7/27/2019 Sermon "Fear came knocking..." - Alan Neale

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Sermon preached at The Church of the Holy Trinity, PhiladelphiaSunday August 11th 2013

The Reverend Alan NealeFear 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 nowrecognized as acronymania, acronymophilia, and acronymesis; these are inaddition to the terms acronymia and acronymitis.

And this affliction assails not only institutions and government committees but alsochurches consider ECUSA or, more close to home, CHT.

Sometimes the effect of such rampant acronymania is to exclude the newcomer andbaffle the visitor but, to its defense, acronymania is also a way to give some orderto what is often chaotic and simply to save time; though the longest acronymrecorded 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 themost awful, the most crippling, the most life-denying of all emotions is seen bymany as an acronym the emotion? FEAR.

Apparently 28 different acronyms for fear at least; here are just a few

False EvidenceAppearing RealForget Everything andRunFailure ExpectedAnd ReceivedFalse EmotionsAppearing RealFalse EvidenceAppears RealFalse ExpectationsAppearing Real

Feeling Everything'sAwful RealFeelings EveryAlcoholic RejectsFighting Ego AgainstRealityFools Every AlcoholicRepeatedlyForever Escaping AndRetreatingForgettingEverything's AllRight

Frantic Effort to AppearRealFrantic Efforts toAppear RecoveredFrustration, Ego,Anxiety, ResentmentFalse ExperiencesAppearing RealForgetting EverythingAbout RealityFuture EventsAlready Ruined

At the beginning of two Bible readings for today (Genesis 15:1 and Luke 12:31) please note tworeferences to fear. In Genesis 1 the Lord speaks to Abram (the diminutive name still yet toexpand to Abraham) Do not be afraid, Abram; I am your shield; your reward shall be very greatand then in Luke 12:32 Jesus says to his diminutive group of followers, Do not be afraid littleflock, 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 bywhich 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 toconfess sin as human. Realism. Abram is permitted by the Lord to rehearse his situation a

7/27/2019 Sermon "Fear came knocking..." - Alan Neale

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situation in which he had miserably failed and somehow tried to nudge the Lords arm, asituation in which he had acted precipitately and had thereby caused untold suffering to his wifeSarah, his servant Hagar and their son Ishmael.Realism. The disciples are a motley crew, a strange gathering, an unimpressive communitymarked 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 andtheir cause.

Second, fear and relationship. Our two texts (Genesis 15:1 and Luke 12:32) continue Fearnot Abram, I am your shield and Fear not little flock it is your Fathers pleasure. I believe themost powerful antidote, the most protective armor against fear is that of relationship to knowone is not alone, to know that another cares, to know that a companion will stand beside us andwill not desert. Abram hears the words I am and with that phrase doubtless all heaven opensfor 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 somedistant, disinterested being but rather as a loving, present, generous parent listen to thiswonderful 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 ourfriendship for there the hold of fear is radically weakened, if not sometimes thoroughlydismissed.

And third, fear and reasonableness. Fear is a wretched enemy that, if permitted, takes noenemies; 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 psychicweapons 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 andthe disciples experience of Jesus as profoundly wise, constantly caring and worker of wondersall 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 weneed be deliberate and intentional in making time to meet with, to talk with other pilgrims onthe spiritual journey.

Bill Wilson (co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous) wrote these words, Fear touched every aspectof our lives; it was an evil and corroding thread it was the chief activator of our defects fearsare 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 butfaith 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. Paulexplodes over the pages of Genesis.

7/27/2019 Sermon "Fear came knocking..." - Alan Neale

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

AMEN