Why are You Afraid, have you still no Faith

After a hard day of preaching and teaching Jesus takes his disciples away from the crowds to the other side of the lake for some rest and relaxation. On the way a huge storm arises with lots of wind and rain and the disciples fear for their lives. They wake Jesus up, ask him to save them and he rebukes the wind and the sea, ‘peace be still.’ Jesus then questions his closest followers, ‘Why are you afraid?’ Have you still no faith?’ (Mark 4:35-41)

We all face storms in life: some storms are literal and physical, like the storm on the Sea of Galilee, and others are spiritual or mental or relational. Whatever the source of the storm we face, we often believe, as the disciples did, that Jesus has forgotten us. We, like the disciples, need to hear again the words of Jesus: “Why are you afraid, have you still no faith?”

In  April, 2010 a major tornado came through Albertville,  doing tremendous damage and affecting all of us at Christ Church either directly or indirectly by the destruction of our original Church building. It was a numbing blow to our community as those who were here at the time worked to salvage all that they could before tearing down the beloved old structure to begin rebuilding the holy space we now gather in to worship God and from which we leave to serve our community in the name of Jesus Christ. Prayer, teamwork and Christian Community took away our fear and renewed our faith.

In hopes that others will see a way to journey from fear to hope in their lives, I share a personal storm through which fear and depression replaced hope and faith in my life. Several years ago I resigned (before I could be fired) from my job as pastor of a large Episcopal Congregation. Not only was I “too liberal” for the congregation, but I had fired two employees who I still believe needed to be fired, but I did not do it properly, nor did I have the political capital to do so.

I had a severe emotional break down and our assistant Bishop sent me immediately to a psychiatrist the Diocese had on retainer. What does that say about the life of pastors and the church? I saw him during the remainder of my time in that city. The psychiatrist put me on anti-anxiety medication and anti-depressants and I continued to see him weekly until we left the state. I continued my therapy when we moved to Alabama and I have continued the use of appropriate medication. This therapy and medication truly saved my life.

I know many people, for many reasons, are afraid to see a therapist or to use anti-depressants, but I encourage you, out of my experience, to take advantage of mental health care as a gift from God and to treat mental illness and issues as you would any physical disease or condition that can adversely affect your life.

Yes, we all have or will have storms in our lives: tornadoes, hurricanes, accidents, unexpected deaths. There will be divorces and job losses, alienation from family and friends, loss of physical abilities, and even loss of faith. When these things happen we need the faith of Jesus, not the fear of the disciples. Fear leads to death and destruction and faith leads to life. And I am not just referring to individual faith, as important as that is, but to the faith of the church. In the Christian Community, when my faith is weak, your strong faith will carry me. When your faith is weak, my faith will carry you and when all of our faith is weak and fear is creeping in, we find our faith again in the Word and Sacraments of the Church as we come together as the body of Christ in the world.

A secular (or perhaps not so secular) song, You’ll  Never Walk Alone, by Rogers and Hammerstein from the 1945 musical, Carrousel, proclaims faith and hope and life to us all.

"When you walk through a storm Hold your head up high and don't be afraid of the dark.
At the end of the storm is a golden sky and the sweet silver song of a lark.

Walk on through the wind, Walk on through the rain, Tho' your dreams be tossed and blown. 
Walk on, walk on with hope in your heart and you'll never walk alone, you’ll never walk alone."

Father’s Day & Taking Children from their Parents

A portion of a Sermon Preached on, June 17, 2018

Keep, O Lord, your household the Church in your steadfast faith and love, that through your grace we may proclaim your truth with boldness, & minister your justice with compassion; for the sake of our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.(Book of Common Prayer, page 230)

Today is Father’s Day, a good day to reflect on how we as parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, friends and a Nation care for children. A good place to begin is to look at the Bible and see some of what Jesus, Paul and the Prophets have to say about how we care for people generally, and then apply these lessons to children in particular.

In these challenging times, Christians and all people of good will have differing opinions about many issues, including immigration, both legal and illegal. Hopefully we can find some consensus on how we care for children and sometimes use children as a tool for achieving our policy goals as a nation or a political party. Whether in a divorce situation or a political situation, I believe that children should never be tools, should never be the means to an end.

I believe it is time for us, who are followers of Jesus, to spend a lot more time digging deeply into the scriptures in order to better understand the nuances, subtleties and context so that we might better follow the King of Kings and Lord of Lords and do what He did.

Jesus sets the standard for our treatment of children. “Then little children were being brought to him in order that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples spoke sternly to those who brought them; but Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs.” (Matthew 19:13-14)

With this as our foundation let’s look at Paul’s Letter to the Church in Rome, a letter under much discussion this week by those who know the scriptures as well as those who do not. Portions of Chapter 13 were used to justify actions, but they make little sense when taken out of context with the whole book. Therefore, I want to broaden the picture and include all of Romans Chapter 12 and 13 to give us a better understanding of St. Paul’s message.

Paul doChapter 12: I appeal to you therefore, brothers & sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy & acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. ²Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable & perfect. 3 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. ⁴For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same functin,⁵ so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and  individually we are members one of another. . .

9 Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; ¹⁰love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor.¹¹Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. ¹²Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. ¹³Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers.

14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.¹⁵Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. ¹⁶Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are. ¹⁷Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. ¹⁸If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. ¹⁹Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.’ ²⁰No, ‘if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads.’²¹Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Chapter 13: Let every person be subject to the governing authorities; for there is no authority except from God, and those authorities that exist have been instituted by God. ²Therefore whoever resists authority resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. ³For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Do you wish to have no fear of the authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive its approval; ⁴for it is God’s servant for your good. But if you do what is wrong, you should be afraid, for the authority does not bear the sword in vain! It is the servant of God to execute wrath on the wrongdoer.⁵Therefore one must be subject, not only because of wrath but also because of conscience. ⁶For the same reason you also pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, busy with this very thing. ⁷Pay to all what is due to them—taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due. 8 Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the lawes not make it easy for us and ultimately comes down on the side of the Jesus’ command to love one another as the fulfillment of all the law. I do not believe that Paul believed that the Roman leaders were chosen by God. Remember that Paul was executed for disobeying Roman law. It may well be that Paul was attempting to help Christians avoid persecution by the law.

I close with Jesus’ first Sermon: “When Jesus came to Nazareth he went to synagogue on the Sabbath day. He stood up to read, ¹⁷and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. ¹⁸ ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, ¹⁹ to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Luke 4:16-21)

Today let us remember our children and the gift from God they are to us! Let’s remember what we would do if they were subject to rape and murder, the lengths to which we would go to keep them safe and fed and what we will do if someone tries to rip them out of our arms.  Then let’s pray for all parents everywhere, that God and God’s people will help them protect their children.

Let’s pray for all children everywhere that God and God’s people will protect them from any who would do them harm.

As members of the Jesus movement, it is time for us to immerse ourselves in the scriptures, and pray to be bathed in the Holy Spirit as that same Spirit leads and guides us into all Truth! May we with God’s help strive for justice and peace among all people and respect the dignity of every human being.