"Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom."

"Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen."

What reassuring words we have from our sacred texts this morning! The phrase "Do not be afraid" is found in almost every book of the bible; it seems that human beings have always struggled with fear and that a core part of our spirituality has to do with finding a meaningful and (I would add) credible way to manage our anxieties.

After we are told not to be afraid, we are instructed "Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. ³⁴For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." A wise person gifted me with this wonderful book My Grandfather's Blessings and in it the author, psychiatrist Rachel Naomi Remen tells the story of the six-year-old son of her friends. (p. 43-recalled from memory not verbatim)

We spent hours racing his two tiny cars from wall to windowsill telling each other what we imagined we were passing on the road. Sometimes I would have the one with the chipped wheel and sometimes he would have it. At that time one of the major gas companies began a Hot Wheels giveaway with every fill up. I had my co-workers help me collect them and soon I had accumulated all the cars they made and I presented them to him in a big box. Then a puzzling thing happened—he stopped playing with them. When I asked him why, he looked away and told me in a quivery voice "I don't know how to love this many cars".

When is the last time you took a moment to truly experience a special item that you possess? The softness of a piece of clothing, the patterns and intricate needlework of a quilt, the beauty of a collectable and why you were drawn to it? So often I don't even notice what is on my shelves until it is time to dust and they are in my way. How much of our anxieties, do you think, are connected to either selecting, collecting, or protecting our possessions? I would also add "electing" because even our politics are most often rooted in our economic rather than our moral or spiritual values.

So what makes you anxious? What are you afraid of? What worries keep you up at night or make your chest tight when they pop into your head? Do you ever ruminate? You know, when you just can't get something out of your mind because it is stuck like a needle in the groove of a record making the words repeat (for those of you younger than 40 your parents will explain to you what a record is when you get home :).

Ruminating is when you go over it and over it and over it without generating any solutions or relief. Or do you ever do the anxiety spiral? You know one worry leads to another which leads to another until your heart is racing, your palms are sweating, and you can only conclude that things are hopeless and you are woefully inadequate. Today's scriptures are for just such moments!

We all know, however, that it is just not enough to hear those words, or read those words, or even believe those words; despite our efforts to hold onto our faith, to believe that God is with us offering power that is beyond all other powers, that Christ is a resource of strength and comfort for times of trouble, often our anxieties simply drown them out. The reality was all have to live with is that all living things reach an end to their life span whether they are ready or not, loving or hateful, take good care of themselves or live irresponsibly—death comes to all living things—even non-living stuff deteriorates.

And then there are anxieties about finances as the determination to live more simply gets pushed around by the coinciding urge to buy more, newer, and better stuff, and for many income does not increase at the same rate as expenses. Then we throw in global warming, war, poverty, hunger, child abuse, housework, car maintenance, and the endless question of "What will I make for dinner tonight?" The reasons for anxiety are seemingly endless. And yet our faith tells us:

"Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom."

What? Really? How, when, and where? The tense of the verb should actually be translated "it continues to be your parent's delight to give you the kingdom". It is not something we are awaiting, but something that has already begun! Wow. What would change for you if you were to believe that the dreams, the hopes, the relief, the life you've been waiting for is already happening, NOW, RIGHT NOW! Like looking at the horizon just before sunrise, the world has already turned we just can't quite see it yet.

What a difference a verb tense makes huh? It is so important when we read our sacred texts that we remember that they were written and they were translated by fallible human beings and therefore we need to do three basic things each time we read a bible passage:

1. Go back in history and try to understand what these words meant to the original listeners, within their science, their worldview, their culture, their context.

2. Ask ourselves what we need to add to the text, to place alongside of those ancient insights from our current scientific knowledge and understanding of how the world works as well as our current morality. For example, slavery is presented in this passage as normative. The bible has been used for centuries to justify slavery as "God ordained" because it is in the bible. We know, however, that slavery is a horrific evil and that God has made humanity equal. It's a whole other sermon but slavery remains a global crisis and we are called to do all we can to stop human trafficking and the desecration of God's children that is ongoing.

3. Then to open ourselves to the Holy Spirit to bring a message for our lives, to let it speak to a need or concern or question we are having currently.

So, let's do some bible review: we are reading from Luke—what do we know about this book? The gospels were written: Mark, Mathew, Luke, John with Mark being written around the year 70, Matthew 80, Luke 90, and John after 100. Acts was written after John. Matthew and Luke each have 80 percent of Mark in them, verbatim. Together Luke and Acts (as late as 120) make up ¼ of our Christian scriptures. A theme for Luke is "Do not be afraid". Luke's message is pastoral, offering encouragement and guidance for those who are already followers of the Way of Jesus. Luke's listeners have been traumatized by the destruction of the temple and ongoing persecution from the Roman government that threatened their lives. Luke offers words of comfort and assurance to people who fear that God has abandoned them and that the Jesus movement had been destroyed.

Do you ever worry that God has abandoned the world, has let you down, is far away from you and callous toward your needs and suffering? Do you ever feel vulnerable to the predatory powers that surround us as well as those that are within us? What soothes you? What experiences have you had of consolation, of the in breaking of the Spirit into your life? How can we become strengthened and encouraged so that we can more fully participate in the reign of God that is transforming all creation? How can we get from anxiety to believing the promise "Do not worry little flock, for God is already turning things around, the kingdom is already upon us and there are signs of it's presence of God's Presence everywhere if we only have eyes to see and ears to hear!"

Do you hear it? Do you taste it? Do you see it? Do you feel the reassurance quelling your anxiety? Not yet? Me neither...it's just too early in the morning still! But, let's see if we can get there...

Would you pretend with me for a moment, that I am holding a lemon in the palm of my hand? The lemon we are imagining has been cut in half and I am handing you one half so we are both holding a piece of lemon now—its thick skin is resting against our skin and its pulp and juices are open before us. It smells tart and pungent, and there are little droplets of juice around the edges. You can touch a droplet with your finger and then put it on your tongue. Do you taste the sour? Is your mouth watering?

There is no lemon here is there? It is just our imagination. But the physical response we experienced is absolutely real isn't it? That is because the body does not make a distinction between what it sees here and now and what it remembers, what our senses are connected to in the immediate environment and what they are connected to in the mind. Our thoughts, our mental pictures, our memories, our worries as well as our hopes are experienced not just in our minds but also in our bodies.

There is no duality; we are mind-body-spirits, interconnected and constantly synthesizing. I often tell my husband Jack that just holding him and breathing him in works as well as a Tylenol. According to a recent study, holding a loved ones hand actually reduces pain; not only that, but just looking at pictures of loved ones reduces pain. (Master, S. Psychological Science, 2009; vol 20: pp 1316-1318. News release, Association for Psychological Science)

There have been exciting new research studies in the field of neuropsychology that have hopeful implications for not only anxiety disorders but also the normal anxieties that are part of being human. I think they also have profound implications for our spiritual faith journey. So, most of us know that the left and right sides of the brain function differently and that people have different strengths based on how their unique brain works. We all use both sides but in different ways. That is why some people, like Patrick are so gifted musically and mathematically, while others excel in art or writing or engineering or caretaking.

The right brain thinks in images and feelings; the left brain thinks in words. The right brain is right here and right now, a collage of present moment tastes, smells, sounds, feelings; the left brain is methodical, linear, detailed, categorizing and organizing, connecting past and future. "Do not be afraid little flock", "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." Words...you can hear them, you can read them, but if they remain just words, then they cannot become food for our faith journey, sustenance when we struggle, and comfort for our crises.

So let.s see if we can move them around both sides of our brains, synthesize the message within our bodies, our feelings, our individual and communal life experiences as well as our minds. (Fold in thumb to palm and place fingers on it) This is our brain. My wrist is the brain stem where the autonomic system is regulated—heart rate, breathing, digestion... The palm is the mammalian brain where the fight, flight, or freeze response is orchestrated by communicating with the brain stem and (lift fingers up) telling the neo-cortex, the thinking brain to take a hike. When we are anxious we literally cannot think clearly because if we truly were in danger we wouldn't want the slower thinking processes of language and deliberating about decisions such as which direction to run and which foot to start with or how go numb to interfere with survival. Part of spirituality is calming our mind and our body so we can listen more effectively to that Still Small Voice and then determine how to respond doing our part of being channels of the Spirit.

So, I am going to lead you in an anti-anxiety meditation. You do not have to participate. I am an introvert and I hate being put on the spot to participate in a group exercise so please do not feel pressured to do anything that is uncomfortable; you are welcome to just observe. You can cross your arms, placing your palms on your shoulders, like the early monks used to do when they prayed or you can relax your hands on your legs just above your knees.

The first thing I am going to show you is called the "reset breath"; you breath in to the count of 3 and out to the count of 5. Basically any time you breath in shorter than you exhale you are reversing the stress response. (do this) The other technique I call fingertip breathing because I use my fingertips to count to 4. You breath in to the count of 4, hold 4, exhale 4, pause 4, and do this ? times? Yes-4! (do this)

Now, here is a body prayer that can be centering.

CALM =   CHRIST   ALWAYS   LIVING IN   ME

CALM=   CHRIST   ALWAYS   LOVING   ME

CALM =   CHRIST   ALWAYS   LOVING THRU   ME

I believe I am certainly not the only person here who prays :) so, I would like your help. I am going to call for images, for smells, and for sounds and if you would like to offer one, simply speak it and I will repeat it.

Ok,

"Do not be afraid little flock" (repeat 6x)

"Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." (repeat 6 times)

CALM smells like: (a breeze from the garden/a baby's head under your chin/home/bread and grape juice at communion)

CALM sounds like: (ocean waves/children singing/my big dog snoring/cat purring)

CALM looks like: (the night sky/people praying)

CALM feels like: (a gentle hug/pet's fur)

"Do not be afraid little flock"

"Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen."

And finally:

I Breathe in Presence, I breathe out fear

I breathe in Love, I breathe out anger

This last one you will say silently to yourself what you breathe out:

I breathe in Christ, I breathe out __________

"Do not be afraid little flock" for the reign of God is already here—breaking through to us, through us, between us, among us. Remember to breathe as you open yourselves to serving God, lovingly living the kingdom into fullness.