Homily, August 10, 2025, Rev. Valerie Hart

Proper 14 C

Rev. Valerie Ann Hart

St. Thomas of Canterbury

August 10, 2025

Jesus said, “Do not be afraid.”

But we are afraid. Each and every one of us.

What are you afraid of?

(Give people time to think about it.)

Are you afraid of getting sick, or getting in a car accident? Are you afraid that you or someone you love will be shot, perhaps in next mass shooting? With inflation, are you afraid of running out of money? Are you afraid of robbers stealing your possessions? Are you afraid of wildfires or earthquakes.

When we listen to the news, it’s hard not to be afraid.

These things are scary, and real. We don’t know what we will do if we don’t have enough. We don’t know who we are if we don’t have our things.

The truth is, people we know and love will die, and we ourselves will die. There is no way to avoid that. It is a painful thought. Something we don’t want to deal with. Something we’d like to be in denial about.

Yet here we have Jesus saying, “Do not be afraid.” And in scripture, in almost every angelic encounter, the messenger of God begins with “Do not be afraid.”

But we are afraid. Fear is a real. Fear is a real emotion. To pretend we don’t have fear, to suppress it, to deny it, to judge ourselves because of our fear is not healthy. Even Jesus had his moment of fear in the garden of Gethsemane when he prayed that the cup he was about to receive be removed.

And yet, Jesus says, “Do not be afraid.”

Why?

Fear is an authentic, real, gut level emotion. It is hard wired into the primitive parts of our brain. It is necessary for survival.

But, it can be harmful.

Our biological response to fear is what psychologists sometimes call the “Fight or Flight response.”

When we are afraid our bodies react. Our heart rates go up, our digestion stops, our hands and feet get cold as blood is withdrawn from our extremities and our brains, and is sent to the large muscles of our arms and legs. Our bodies get ready for action not for thought. That action can be “fight”, to attack that which is the source of the fear (let’s say a bear) and try to win the struggle or “flight”, to run as fast as we can away from the source of the fear (trying to outrun the bear). We are primed and ready to engage in heavy duty activity. Wrestling the bear or running like crazy to a place we can hide. When the struggle is over, our body then returns to its normal state.

This biological response is great and very adaptive when encountering a bear. But not so much so when encountering a stranger on the street.

Fear shuts us down. Fear tells us to fight or hide. Fear turns the stranger into a “them”. ‘Attack first and ask questions later’. Fear leads us to lock our doors and build strong walls.

Fear keeps us from new encounters, adventure, surprise.

We need to be willing to acknowledge our fear so that we can transcend it. Fear comes from an old part of the brain and keeps us from clear thinking and radical loving.

“Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”

Jesus describes God as a parent whose greatest pleasure is giving everything good to the children. It is God’s pleasure to give to us “The kingdom,” all that is of any real worth. When I read this, I think of a family where the parents lavish the children with all that they need. There is abundant food, there is abundant love, there are more than enough stuff, yet, in a room filled with toys the children argue over one of the dolls.

“I had it first!”

“No, it’s mine!”

“That’s not fair!”

And they scream and they yell. And cry real tears when they don’t get their way.

Everything we have is a gift from God. Everything. All that we own, even if we have worked hard to earn it, ultimately it is a gift from God, for God gave us the ability to do the work that earned it. God gave us our abilities, our strengths, so that we could enhance the creation, so that we could serve the kingdom of God, the dream of God, for a community of love, and abundance.

Fear gets in the way of this. It is hard to share when we are afraid.  

So how are we to free ourselves from fear? To keep fear from controlling and diminishing our lives?

Jesus suggests we sell our possessions and give alms.

Fear makes us close down to others, to hold tightly to the things we care about, to retreat from the world. And it encourages us to go out and fight for what we want. Fear limits and separates us.

Letting go of what we have and giving to the poor opens us up.

Let’s try something.

Imagine you are holding your most prized possession, it could be a cooking pot from your mother, a watch from you grandfather, a piece of jewelry, a picture, your credit card, your cell phone, or even a person you love. Imagine holding it, look at it, admire it, feel your care for it.

Now imagine someone tries to take it away. What happens to your body? Do you hold it close to you, close your arms across your chest? Clench your hands, want to withdraw?

Now relax for a minute and imagine the danger is past. Admire whatever it is that you are holding, love it, thank it for having been with you. Now imagine giving it away, lovingly giving it away. Peacefully giving it away. If you can’t give it to another person, imagine offering it to God. If you were able to imagine giving it away, how did that feel.

Did your body relax?

Did your arms open?

When we give, we open to the world. We reach out to others. We open ourselves to love.

To be able to give anything away, means that you have to trust that you will be okay without it.

When we can trust God, trust in God’s generous goodness, we can give what we have to God.

I’ve heard it put, “We have to give it all away to have it all.”

It may not be an actual physical giving away of all our stuff. Although indeed it is joyous to downsize. But the more we can inwardly give what we care about to God, including those that we love, the freer we are to live and to love.

To trust that God is with us, with them.

Paul writes, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”

The antidote to fear is faith, trust, and love, offering all we have and all we are to God - knowing that it is God’s good pleasure to give us the kingdom. Knowing that we are deeply, completely, held in love by God

That’s what Jesus did when he was afraid in the garden - he acknowledged the fear, prayed for what he wanted, and then he said, “not my will but yours.”

That’s what his mother Mary said after a fearful encounter with an angel. “Let it be with me according to your word.”

Or as it says in the psalm for this morning

“Let your loving-kindness, O Lord, be upon us, as we have put our trust in you.”

Amen