Lectionary 23.09                                                                      Christ Church , York

It is one of the most common of refrains spoken in our Scriptures. It is the refrain often heard sounded on the lips of prophets who come to assure God’s people that He will redeem them; it is the refrain sung into music through the voice of the Psalmist who speaks to our everyday fears; it is the refrain breathed by angels as they speak God’s Word of promise to Mary the mother-to-be and to shepherds gathered on a hillside; and it is the refrain proclaimed by the Lord Jesus Himself as he calms the fears of His disciples trapped on a storm lashed boat or hiding in a room for fear of the Jews. It is the most holy of refrains because it is voiced time and again from the mouth of the Lord God who speaks to His people, as He comes to be among them or as He interacts with them. Fear not! Do not be afraid! And today it is that holy refrain which we hear once again as the prophet Isaiah comes to speak a word of hope to the people of God living in their exile in Babylon . And so the prophet announces the refrain “Say to those who are of a fearful heart, Be strong; do not fear. Here is your God. He will come to save you.” “Do not fear; do not be afraid.”

Yet we are afraid. We live in fear of so much in our world today – fear of war, pandemics, terrorism, unemployment, financial catastrophe, disease, old age and the greatest fear of all, death itself. We have heard the refrain, the holy refrain, “do not fear” yet we continue to live in our fears. I am reminded of the child who lives afraid of the dark, clutching at its special blanket, hiding under the covers in its bedroom. The child’s parents have told him to be strong and not to be afraid. But simply saying it only seems to add fuel to the fire of the child’s imagination, making it think that now there are creatures out to get it in every corner of the room. “Do not fear.” Yet we are afraid and there is no use denying our feelings. Telling the man on the ledge that he doesn’t want to jump is foolish for it denies his own feelings, not the least of which is that he wouldn’t be on the ledge if he didn’t want to jump! We tell others our fears and they say to us, “Oh it’s not as bad as all that.” Or “things are never as bad as they seem.” Yet our reality says that they are. We are fearful and there is no use denying it.

Yet we gather each week in this place and at this time to say that we are followers of Jesus the Christ. We make bold statements that we believe what God has done for us in Christ Jesus Our Lord and for the sake of the world. We recite the Creeds of our faith, confessing the living Lord of heaven and earth and receive the life giving grace of His Word and holy sacrament. And each week we leave this place seeking to teach and preach and speak of our faith and to live holy and godly lives. Yet all the while, outside these walls, the world continues to spin out of control as if to laugh at our beliefs and our bold confessions. To which we can only respond that there will come a day when Christ shall return again, when He shall set things aright and then all will be well.

But the world mocks such beliefs, makes fun of our creedal statements, tells us how silly we must be to believe all this stuff. And such a challenge only increases our fear. For at one time or another who among us has not had some doubt, some nagging question, some fear that all this stuff about faith is not true. When we see the inhumanity that humans inflict upon each other we might wonder, where is our God in this? When we hear of devastation in earthquake, fire or flood, we may question why God did not step in to save. When we see how the innocent suffer, how children die, how the evil seem to prosper while the good face trials, we may question how it is that this God of ours does not come to save. And so we live in fear – fear of what the world offers or says or does and the fear that none of this that we believe and to which we cling might be true.

“Say to those who are of a fearful heart, Be strong, do not fear! Here is your God. He will come and save you.” He will come to save you! But it just doesn’t seem to happen. Over and over again we teach, preach and confess the great good news of what God has done through Christ Jesus Our Lord. Time and again we speak of hope which is then dashed upon the rocks of worldly cynicism. Over and over we call upon the heavens to come and rescue us, save us from this madness; but the Lord of heaven seems only to remain silent.

But in the face of fear and pain and anguish the great and powerful God, the Lord of All does indeed come, but perhaps not as we expected it. Instead of the great divine revelation of His glory, we discover that He has called us and sent us out in His world, among His fearful people, to bring them a word of hope, of comfort and of assurance. Washed in baptism we find ourselves sent out into the lives of the fearful, called to offer a word of grace to the grieving, to steady the shaking hands of the parents in pain for their child, to make soup for those who hunger and to offer clothes to those who are naked. These acts of compassion, charity and love come from those same confessions of faith we speak in this place each Sunday and we believe that in such ways the kingdom of God , indeed the very presence of God, is made known among us.

To the world such actions seem puny and pointless, nothing more than the foolish attempts of foolish people to patch up a bomb victim with a band aid! To the world all that we say and do and teach and preach seems to be as nothing more than shouting into the face of a raging wind. And in the face of such cynicism, in the face of such doubt, in the face of such animosity, it is not hard to be fretful or doubting or fearful.

But “say to those who are of fearful heart, be strong, do not fear. Here is your God. He will come to save you.” If we loose faith in the truth of the message we teach and preach and confess each Sunday; if we buy into the world’s way of seeing life and the future of the human race; if accept the cynicism that cuts out the heart of hope from the very promise of God to re-fashion this world through redemption, then we doubt nothing less than the Word of God and the promise of God that He will indeed come to save us.

To our human eye it may seem that the way of the world is winning. To our human eye it may appear that hate and death are winning out over love and life. To our human eye it may seem as though even that which we love the most, this one holy Church is about to be ripped apart in dissension and division. But in the face of all that the prophet comes once again to proclaim his word of hope, “Be strong, do not fear. Here is your God. He will come to save you.”

And so it is that, even in the midst of doubt and pain and fear, among all that hates and loathes and grieves, there comes a word of life so that those who once were blind to the love of God suddenly receive their sight and now see the signs of redemption all around them. And those who were once paralyzed with fear that the world was headed for mass destruction are now walking in ways of courage and faith knowing that Christ is walking with them. And those who were once deaf to the song of salvation are now humming the hymn of promise and hope over and against the cynical nature of the world.

“Say to those who are of a fearful heart, Be strong, do not fear. Here is your God. He will come to save you.” So it is that despite our doubts, in the face of our fears, in the midst of our troubles and concerns, we cling to the power of God’s Word and the grace freely given to us in His holy sacraments. And then, having been nourished and fed, we leave this place taking our light out into the darkened world so that, through the living of our holy lives, all will come to see in us that Christ is made clear in this troubled world and the word of the Gospel is seen and heard and believed. For despite our doubts and our fears, the risen, living Lord shines forth from the hearts of our tremulous faith and a small piece of this fearful world is awash in wonder. “Be strong therefore, do not fear. Here is your God (hold up Gospel); here is your God (point to font); here is your God (point to altar) He has come and He will come again to save you. Amen