Scripture: Psalm 27; Luke 13:31-35
Title: Keep Calm and Carry On

**Sermons are meant to be heard, so listen along here**

In 1939, the British government’s “Ministry of Information” made a series of posters to raise public morale during threats of air attacks by the German Army.  There were three different poster designs, with similar font, simple sayings, and all underneath the symbol of the state, George’s crown.  
The first: Freedom is in peril
The second: your courage your cheerfulness

And the third: keep calm and carry on

Though 2.5 million copies of this last one were printed, it was never widely distributed, and most were thought to have been destroyed until a copy was found at a bookstore over 50 years later, in northeast England, in the year 2000.

Though intended for wartime use, the phrase Keep Calm and Carry On struck a chord with people so many decades later.  You have likely seen this poster somewhere, either on bumper stickers, mugs, shirts, or all over the internet – and it has been rewritten and reimagined in many ways since then as well.
Here are some of my favorites: 
Keep Calm and eat a banana
Keep Calm and Sparkle on
Keep Calm and call batman
Keep Calm and Use the Force
Keep Calm and Watch Friends
Keep Calm and eat a cookie
Keep Calm and Hockey On
And my personal favorite: Keep Calm and Call Mom

Why does this simple phrase seem to resonate with so many of us, all these years later?  
I think, primarily, because we want this to be our response in times of crisis.  

What do we do when we feel threatened?
What’s our initial reaction to any threat, real or perceived?

Today’s Gospel is short, only five verses, and they begin with a threat.  

We’re in the second week of Lent, Jesus has set his face toward Jerusalem, and on his way he is doing his work – healing, taking care of people, and proclaiming the good news.  Some Pharisees, usually seen as the bad guys in the Gospels, come up to Jesus and give him a warning –

Jesus, you’d better watch out – Herod is out to get you.  

And Jesus replies with (verse 32)“Go tell that fox for me – listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow and on the third day I finish my work”

Outside of the sass, Jesus is so calm about it.
These guys have just told Jesus that someone is threatening his life, and he seems so nonchalant.
I almost picture Jesus looking at his google calendar and being like , listen guys, I appreciate the warning but today is booked, tomorrow too, So no.
I don’t have time for Herod and his threats.
I’ve got work to do.
I’m going to keep calm and carry on.

What do you do when you feel threatened?

I don’t think our default is the same as Jesus – in fact, I know that if someone told me my life were in danger, I would not be so casual.
I think we often give threats a lot more time than they deserve.
Don’t believe me?  

Turn on any 24 hour news station right now, doesn’t matter which one, and they will have a scrolling list of things that are currently a threat to you and your way of life.
We are simply surrounded.  

Our first reading from Psalm 27 is more of the same:
When evildoers assail me
though an army encamps against me
war rises up against me
Threat threat threat

What do we do when we feel threatened?
I think we most often respond with fear.

And fear makes us respond in a number of ways:

• We strike first. (I’m going to hurt you before you can hurt me)
• We build walls.
• We hoard supplies. (remember when y2k was going to make the world explode and everyone bought duct tape and plastic and bread and water?)
• We turn away from those in need.
• We hide. (even the disciples did this after Jesus was killed)

What’s the difference between how we respond to threats and how Jesus responds to threats?
Jesus does not respond in fear.
Jesus continues to heal and preach and teach, in spite of the threats he receives.
He says “today and tomorrow and the next day I must be on my way”
I must carry on.

Why is this?  Why are our responses so different?
Jesus understands who he is, whose he is.
Jesus has been baptized, been named and claimed and filled with the holy Spirit.  He has been up on the mountaintop and again named the Son of God.

As Chad spoke about a couple of weeks ago, Jesus did not let his identity as a child of God be shaken, not in the face of temptation, and again today, not in the face of threats.  

He knows who he is.  
So this – this little threat from Herod – it’s nothing.
Jesus doesn’t take the threat seriously because he knows that it doesn’t change anything.
It doesn’t change who Jesus is.
It doesn’t change who Jesus belongs to.

This is what Jesus wants for us –
This confidence to be able to withstand the threats that are all around us.
(verse 34b) “How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings…”
Despite urban farming becoming more widespread, most of us don’t have a lot of experience with chickens.  But a hen guarding her chicks is a real thing.  It actually happens.

If the weather is bad or a predator is flying overhead, a mother hen places her wings over her chicks to protect them and keep them safe.
That is what Jesus wants to do for us.
The greek word there is thelo, which means want, desire, or long for.
Jesus LONGS to gather us in, wants to cover us, desires to keep us safe.
But not hidden.
There is a difference.
Jesus is under attack but does not respond in fear.
“I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow and on the third day I finish my work.”
Jesus knows who he is.
And that is what he wants for us as well.  It is our identity as beloved children of God that protects us.
It is God’s grace that covers us.
In the face of threats to our health, wealth, jobs, families, lives, who we are and whose we are is unchanged.
Jesus has gathered us in like that mother hen and has given us a safe place to be who we have been created to be.
That is grace.  
I was listening to a talk by sociologist and author Brene Brown this week and it was too good to not share a small piece of it today:
http://www.theworkofthepeople.com/grace-and-fear (to 1:53)

 

You guys.  This blew my mind this week.
I mean really.
I could not get over that line I’ve sung hundreds of times before.  

It is grace that taught my heart to fear.
as Brene said – “grace is not the thing that makes you unafraid – it’s what whispers you CAN be afraid”
We can face anything, knowing we do not face it alone.
You can be calm in the face of fear.
Because God has got you covered.
Keep calm and carry on.

Here are some others that ring true today:
Keep Calm and Trust God
Keep Calm You have a big and powerful God
Keep Calm God has Your Back
Keep Calm and Carry On

That’s Good News.
That is grace.
Grace is the wings of that hen covering her chicks.
Grace that we’ll experience today when you hold out your hand and hear the words “FOR YOU”
Grace that lifts our voices together, to sing that for us too, we can keep calm and carry on.
So join me in singing: Amazing Grace how sweet the sound
(amazing grace, verses 1 2 and 3)