2nd Sunday after Pentecost Yr A Proper 7 June 22 2014

Audio 6.22.2014

Do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows. We have heard this proclaimed in many times and places. Do not be afraid. When the angel announces to Mary that she is pregnant, when the shepherds hear the proclamation of the birth of Jesus, when the spirit enters the room in which the disciples gathered after the resurrection. Each time, do not be afraid is followed by Good News. So why does the proclaimer precede the Good News with do not be afraid? I think because that same Good News is not the same old news. That Good News harkens to a profound change in the way things have been. That Good News may sometimes not even look or sound like Good News.

Let's take a look first at the reading from Genesis. This is the story of Hagar, Sarah's maid-servant. Sarah is married to Abraham. They are very important people in Hebrew scripture. Abraham is the father of the Hebrew people, the progenitor, from whom all of us come. But Sarah has not gotten pregnant and now she is very very old, beyond the days in which she could get pregnant. Sarah knows how important it is to have a child, God has promised that the entire Hebrew people will come from Abraham, and yet, no baby. The pressure's on. Sarah tells her husband Abraham to lie with her handmaiden Hagar, so that at least Abraham can conceive a child.

I tend to think that part of the reason Sarah wasn't getting pregnant all those years is that she was so stressed out and afraid about being the mother of the Hebrew people that it just wasn't happening. That's one of the things the doctors tell us, isn't it, just relax, don't be so worried about it, you'll get pregnant. What do they know? So Hagar, Sarah's handmaiden gets pregnant by Abraham, and that child is named Ishmael. So now the pressure's off, and Sarah indeed gets pregnant, and Sarah and Abraham's child is Isaac. 

Now, Sarah becomes jealous and envious and afraid. So she sends Hagar and her son Ishmael off to wander in the wilderness and find their own way. Like it or not, that's the story. Sarah is really not much different than any one of us, is she? Which one of us has not gotten jealous, or envious, or even afraid, with the people and circumstances in our lives? That's the power in these stories, you and I fit right in. And Hagar, the one cast out with her child. We can close our eyes and our ears to it, but the truth is whether literally or figuratively, there are those we cast off for fear of who they are. Who do you identify with in this story? Is it Sarah? or Hagar? or Abraham?

And then we have this passage in Matthew that talks a lot about fear. Jesus has commissioned his twelve disciples and is about to send them out on a mission of their own, a mission during which they both exercise great authority and need to demonstrate profound trust. For while they will have the power to cast out demons and heal the sick, they are to take no money or extra provisions but rather depend upon the grace of God as shown in the hospitality of others. Do not be afraid disciples, your world will be turned upside down and inside out, but do not be afraid. Your assumptions about blood relationship and social relationship will be completely demolished, but do not be afraid.

Yeah, right. Fear dominates our lives -- fear for our loved ones, fear about an uncertain future, fear of continued war abroad and economic downturn at home, fear of where our next meal or rent payment will come from, fear of being accepted in this next stage of life, going to high school or college, moving from your house to a retirement community, and the list goes on.

There is nothing about this Good News that is easy. And yet we believe with every fiber of our being, that we are God's beloved. We believe with every breath we take in that it is God's love that wins. We believe with every breath we breathe out that God's spirit moves among us. And in those moments, and hours, and days of doubt and fear, we say the prayers, we gather together, we love and support one another, we break and eat the bread, and again we glimpse the hope of God's way, God's love, God's healing, God's reconciliation, God's kingdom.

We create a new world with God, each time fear of the other is turned into compassion for the one who is different. We create a new world with God, each time fear of the unknown is becomes a bold embracing of the new. We create a new world with God, each time fear of losing our job or our income, becomes the birth of a new idea. We create a new world with God, each time fear of losing our children or our family becomes the opportunity to say I Love you. We create a new world with God, each time acting out of prejudice becomes forgiveness and new relationship. We create a new world with God, each time our words bind and heal, and our actions invite and feed. 

Be fearless for God. Be bold, be courageous. 

Do not be afraid. You are God's beloved. Amen.