Aunt Mildred, my daddy’s sister, had a big chest freezer in the basement. One time when she and her husband were away visiting the cousins down near Southern Pines, there was a winter ice storm and the power was out for several days. When Aunt Mildred and Uncle L.W. got home, the freezer had thawed around the seal and then refroze – sealing itself shut. There was no way to get it open.
Well, that’s not exactly true. There was a very obvious way. Unplug it, turn it off, let it thaw. But Aunt Mildred didn’t want to do that. She considered herself to be on the horns of a dilemma. “There’s a lot of good meat in there,” she said, “if I unplug, a lot of that meat will be ruined.” Uncle L.W. countered, “But, it’s frozen shut and we can’t use any of it. We may as well thaw it out and use what we can.” Aunt Mildred’s freezer stayed plugged in and frozen shut for several years while they argued about what to do.
I have thought of that freezer over the years when I have found myself frozen with no idea of what exactly I should do. I have also sometimes realized that, like Aunt Mildred, I thought I had no options when really I did. The problem was simple - I didn’t like any of my options, therefore I did nothing. Aunt Mildred couldn’t see any way to get at her frozen meat without losing some of it, and she was unwilling to lose anything, therefore she gained nothing. There have been times in my life that I have been so afraid of making a mistake, of doing the wrong thing, that I have been immobilized, unable to act.
One of my favorite professors at Duke Divinity School, Dr. Herb Edwards, taught “Black Church Studies.” He often said, “The trouble with the church is that it does not believe in the resurrection. Because we are so afraid of death, we are unable to take the risk of living boldly for God.” This attitude strikes churches of all shapes and sizes, we become frozen, afraid to risk, fearful of losing what little we have, so afraid of dying that we forget to live.
The Gospel calls us to life; to life abundant, to life that takes chances, to life that makes a difference in the lives of others. A couple of weeks ago the Gospel lesson said, “For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.” (Matthew 16:25) That is the paradox that ultimately solves our dilemma. We are free to act, individually and as a congregation, in new, and bold, and often scary ways - attempting new things that might fail, taking the risk of losing - all for the sake of the possibility of letting loose the love of God into the world.
Peace, Delmer