Sermon for Holy Trinity
Do Not Be Afraid
By The Rev. Eric Christopher Shafer -
I have now been senior pastor here at Mt. Olive Lutheran Church for more than seven years. Over those years you have heard a lot of sermons from me, but, as those of you who have heard me preach often already know, there are some very common themes to my peaching, themes like the love of God for all people and the love of God with us at all times, especially in the most difficult times of our lives and that salvation is guaranteed by God’s love, not people’s actions. And we do not earn our salvation by good works – we do good works because of God’s love for us. You have heard these themes from me many times.
I have also preached often on the theme of fear and the continued message of God – Have no fear. Do not be afraid. Fear not.
Some years ago, I read on social media that the Bible includes the words “do not be afraid” or “have no fear” or “fear not” 365 times, one for each day of the year. I did a little investigation and the number of times the Bible says the exact words “do not be afraid” is close to 150. Jesus alone says these exact words, “do not be afraid” 24 times. So, with variations to this phrase, the 365 figure is probably correct.
Thus, the entire Bible is full of words assuring believers that there is no need to be afraid. And Jesus spoke these words often. In his words and actions, Jesus is often calming other people’s fears.
Do not be afraid.
And, yet, we still have fears, or, at least, I do at times.
It usually happens to me very late at night when I am over-tired but cannot sleep. I think about my own death and the end of my earthly life and I have my own doubts about eternal life. What if this life is the end? And, when this happens, I literally get a chill.
Now, I am a pastor, a person who preaches and teaches regularly about the eternal life promised to all believers. Every time we gather for Holy Communion, which we will do again in person this September, every time we gather in person, I say these words, “The body and blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will strengthen and preserve you in true faith unto eternal life.” I have pronounced those words hundreds, perhaps thousands, of times. And, I believe them, I really do, most all of the time.
It is more than a bit frightening for a pastor to admit that he or she has doubts of this magnitude. But, sometimes, not often, I must admit that I do.
In my former life working for the ELCA Presiding Bishop, I spent a lot of time with many of our wonderful synod bishops around our church in the USA and the Caribbean. One visit sticks out for me.
I was travelling by car with a bishop in Pennsylvania, one of the then senior and most respected bishops. He was driving. This bishop even looked like many might image a bishop to look like – mature and wise with glasses and gray hair! We were talking about faith and eternal life. I guess because I admired this bishop so much, I felt comfortable enough in that conversation to admit that I sometimes doubted eternal life and that that doubt scared me. Do you know what happened next? This respected bishop pulled over to the side and stopped the car (we were on a deserted, rural road). Then, he looked at me and said simply, “me, too.” He then proceeded to admit something that he said he had not shared with many others, that he, too, had doubts about eternal life and struggled with those doubts.
I felt, and so did he, surprisingly relieved. We could admit our doubts to each other. And, somehow, admitting these doubts strengthened our faith in the promise of eternal life.
Do not be afraid.
When I served as pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Lansdale, Pennsylvania, Pastor Arnold Tiemeyer, a retired pastor, served on my staff part-time. He helped minister to our nearly 100 shut in members. Arnie was well known and highly respected from his many years in ministry. And he was my closest friend in that congregation. I loved him dearly and miss him tremendously even today. He was always in my “corner,” so to speak, always speaking up for me and my ministry in that congregation.
And, he had also spent many, many years at the edge of death with numerous major health issues nearly killing him many times.
Near what became the actual end of my friend’s life, very close to the time he did die, Arnie and I spent many hours together as he struggled to accept the reality of eternal life. When I let him know that I also struggled with this acceptance, he just smiled. As he smiled, Arnie pointed to a huge pile of cards and letters and printed e-mails piled on his bedside table, messages he had received over the past weeks and months. There must have been hundreds of them. “When I have my doubts,” Pastor Arnie said to me, “when I have my doubts, I think about the communion of the saints and all those saints who have reached out to me in this time of my own great sadness, all those folks who have told me that they are praying for me and, somehow, their belief sustains me even when my own does not.” We went on to speak of the importance of a faith community and how we realized we could not easily be Christians outside of a faith community.
I know that many of you also experience times of doubt and low faith. When our faith is at its lowest, when we even question God’s promise of eternal life with God, a promise we believe is guaranteed for us by the life, death and resurrection of his son, Jesus Christ, at those times we rely on the faith of others to sustain us until our faith can regain its strength and we can help sustain others. At those times we again realize the importance of the Christian community, the one we call church, the one we celebrate on this Holy Trinity Sunday, and this Christian community, the one we call Mt. Olive Lutheran Church.
And Jesus tells us, do not be afraid.
My dear friend and former ELCA Presiding Bishop, the Rev. Dr. H. George Anderson, lost his first wife, Sonny, to cancer when they were both young and had young children. This was a very difficult time for Bishop Anderson.
During these times, Bishop Anderson told me, during the times when his faith was the lowest, he would still go to church, but he could not sing or even say the liturgy at the congregation where he was a member. But, Bishop Anderson said, he continued to attend worship every Sunday and he told me that he just let others sing and pray for him. And that, somehow, was enough and that, somehow, helped get him through. For a time, Bishop Anderson let others sing and pray for him. And that was enough and that got him through.
And Jesus tells us, do not be afraid.
You have heard me say it before, but I need to hear it again and I suspect you do also: No matter what, we, you and I, we belong to God. God loves us unconditionally. And God will bring us home.
The promise of eternal life is ours. It is guaranteed for us as believers by the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Guaranteed once and for all times and for all believers.
Sometimes in our lowest times, we, you and I, may doubt this. Sometimes we need to rely on the faith of others in person and via hymns and in prayer, in cards and letters and e-mails and visits and telephone calls. And, somehow, this gets us through our doubts and confirms our faith. That is how it is for me and, I suspect, it is for many of you.
And Jesus tells us all, “do not be afraid.”
Amen.
The Rev. Eric Christopher Shafer
Senior Pastor - Mt. Olive Lutheran Church
Santa Monica, California
Sermon for:
May 30, 2021
