Fear Not

This has been a difficult week for our country.  On Monday two bombs went off in Boston, killing three and gravely injuring scores of innocent people.  On Wednesday the Senate rejected proposed gun safety legislation.  Later that day a fertilizer plant in Texas exploded, leveling a large part of the town called West.  And then, on Friday, the violent conclusion of the manhunt in Boston played out on our TVs.

We ask, as we always do: Why do bad things happen to the innocent?  People have been posing this question throughout recorded history, and no doubt long before.  Christians and Jews look to scripture for an answer.  But it's clear that our spiritual ancestors struggled with this problem just as we do, and with the same lack of success.  There are, of course, lots of spiritual snake oil salesmen ready to offer their "patented" but unhelpful answers.  In truth, however, we may have no real answer to this question until you and I stand before God's throne.

After such a tragic week, I recommend we leave off asking "why" and consider instead how we respond to unmerited suffering.  What does this call forth in us?  How does this shape who we are, how we think, and how we act?  Those are questions we can answer.

April 15, 2013 — Emergency workers at
the blast site.  (Photo by Aaron "Tango" Tang)

Fear is probably the most common response to the evil of this world.  Terrorism, gun violence, on-the-job accidents — these situations, and many more, create in us a sense of danger or potential threat, and so we feel fear.  There's nothing unreasonable about that.  This world can be a scary place.

In our Prayer Book's Great Litany we pray that Christ will protect us from all manner of fearful things: "From lightning and tempest; from earthquake, fire, and flood; from plague, pestilence, and famine... From all oppression, conspiracy, and rebellion; from violence, battle, and murder; and from dying suddenly and unprepared, Good Lord, deliver us." (BCP p. 149)

Those who count how often certain words are used in the Bible assure us that holy scripture spends a lot of time dealing with fear and its related emotions.  For example, several Hebrew words translated into English by the word fear appear 615 times in the Old Testament; afraid is used 188 times; dismay 62 times; and anxiety and anxious are used 44 times.  Obviously, our foremothers and forefathers in the faith were well acquainted with fear, distress, dismay, anxiety, dread, and outright terror.  And they turned to God for protection and comfort.

Quite often the response they got was, "Fear not, for I am with you."  The intent here is not to trivialize our fears, or to deny the hard realities of life, but to assert that God's love for us, and our response of love for God, dispels fear.  God's presence and love transforms fear.  As the author of the Second Letter to Timothy puts it, "...God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline." (2 Tim. 1:7)

This admonition not to fear runs like a thread through the whole Bible:

• In Genesis the patriarch Isaac travels to Beersheba where God appears to him and declares, "I am the God of your father Abraham; do not be afraid, for I am with you and will bless you..." (Gen. 26:24)
• In Exodus the escaping Hebrews stand at the shore of the Red Sea with the chariots of Egypt bearing down on them.  Moses says to the people, "Do not be afraid, stand firm, and see the deliverance that the Lord will accomplish for you today...." (Ex. 14:13)
• In 1 Chronicles, acting on the Lord's instructions, King David tells his son Solomon and the other leaders of Israel to undertake a profoundly difficult task, to build a great temple to God.  David says, "Be strong and of good courage.  Do not be afraid or dismayed... Now begin the work and the Lord be with you." (1 Chr. 22:13, 16)
• In Isaiah God's people, exiled in Babylon, look to the future with dismay and despair.  Then the prophet speaks God's word: "Say to those who are of a fearful heart, 'Be strong, do not fear!  Here is your God... He will come and save you.'" (Isa. 35:4)
• In St. Luke's gospel, Jesus tells his listeners not to worry about food or clothing, and notes how handsomely the Father has dressed the lilies of the field.  He follows this up by saying, "Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." (Lk. 12:32)
• Finally, in the Book of Revelation, St. John the Divine is granted a vision of Christ in glory, but doubts his ability to convey to his brother and sister Christians what he has seen.  "When I saw him," John tells us, "I fell at his feet as though dead.  But he placed his right hand on me, saying, 'Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, and the living one.  I was dead, and see, I am alive forever and ever... Now write what you have seen....'" (Rev. 1:17-19)

The message is clear: Fear not, for God is with us.  That message bears repeating at all times, but especially after a week like this.

There is much about daily life which I consider a matter of chance.  Industrial accidents are a good example.  They take a heavy toll on American workers.  As the media reported on the fertilizer plant explosion, someone mentioned that close to 60,000 workers die on-the-job each year.  I don't know if that statistic is accurate, but on-the-job accidents certainly happen, ranging from simple slip-and-falls to major catastrophes.  Farms, limestone quarries, ships at sea, schools, nursing homes, even parish churches can, at times, be dangerous workplaces.

The West, TX, explosion.
(Photo by Sam Gilbertson)

And yet people have to work and put bread on the table.  Making a living is risky business.  Fear which encourages people to be careful, which respects risk and seeks to avoid it if possible, is probably a good thing.  On the other hand, fear which robs us of the joy and satisfaction of our chosen work is not.

This past week we saw two kinds of fear at work around the issue of gun violence.  The first is the very reasonable fear so many Americans feel about the impact guns have on families and neighborhoods, especially in major cities.  As I have said before, this is a public health problem.  Gun violence claims 30,000 homicide and suicide victims each year.  I lived in Detroit for 22 years, and ministered in the city for a decade.  I learned that a person without a working conscience, armed with a gun, is very dangerous.  Doing what we can to keep guns out of the hands of bad people is sensible, in my view, and worth doing even if the effort can never be 100% effective.

However, a second, less reasonable kind of fear was on display in the U.S. Senate this past week.  I realize some senators object to gun laws as a matter of principle.  They are entitled to their opinion, and am I, and as you are too.  But it's obvious that quite a few senators would have agreed to close the gun show and internet loopholes in background checks, and to take steps to reduce gun trafficing, if they had not been intimidated by the political cost.  They feared losing their jobs.

Now, in elementary school I was told, as I'm sure you were too, that legislators go to Washington to make laws which enhance the health, safety, and welfare of the people.  But all too often our elected representatives are more concerned about their own job security.  Some fear that a too-courageous vote might offend supporters and make them political has-beens.  For those whose loved ones have suffered needless injury or death, that outcome is truly disappointing.

And finally, in Boston we saw once again that terrorists are in the business of peddling fear.  They commit crimes against innocent people because they believe that the fear they create will distort our thinking, harden our hearts, and corrupt our behavior.  They seek to make us different, and less, than what God calls us to be.  Terrorists would see this country, and all the other places where they ply their evil trade, made fearful, distrustful, joyless, and mean — no matter the cost.  If they kill a 29-year-old woman with a bright future, an intelligent and hard-working 23-year-old Chinese graduate student, an 8-year-old boy full of potential, and a college security officer just doing his job, the terrorists could care less.

But let me call your attention to what happened after those two bombs went off.  Quite a few people near the blast site fled the area.  Their fear is perfectly understandable.  But others, both first responders and average folk, ran to the blast site to aid the wounded.  They disregarded their own safety in order to help.  They may have been afraid, but they responded with courage.  Later, when the police asked for help identifying suspects, citizens unleashed a torrent of photos and videos.  When the authorities told Bostonians to stay home so the police could do their work, people locked their doors and followed events on TV.  And in the end, it was an alert homeowner, not the police, who figured out where Suspect No. 2 was hiding.

The Boston bombers tried to damage our society.  What they produced instead was a partnership between police and citizens who worked together, in spite of their fear, to serve the common good.  I don't say that as patriotic chest-thumping.  This is simply an observation about the way Americans choose to respond in terrible times.  Evil people want us to cower in fear.  But we choose to stick up our heads, look around, and make ourselves useful, even if we are afraid, even at great personal risk.  That response makes it clear that terrorists will never achieve their goals.

As I said at the start, this world can be a fearful place.  Yet in the midst of many evils, and in the face of fear, we are called to assert what I take to be a core value for Christians: Fear not, for God is with us.  Our task is to let this core value, this organizing principle, discipline our thinking, shape our behavior, and express our deepest commitment to God and to each other.  In fearful times and dismaying situations, we must be of good courage, knowing in our hearts that the Lord is right here, right now, driving out fear and giving us a spirit of power, love, and self-discipline, that we may do the great work he has put before us.

As the Psalmist declares, "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me." (Ps. 23:4)  Amen.

Homily preached Sunday, April 21, 2013, the Fourth Sunday of Easter, at Grace Episcopal Church, Long Rapids, MI. •••