Sermon for September 6th

I have been running scared lately. Racing against forces beyond my control that seek to grab me and swallow me whole. One day it is the fact that I need to practice more for the contemporary service. Other days, I am fearful about the future of Saint Peters and the struggles we face as a community. Some days I get overwhelmed about how to get all the dishes done now that my wife is unable to step foot into the kitchen due to pregnancy nausea. Other days I worry about someone who is struggling with sickness or loneliness in our community. Sometimes I’m scared that my beliefs as a Christian will cause me a great deal of persecution in the very near future. Sometimes I am scared that my sins are going to overcome me. And then I read this week’s reading from Isaiah, spoken to all those with a fearful heart, “Be strong, do not fear! Here is your God. He will come with vengeance, with terrible recompense. He will come and save you.”

I was watching the Daily Show with John Stewart on the internet, using Hulu, and it was showing a bunch of town halls talking about Health Care. Wow! I guess I haven’t been watching the news lately. No matter which side of the debate you are on, I think that you have to admit that there are a few people out there who are downright scared. When I tried to get a handle on what was happening, I kept hearing newscasters refer to how “angry” people were, but anger wasn’t what I saw and heard. It was fear. Fear of losing something precious, like their liberty, or their money or their loved ones. And whatever was being said by the other side wasn’t speaking to this fear and wasn’t making anything any better.

Of course, those against health care reform aren’t any less afraid than those who are for it. There are how many people with no health insurance right now in America? I’ve known a few. You can bet that a lot of THOSE people are scared and acting like it too. What’s going to happen not if, but WHEN they get sick? And the only thing that probably scares most of them more than the idea of getting sick is how in the world are they going to pay for it? Paying for it, paying for billions of dollars in health care reform, that also worries those against these refroms. And the fear of losing everything, or not having enough to take care of yourself or your spouse or your children, is the kind of fear that keeps you awake at night for days.

I’m not the only one running scared lately. Health care reform. The mind-boggling national debt. Does God care about these things? What about those things that you and I are dealing with today? I know that there are some of you fighting off cancer. That’s scary. Cancer is a very scary word and an even scarier disease. Between job loses or family struggles or sicknesses that won’t go away, there are some of you who are hanging onto a strand of faith by only the weakest of threads. Some of you are nervous about our meeting Wednesday night, about the recent ELCA churchwide convention, probably so nervous you won’t even come or won’t say anything for fear of upsetting people. All fear is bondage, someone once said. And children aren’t immune from it either. Whatever you are going through, so are your children, if not consciously than at least peripherally through the stress they see in you.

The Lord speaks through the prophet Isaiah saying, “Say to those who are of a fearful heart, ‘Be strong, do not fear! Here is your God. He will come with vengeance, with terrible recompense. He will come and save you.’ So I will say it today to you. To you who are struggling, fearful, nervous, frustrated and running scared, “Be strong, do not fear. Here is your God. He will come and save you.”

I won’t pretend to know exactly how God would vote about any particular form of health care legislation, but God does care about you and about what you are afraid of. God does hear. God will save. We will all make our choices and do our best to run, protect ourselves or stand up against our fears, but the final end of your fear will come only from God.

That means that your fear will not be driven away by any bill made by congress about health care. It also means that you fear will not be stopped by defeating any health care bill by congress. If you are trusting your life only into the hands senators, insurance companies and skilled doctors you will only get so far, maybe very far, but your eternal life is in the hands of God. So cry out to him for safety and healing first, and trust that he has sent these other people as his servants to take care of you in this life, but not in the next. Your eternal life is in the hands of a creator, compassionate and mighty to save.

How do you deal with your fear? When I was getting my Bachelors and Masters in double bass performance I had to perform all that time . . . and that made me very scared and nervous. So what did I do when I was afraid I wasn’t playing well enough? I practiced. I called my wife and told her, “I need to practice a couple more hours.” And then two hours later I called her and told her I still needed a couple MORE hours. I had to trust in myself and in my ability to work hard enough to beat away my fear. I was a workaholic.

How do you deal with your fear? Some people go the opposite direction and choose to just not deal with conflicts that arise in their lives or pretend they don’t exist. But trusting in God to save you doesn’t mean digging out a hole and jumping in to avoid the storm. One time, the prophet Elijah had just fought a battle with 450 prophets of another god, Baal. God rained down fire for Elijah and won the battle. But then Elijah realized that he might get in trouble with some people for what had happened so he found a cave and hid in it. He felt like he was alone, the only one left who trusted in God, and that he would soon be found and killed. God told Elijah to trust in the Word of the Lord, not in Elijah’s own fear. If Elijah was going to find freedom from his fear, he was going to have to come out of that cave and stand up in the strength of God’s promises.

“Be strong, do not fear! Here is your God. He will come with vengeance, with terrible recompense. He will come and save you.” But you may ask, “Here is our God? Where is our God? I don’t see him? I don’t know what he is doing? How can I trust in a God like that?” Well, you have to hear from him and, today, you are hearing from him, “Be strong, do not fear!” He says to you! God must come out of hiding for you to trust him. God must be preached for you to hear him. God must reveal himself for you to know that he is here.

If you’ve ever wondered why it is that the Lutheran church has always argued for the authority of scripture above everything else it is because of this and this alone: it is God’s revelation to us. It is the place where God comes out of hiding. God shows himself in three ways through is word. In the living Word, Jesus Christ. In the written word, the Bible. And in the spoken word, through preachers like you and me. The Bible is the historical proclamation inspired by God, so that, today, here, in this place, I might give you that proclamation once again so that you might believe and have faith in the living Word, Jesus Christ. Hear this and trust in this word, “Be strong, do not fear! Here is your God. He will come and save you.”

As God’s people, you and I have only one choice, finally, in the face of our fears, whether they are fears about our health, fears about our family or fears about our church—we must run! Run to God as he has chosen to reveal himself: in Jesus Christ, in the Bible, and in the preached word. What are you most afraid of right now in your life? Take a moment and think about it. What keeps you up at night? What takes over the car conversations with your spouse? God is calling you to stand firm and faithful to his Word even while you are afraid of these things. That’s why we have a church service, so that you might remember that, even while you are afraid, God loves you and forgives you. That’s why you are encouraged to read your Bible, so that when you aren’t hearing about God’s love you are reading his love letters and hearing about what he has done for his loved ones in the past. These are the places God reveals himself for you.

You are called to run to God’s Word and stand firm and faithful, trusting in his laws and trusting in his promises above everything else. Because finally, only in God, will you find freedom, hope, strength and final victory over your fear. “Be strong. Do not fear! Here is your God. He will come and save you.”