Fear and Faith

Matthew 10: 24-39, Genesis 21: 8-21

Fear and faith.

I have found myself focused on these two topics so much these past few weeks. They may have planted themselves as themes in my head and my heart just from reading this gospel passage as I began thinking about this sermon, or it may be, once again, the way the Holy Spirit tends to work on me, by putting something in front of me and then proceeding to offer me example after example after example on how I ought to be thinking about it; how I ought to be proclaiming the Living Word to all of you about it. Often it’s not the way I’d like to say it, but it is always the way I feel compelled by God to proclaim it. So please pray with me as we begin.

Gracious and loving God, may the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.

Our gospel text today is a very challenging one. In only 15 verses, we have these messages:

·      If Jesus has been accused of being Beelzebul (or Satan), how much worse can be expected of Jesus’ disciples?

·      If you are going to fear someone, don’t fear the one that can kill your body; instead, fear God, to whom you belong, both body and soul, and before whom you will face judgment one day for your actions.

·      But don’t be afraid for your life, because God’s will extends to the sparrows, and of course you are of greater value than them. Even the hairs of your head are all counted. God knows you completely, and your life will be ordered according to God’s will.

·      Here’s all you have to do, says the Lord: have complete faith in me; trust me completely. With everything you have. Put me above all other priorities. Acknowledge me before others. Choose me above all others. Center your life around me and not around any others or any thing. Let go of your life and I will take care of it for you, in the way I know best, in the way you can trust.

·      However. The converse is also true. If you put your own protection, your comfort, your family, your convenience, your safety, your possessions, your wealth, your idols, your ideologies, your life, if you put anything ahead of me, before me, says the Lord, then you do have cause to be afraid. If your fear of losing these things takes priority over me, then you have something else to be afraid of.

So with these messages in my mind and my prayers, I found them resonating everywhere I went.

·      In the Old Testament passage, where God told Abraham to send Hagar and Ishmael away, and then God intervened in Hagar’s fear and sorrow, providing for them, reassuring them, caring for them – certainly not in the way they had been cared for prior to this, but caring for them nevertheless. She just had to trust.

·      At Vacation Bible School, where the scripture texts ranged from the Beatitudes to the stoning of Stephen, the first martyr, but were all focused on the theme of centering our lives on God, and trusting that the rewards from that kind of life mean more than any rewards we might collect otherwise. Focus everything on glorifying God, give God the glory for everything, don’t keep any glory for ourselves. Live your faith, don’t be afraid. That was the message of VBS.

·      At the hospital with Calli, and with all the expressions of support on her FB page, Caring for Calli, I watched and waited with two parents who clearly had practice rolling with the punches of life. When I asked Heather about their ability to stay calm and present in the midst of this (now) 13 day crisis, she said that they both operate with this sort of focus: Could they have changed what happened? (no…) Can they influence the outcome?(no….)  and Can they see God in the day to day things going on? (yes!....); so therefore, they abide in Christ, continue to rely on the prayers of so many, and place their confidence and trust in the almighty One. This seems to overcome fear for them.

·      In the midst of observing that, I read an article about a breakfast that was held the first day of General Assembly. A well-known theologian, Stanley Hauerwas, was the speaker, and he was speaking about American Christianity. This quote caught me in particular. He said: “Ever since 9/11, ‘the self-proclaimed most powerful nation in the world has run on fear,’ he said – mostly the fear of dying, which he called ‘our desire to get out of life alive.’  Hospitals have become our cathedrals, he said, and doctors, our priests. Medical schools are now more interesting places than divinity schools, he said. Why? ‘Because people believe that inadequately-trained doctors can hurt them. What we fear is death, not God.’” I think this explains why so many of our prayers are about physical health, and why we go to such extremes to try to protect ourselves and our loved ones from anything bad that might happen to us.

·      And as I continued preparing to write my sermon, I began to put together my current list – just for this week – of the things that I feel fearful about. This is probably a partial list, but I’ll share it with you:

1. 1.    Will Calli fully recover from this brain bleed that has the potential to change her life so significantly?
2. 2.    Will this congregation overcome its significant challenges – spiritual, financial, and communal, and be able to ever fully merge?
3. 3.    Will members of this congregation leave this church, leave the PCUSA over the marriage decisions of the General Assembly this week?
4. 4.    How will my American Jewish friends treat me when I see them in a month at our high school reunion, based on the divestiture vote at General Assembly?
5. 5.    Will the new member class after worship today go OK; will I be able to answer questions that arise, and will I do a good job preparing others to become members of this Presbyterian church?
6. 6.    Will I get to the pet supply store before my cats eat all the food left in the house this week?

Please take a moment, right where you are, and think about the top three specific things that are the cause of fear for you this day, this week. If you have a pen or pencil, make a note of them in your bulletin or on the scratch pads in the pews…

Now consider with me how those fears are addressed in the good news we hear from Jesus. For all of mine (except probably the one about the cat food), Matthew’s gospel tells me what to do. It tells me to let go of fear, and to trust, to have faith, in God’s providence. It tells me not to put fear of death, or loss, or conflict, ahead of seeking God’s will and sharing God’s love. And it tells me to tell all of you that you, too, are called to hand over your fears to God, and to trust that no matter what, God is in control. We can live in faith and in trust that we worship and serve an almighty God, who loves us and who wants what is best for us, and who actually knows what is best for us, better than we ever can know. And so, dear friends, let us hand over our fears to God, and focus with all our hearts and minds and strength on loving God and loving our neighbor, and trusting that God is in control and God will prevail. And that is good news. Amen.