Tag: Desire

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Sermon: Trinity Sunday RCL A – “Fear or Desire”

A man has been visiting a therapist because he has been afraid of monsters living under his bed. He has been seeing this doctor for months. Every time he came in, the doctor would ask, “Have you made any progress?” Every time, the man would say, “No.” The man decided to see another doctor. When he went back to his other doctor and the doctor asked, “Have you made any progress?” he said, “Yes, I am feeling all better now.” The doctor asked, “What happened?” The man said, “I went to another doctor, and he cured me in one session.” The doctor asked, “What did he tell you?” The man said, “He just told me to cut the legs off my bed.”

My friend Stephen King, in his book Danse Macabre, discusses the three types of fear and later, in a social media post, sums them up. There is the Gross Out, the slimy stuff slapping you in the face; the Horror, things like giant spiders and the walking dead; and his favorite, the Terror. He describes it as, “when you come home and notice everything you own had been taken away and replaced by an exact substitute. It’s when the lights go out, and you feel something behind you, you hear it, you feel its breath against your ear, but when you turn around, there’s nothing there…” The monster under the bed is a terror.

For me, I can go with a little gross-out, but if it becomes too predictable or gratuitous, I’ll turn it off; however, it is wildly popular. Just consider the number of ways Jason killed off some witless teenager in the Friday the 13th movies. The Horror, I can go either way. For example, Sharknado should have won an Oscar, but when it gets into giant spiders or magical creatures, not so much. However, give me a good (or even bad) zombie movie, and I’ll buy tickets for everyone. Yet, the Terror, the slow burn, I’m sucked into every time. I’m more than happy to have a movie or book mess with my head. 

There are many who live for the good scare, but even for those who don’t, fear is an exceptional motivator. Those who have figured this out down to a science are the ones trying to sell us something.

Using Mr. King’s scale, the marketing people use the Gross Out by making us afraid of a fungus that can turn our toenails yellow. They appeal to the Horror by reminding us that each and every morning, our breath is so bad that we scare the cat. And they attempt to create the Terror by telling us that our current insurance company won’t really help us following the inevitable and ever-present disaster. Politicians are particularly adept at the Terror—a vote for me can save you from world domination under my opponent (and if they call or text me one more time, I’m going to pray they are visited in the middle of the night by some fantastic Gross Out Terror).

What is curious is that—based on how and why these fears are employed—they often motivate us to action. I’ve got a yellow toenail; I’d better tell my doctor I need that medicine. I may have cat-scaring breath; I’d better buy that mouthwash. I’m afraid of world domination; I’d better vote for that candidate. We do these things, yet they are all equivalent to saying, “I’m going to saw the legs off the bed because of the monster under there.”

Fear motivates, and if there is one organization that learned this very early on, it is the Church. We are very good at it. The book we are reading now for book club, The Sinner’s Guide, has a tremendous chapter on it. Speaking of those who will suffer the torments of damnation, the author writes, “What will they say when they will find themselves stretched upon a bed of fire, surrounded by sulfurous flames, not for one short summer night, but for all eternity?” “If one of these unhappy souls, says a Doctor of the Church, were to shed one tear every thousand years, and if these tears accumulated to such a flood as to inundate the world, he would still be as far as ever from the end of his sufferings. Eternity would only be at its beginning.” (p.76) That’s a good motivator right there. However, last week I was reading one of several short devotionals by St. Alphonsus Liguori, and he wrote, “Although no punishment awaited those who love Thee not, I would never leave off loving Thee, and I would do all I could to please Thee.” (The Love of Jesus Crucified, p.172) That really made me stop and think.

What if there were no punishment—no hell? Don’t misunderstand. There is a hell, and I firmly believe it will be far worse than anything we can imagine, but, momentarily setting Scripture and Doctrine aside, what if there wasn’t? What if it were like the monster under the bed, something we’re told as little kids to make us behave, but that everyone really knows isn’t real? What if you were free to choose God or not, with no painful consequences for not choosing?

If you choose God, you receive eternal life and all that Jesus offers. If you don’t, well, maybe you just blink out or something. No pain, no punishment, none of that. You are free to do whatever pleases you. If that were the case, would you still be here today? Would you still try to follow Jesus’ commandments? If that were the case, would your relationship with God mean anything to you? 

For some, the answer is, “Heck, no. I’m out of here.” For them, their relationship is based solely on fear. For that person, if there is nothing to fear, there is no reason to be here at all, because that relationship is master and slave, yet instead of God being the Master, fear is. Dispense with the fear, and the slave does whatever he or she wants. It is a purely transactional relationship—I’ll do what you say, and you keep me out of hell.

For others, when asked why they are here, they might answer, “I don’t know that I would be here, but I would certainly hope so. I want what Jesus offers.” This person has begun to understand that fear may have brought them here and into the relationship in the first place, but they’re beginning to sense that there is something more they are being drawn to. A shift has begun to take place, and that shift marks the beginning of transformation.

Finally, the third group answers in a way that brings us back to what Liguori said, “Although no punishment awaited those who love Thee not, I would never leave off loving Thee, and I would do all I could to please Thee.” For them, it is not about fear or even hope. It is a declarative statement that says, “I desire nothing but to be with my God, so if I have to renounce everything of this world and all it has to offer, I will do it. I will seek God alone.” This goes beyond transformation and marks the beginning of transfiguration—living into the fullness of the image of God within, the Image we were created in. As we read,

“God created humankind in His image,
in the image of God He created them;
male and female He created them.” (Genesis 1:27)

It is a desire to walk with God as Adam and Eve did in the beginning.

So, back to the original question: why are you here? Fear? Hope? Desire? For me, a truthful answer is: it depends on the day. Ask me today, and I will tell you that I am 98% here out of desire and 2% because, well… I am a priest. However, if you had asked me earlier in the week, when my stomach wasn’t behaving, my air conditioner hadn’t been working for over a week, I couldn’t sleep at night because it was hot, and the repair folks were being unresponsive… Let’s just say that it is a good thing I believe in hell, otherwise I would have called down the same Gross Out Terror on them that I want to visit the politicians.

I suspect the same is true for all of us. The prayer is that the trajectory always seeks the higher place, always desiring God above all else—diminishing fear, then transformation, and finally transfiguration. This is what we should desire because it is what God desires for us. Is that true?

Today is Trinity Sunday, the day we celebrate our Triune God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Speaking on behalf of the Trinity, Jesus said, “I no longer call you slaves… I call you friends.” (John 15:15) Jesus also said, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.” (John 14:23) Jesus desires that we be friends, and the Holy Trinity desires to take up residence within our souls. God calls each of us to desire Him as much as He desires us. If we can do so, only a fraction as much as He desires us, it is a very good beginning.

If you are here because you fear the alternative, you have begun. If you are here because you hope for Heaven, your hope will never be in vain. And if you are here because you desire God, fan the flames of that desire to an even greater degree.

Gregory of Nyssa wrote, “The one who climbs never stops going from beginning to beginning, through beginnings that have no end.” Regardless of where you are, never stop climbing and always increase your desire for a deeper relationship with God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Let us pray: (a prayer of Saint Anselm) O Lord, my God, teach us to seek you, for we cannot seek you unless you teach us, or find you unless you show yourself to us. Let us seek you in our desire; let us desire you in our seeking. Let us find you by loving you; let us love you when we find you. Amen.

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Sermon: Proper 15 RCL B – “Desires”

There was a frog that absolutely knew his destiny was to turn into a handsome young prince. But for confirmation, he decided to visit a fortuneteller. The fortuneteller brought the frog in and gazed into her crystal ball. She said, “Oh, I see something. You are going to meet a beautiful young woman.”

The frog gets very antsy, “Yes, I knew it. I’m going to become a prince.”

The fortuneteller continues, “From the moment she sets eyes on you, she will have an insatiable desire to know all about you. She will be compelled to get close to you—you’ll fascinate her.”

The frog is very excited. It is everything he has ever desired. He asks, “Where am I? At a party? A restaurant? A palace?”

The fortuneteller gazes even deeper into her crystal ball, then, looking up, answers, “No, Biology class.”

The things we desire. Author Jackson Brown, Jr. said, “I’ve learned that if you give a pig and a boy everything they want, you’ll get a good pig and a bad boy.” (Live and Learn and Pass it On) There’s a good bit of wisdom in that. Wisdom that Herod could have benefited from.

Today’s Gospel reading is one of the few in our lectionary that does not include the words of Jesus. Instead, we have an incident from the life of Herod and his dealings with John the Baptist.

John the Baptist had condemned Herod for marrying his brother’s wife, Herodias. Was John correct in this condemnation? Yes. From the Law of Moses, “If a man takes his brother’s wife, it is impurity.” Herod may not have minded so much, but Herodias, his wife, took it personally and held a grudge against John. So, when the opportunity arose, it was probably she who convinced Herod to arrest John. 

One day, while John is in prison, Herod throws himself a great birthday party and invites all his little minions to tell him how great he is. To impress them, we are told that he asked his “daughter Herodias” to come in and dance. This is a case of Daryl, his brother Daryl, and their brother Daryl. Herod’s wife is Herodias, and his stepdaughter is Princess Herodias, also known as Salome. Salome comes in and dances. Herod is so impressed with the dance that he makes an outlandish offer to the girl, “Ask me for whatever you wish, and I will give it. Whatever you ask me, I will give you, even half of my kingdom.” Salome is a child and has no idea what to ask for, so she runs to Momma and asks her. Having her grudge against John the Baptist, Momma asked for John’s head, probably because she feared her husband would eventually release John because he liked him. Having made the outlandish offer to the girl in front of all those guests, Herod had to make good on his promise to give her whatever she asked or lose face. Bottom line: John was beheaded.

There’s much we can learn from this, but one of my questions was, why did Herod promise up to half his kingdom to Salome? The answer, or at least part of it, is desire. The girl was young and beautiful, and the dance was provocative. Herod saw something he desired, and that desire drove him to lust for the girl, make outlandish promises, experience pride in his unwillingness to reverse course, go against his conscience, and ultimately to even greater sin in ordering the death of John. All of that because of desire.

There is a healthy desire for something. Such a desire leads to motivation, imagination, hope, and more. But so often, the things we desire are either of no consequence in the larger picture or, like with Herod, sinful.

Think of something you desire or want that falls outside the healthy category. Sometimes, the object of our desire is so elusive or outside the realm of possibility we know we will never be able to obtain it—perfect example: Scarlett Johansson. Never going to happen. You know it, and I know it, and if she knew I even existed, she would know it, but what if I didn’t? What if I became one of those weird, obsessive stalkers? What would that lead to other than a lengthy prison sentence? I would covet what others could have, and in that, I would become disappointed, angry, and frustrated. My actions would probably resemble something of Herod’s or the frog pinned down in a biology class.

At other times, we have the means to obtain those things we desire. Lucky you. However, how many times have you desired something in an unhealthy way, actually ended up getting it, but then being less than 100% happy with it, even disappointed? Sometimes, that’s a bit like reading a good book and hearing they’re making a movie out of the book. You get all excited, await the release date, watch the previews with anticipation, and then… eh. In other cases, when you finally obtain the object of your desire, you ask, “Now what?” “What is there to look forward to?” “What am I supposed to do?” “Is this all there is?” In those cases, instead of being happy, we start wanting something else, and the cycle repeats itself time and time again.

In all of these cases, what did it cost you? Time? Energy? Money? Joy? Peace? Happiness? What did it cost the people around you? Did you even consider them? Was it worth it? In seeking it out, how did you sin? Who did you hurt or neglect? How many blessings did you overlook or ignore because you were so singularly focused on this one desire? At that stage, perhaps we didn’t order anyone’s death, but we are no better than Herod, who desired a dancing girl.

So, again, think of something you desire, even those healthy desires, and replace it. Replace it with God. What if your desire for God was as great as your desire for things of this world? What if you were one of those weird obsessive stalkers, but the object of your obsession, of your desire, is God? Is that an unreasonable or unobtainable desire? No. The Lord says, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:13) The Psalmist writes, “The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.” (Psalm 145:18) Once you have come into the presence of God will you say, “Now what? Is this all there is?” No. 

“‘Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!

‘For who has known the mind of the Lord,
    or who has been his counselor?’

‘Or who has given a gift to him
    that he might be repaid?’

For from him and through him and to him are all things.’” (Romans 11:33-36)

The knowledge, wisdom, love, and person of God and His Son Jesus Christ are inexhaustible. You will never delve the depths of God. There is always more, but unlike desiring more of this world, when you desire God, it never gets old or frustrating or boring. It only becomes richer and more exciting. 

St. Augustine wrote his autobiography, Confessions, around the year 400. In the first chapter, he states, “Thou hast formed us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless till they find rest in Thee.” Then he asks, “Oh! how shall I find rest in Thee? Who will send Thee into my heart to inebriate it, so that I may forget my woes, and embrace Thee my only good?”

Like the things of this world, desiring God will cost you time and energy, but as Augustine says, God is the only one—the only desire—that will give you rest, where peace and joy are in such measure that the cup of your soul is overflowing. It might mean that I don’t end up on a date with Scarlett Johansson, but hopefully, I won’t end up splayed out with my hands and feet pinned down in some biology class, either. 

King David wrote, “Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.” (Psalm 73:25) What of all the rest? Allow God to work these things out according to His good purposes, for as Jesus tells us, “Seek first—desire first—the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” (Matthew 6:33) 

Let us pray: Father in heaven, our hearts desire the warmth of your love, and our minds are searching for the light of your Word. Increase our longing for Christ our Savior and give us the strength to grow in love, that the dawn of his coming may find us rejoicing in his presence and welcoming the light of his truth. We ask this in the name of Jesus the Lord. Amen.

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