows us to 'live in him,' to 'remain in him,' and to 'bear much fruit' as disciples. There is no commandment in the scriptures to be courageous, because courage does not overcome fear, it only allows us to persevere in fear. There is no commandment in the scripture to be brave, because bravery does not overcome fear, it only allows us to act in its presence.

What Jesus calls us to is love, for in love fear is dissipated, and what comes is not courage or bravery, what comes when we are not afraid is peace. What does Jesus say when he comes to the disciples locked in the room, locked in fear? 'Peace be with you. My peace I give to you.' What does the reading from Acts today say when the Apostles stop fearing Paul and learn to love and trust him, it says 'the church throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria was at peace.'

When God says to us 'do not be afraid,' it does not mean be brave or courageous. It is in fact another way of expressing this command to love, and another expression of this gift of peace. For when we love ourselves, our neighbours, our enemies, our God, fear loses its power over us, and we can enjoy the peace of Christ, the peace only Christ can give. When we love we are not afraid, and we are able to bring the gospel message to the world, to bear much fruit, to be disciples, and to build up the Church in peace, such that no movie can bring it down.

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