Sermon preached at The Church of the Holy Trinity, Philadelphia Sunday August 11th 2013 The Reverend Alan

Neale Fear came knocking Alongside my addiction to alliteration, I have recognized recently another personal challenge an addiction to acronyms which, you will be interested to know, is now recognized as acronymania, acronymophilia, and acronymesis; these are in addition to the terms acronymia and acronymitis . And this affliction assails not only institutions and government committees but also churches consider ECUSA or, more close to home, CHT. Sometimes the effect of such rampant acronymania is to exclude the newcomer and baffle the visitor but, to its defense, acronymania is also a way to give some order to what is often chaotic and simply to save time; though the longest acronym recorded in the Guinness Book of Records has a total of 54 letters! So I am really not surprised, not surprised at all, when I learn that arguably the most awful, the most crippling, the most life-denying of all emotions is seen by many as an acronym the emotion? FEAR. Apparently 28 different acronyms for fear at least; here are just a few False Evidence Appearing Real Forget Everything and Run Failure Expected And Received False Emotions Appearing Real False Evidence Appears Real False Expectations Appearing Real Feeling Everything's Awful Real Feelings Every Alcoholic Rejects Fighting Ego Against Reality Fools Every Alcoholic Repeatedly Forever Escaping And Retreating Forgetting Everything's All Right Frantic Effort to Appear Real Frantic Efforts to Appear Recovered Frustration, Ego, Anxiety, Resentment False Experiences Appearing Real Forgetting Everything About Reality Future Events Already Ruined

At the beginning of two Bible readings for today (Genesis 15:1 and Luke 12:31) please note two references to fear. In Genesis 1 the Lord speaks to Abram (the diminutive name still yet to expand to Abraham) Do not be afraid, Abram; I am your shield; your reward shall be very great and then in Luke 12:32 Jesus says to his diminutive group of followers, Do not be afraid little flock, for it is your Fathers pleasure to give you the kingdom. In both verses we observe the same process by which the power of fear is eased, the process by which fears thralldom over us is broken. First, fear and realism. Neither Abram nor the disciples are chided or chastised for their fear. The fears are recognized, affirmed; here there is no need to confess fear as sin but rather to confess sin as human. Realism. Abram is permitted by the Lord to rehearse his situation a

situation in which he had miserably failed and somehow tried to nudge the Lords arm, a situation in which he had acted precipitately and had thereby caused untold suffering to his wife Sarah, his servant Hagar and their son Ishmael. Realism. The disciples are a motley crew, a strange gathering, an unimpressive community marked more by their weaknesses than by their strength. They had often disappointed Jesus, had misunderstood his message and sometimes confused his mission but they can, they must recognize themselves as a little flock before they can be renewed for mission. No good is achieved, no strength attained and no purpose accomplished if we deny our fears and their cause. Second, fear and relationship. Our two texts (Genesis 15:1 and Luke 12:32) continue Fear not Abram, I am your shield and Fear not little flock it is your Fathers pleasure. I believe the most powerful antidote, the most protective armor against fear is that of relationship to know one is not alone, to know that another cares, to know that a companion will stand beside us and will not desert. Abram hears the words I am and with that phrase doubtless all heaven opens for I am is the statement of the ever living, ever-present Lord. I am your shield. And the disciples, that little flock, are reminded that their relationship with God is not as some distant, disinterested being but rather as a loving, present, generous parent listen to this wonderful phrase the Fathers good pleasure, what joy abounds in those words. Fear does its best to isolate, to alienate, to separate our Lord in all wisdom longs for our friendship for there the hold of fear is radically weakened, if not sometimes thoroughly dismissed. And third, fear and reasonableness. Fear is a wretched enemy that, if permitted, takes no enemies; it pervasively invades, if permitted, our most profound psyche and there, if permitted, takes up residence as an occupying power. Against such an enemy we need bring psychic weapons of realism and relationship but also reasonableness. The experience of the Lord, albeit in halting ways, gave Abram reason to accept and believe your reward will be very great and the disciples experience of Jesus as profoundly wise, constantly caring and worker of wonders all this made it reasonable for them to believe you will be given the kingdom. The reasonableness of faith (affirmed by countless generations and by companions on the way), the reasonableness of faith gives us courage in the face of fear and of our fears. And for this we need be deliberate and intentional in making time to meet with, to talk with other pilgrims on the spiritual journey. Bill Wilson (co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous) wrote these words, Fear touched every aspect of our lives; it was an evil and corroding thread it was the chief activator of our defects fears are the termites that ceaselessly devour the foundations of whatever sort of life we try to build. And to all this we are urged, like Abram and the disciples, to believe, to have faith. Faith, here, not as some deposit of doctrine handed to us by some generational, centuries old relay race but faith as commitment to, experience of, trusting in the Lord and such faith is (Genesis 15:6) reckoned to us as righteousness. With this statement the grace laden theology of St. Paul explodes over the pages of Genesis.

Abram, do not be afraid; little flock do not fear urgently they needed to hear that empowering word and, I reckon, do we. AMEN