Sermon for the 5th Sunday of Easter

“God is love, [and] perfect love casts out fear.” (1 John 4:16,18)

When a baby comes out into the cold world, and as the nurse cradles that baby in her arms, that newborn infant will tense up as they become aware for the first time that they are powerless, exposed in a new world of empty space, into which they might fall. And so, it appears that the first emotion we feel is fear. And what casts that fear from our hearts? The moment that we are cradled in the arms of our mother, and we know that we are not exposed. We are not alone. We are loved. Thus does love cast out fear.

And so it begins, this struggle between love and fear, between trust and powerlessness. I believe that sin began when Adam and Eve became aware for the first time that they were exposed. And they began to fear that maybe God wasn’t there all the time, or maybe that God wasn’t there at all. So, best to grab whatever advantage they could to get along in this empty space, into which we could fall or be pushed, at any time, with no warning.

I’ve seen both fear and powerlessness these past few weeks. In our church family, we all have been faced with our ultimate powerlessness in the face of physical death.

But today, we hear that “God is love,” and that this “perfect love casts out fear.” We need not fear anything because nothing is more powerful that God's love. That doesn't mean that nothing bad is ever going to happen to us. But from the moment when God said, “Let there be light,” and a universe was born, a plan has been in place that has led to each of us being here, together on this Sunday. For each of us, there have been detours and tears. Yet here we are, because each of us has also known joy, love and life together. Even in the midst of death, we give thanks for the new life that is cradled in the arms of this community, and the life that is coming into this world.

The perfect love that casts out fear is here. And the best news today is that we don’t have to be “perfect” in the way we normally think of perfection. The word “perfection” has gotten a very bad rap. When I was 14, and heard Jesus say in Matthew’s Gospel that “you must be perfect as your father in heaven is perfect,” this precipitated a minor crisis in faith for me. I thought the whole point of Grace was that we couldn’t possibly be perfect without the unmerited gift of God. And I certainly wasn’t “perfect” then. How would I ever reach the state of perfection? What if I died before that happened?

But that inconvenient word pops up a lot today – “if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us” – “By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence on the day of judgment.” But the word translated here as “perfect,” does not mean a fixed static state that we must achieve, or else be condemned. "Perfect" doesn't mean getting a 100 on the test. It means the end point to which we are all progressing. Perfection is not a state in which you’re either in it or out of it. It’s a process. And to be in a process is to be in a "state" of change. To be "perfect" is to change.

Perhaps our greatest fear is change that we can’t control. Our lives change, often without our say-so. And we can’t see how these changes are going to affect us in the future. Change creates a new situation, where the old rules, the old assumptions are no more. And we haven’t yet figured what the new rules are, the new assumptions, and the new givens. But that has happened to all of us before, and the perfect love of God in Jesus Christ has brought us through, to this place, on this Sunday, together. Jesus knew what it meant to change, to be confronted with the unexpected, with human responses he had not anticipated. And together, with Christ, we continue to grow, to change, to be perfected.

Along this way of perfection, the love of Christ grows in our hearts, and cradles them. So, we need not fear change. We have been cradled in God’s loving hands ever since we were born. We are being perfected in that love, which does not fear change, but trusts in the God who guides us along the way. And if, with a sincere heart, we take a wrong turn, that is simply part of the process of perfection, by which our love of God and trust in him are nurtured and matured.

Someday, our love of God and each other will be perfect. Until then, put one foot in front of the other, day by day. God knows that’s all we can do, and that is all God asks of us. He knows where we are going. We are not exposed. We are not alone. We are loved.