Transforming Fear
Author: Andrew Comiskey
November 28, 2021
Jesus is coming and He’s
mad.
Today’s Advent Gospel (Lk.
21:25-28; 34-36) rouses us, not with carols but a swift kick. The Son of
Man—supreme in ‘power and great glory’ (v.27)—will soon shake heavens, pierce
clouds, judge earth. Scary. Conclusive. Inclusive. ‘For that day will assault everyone who
lives on the face of the earth’ (v.35).
What? Gimme a break, God.
Tough year…Leave me to boozy nostalgia.
He persists. Eschewing all
sedatives, the God of Advent alerts us to distractions that lull us into false
peace. False peace: maybe the surest sign of our soon-coming-King. He is
faithful to pierce our drug-addled, anxious drowsiness and awaken fear, holy
fear. Anxiety won’t do. Fear God!
I need holy fear. Like
you, I am troubled by our zombie-like nod to the LGBTQ+ ‘church’ calendar.
Notice how every day approaches a rainbow ‘saint’ day? Agender Pride Day (May
19), Asexuality Day (April 16), Bisexual Awareness Week (Sept 16-22), Drag Day
(July 16), Genderfluid Visibility Week (Oct. 17-24), Intersex Awareness Day
(Oct. 26), Non-Binary People’s Day (July 14), Pansexual Day (May 24),
Trans-Parent Day (1st Sunday of November), and April 26th--Lesbian
Visibility Day (in contrast to The Lady Vanishes?).
Ok, ok, it’s insane to the
point of chuckling. Don’t stop there! Might we see humanity’s unraveling as an
invite to holy fear? I don’t mean anxious handwringing; I mean reverence for
God and His human creation that provokes dread-in-gut, sobering us and inciting
prayer.
45-years-ago, I recall when
I first experienced godly fear. Tired of homosexual temptations and living for
things I couldn’t see, I vowed to leave Jesus for ‘gay’ stuff. Weird. Within a
few hours the Spirit invited me to a foretaste of life alone, no advocacy, just
me. Nothingness. By default, I welcomed darkness, not sexy gay lovers but
torment. I ‘felt’ the real threat of losing Him, and of being lost forever. I
returned to my senses and invoked His holy Name. ‘I am Yours, come what may…’
‘When the signs begin to
happen, stand erect and raise your head because your redemption is at hand…Be
vigilant at all times and pray that you have the strength…to stand before the
Son of Man’ (v. 28; 36).
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