Sermon for All Saints Sunday
We Are Not Afraid
By The Rev. Eric Christopher Shafer -
I like to finish my sermon by Thursday, sometimes Friday. I did that this week. And it was a pretty good sermon for All Saints Sunday about Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead, today’s Gospel lesson from St. John. I felt pretty good about it.
However, then I went to Shabbat services at Beth Shir Shalom synagogue on Friday evening and wrote this new sermon on Saturday.
The call had gone out across the USA – clergy of all faiths were asked to show up at local synagogues on Friday night or Saturday morning for Shabbat services, expressing our support of the Jewish community by our presence.
I put a call in to my friend, Rabbi Neil Comess-Daniels, and asked if I could attend Friday night Shabbat services at his synagogue, Beth Shir Shalom, here in Santa Monica. He agreed and asked me to share some words with his congregation.
I do not have to tell you that these are frightening times for Jews in the USA. Incidents of hate crimes against Jews have increased dramatically over the past few years. In 2016 there were 684 reported hate crimes against Jews in the USA, more than all of the other reported hate crimes combined. Add to this, of course, the mass murder of Jews at Shabbat services last Saturday in Pittsburgh, the deadliest attack against Jews in US history, and it is no doubt that these are fearful times for North American people of the Jewish faith.
So, I went to Beth Shir Shalom on Friday evening. And there, I was welcomed warmly. The worship space was full.
I took some comfort that they were having sound system problems and that worship did not start on time. Felt a lot like home here at Mt. Olive! Beth Shir Shalom means “home of the song of peace” and they really lived up to their name. Most of the service was sung in Hebrew and English, much of the music was written by Rabbi Neil. There were announcements about the importance of voting this Tuesday with the offer to call the synagogue office if you needed a ride to the polls.
The people of Beth Shir Shalom gathered to support one another after a terrible tragedy for Jewish people in our nation. The names of those who died in Pittsburgh were held up in prayer. Prayers were also offered for the two African Americans who were shot last weekend in Louisville and those who perished in the airplane crash this week in Indonesia. Prayers, music, words of faith and love and support.
But what struck me most, and even caused me to write a new sermon Saturday morning, was fear. Fear. Or, to be more exact, the lack of fear, the lack of fear. Again and again during the service there were words and music of support and caring and even mourning, but there was no fear. Not even with the terrible statistics on hate crimes against Jews in the USA. Not even with the very real possibility that another white supremacist might decide to duplicate what happened last weekend in Pittsburgh. No fear. The musicians even brought in a little Bob Marley music, “One love, one heart, Let’s get together and feel alright.”
To me this also seemed quite appropriate on the weekend when we celebrate All Saints Sunday, celebrate the saints in our lives, when we celebrate people who have died in the faith and for the faith, when we remember the saints in our own lives and those who have died standing up for their faith.
And, behind it all, is the promise of Christ that death is not the final chapter of our lives in faith. We gather today and every weekend to celebrate Jesus Christ, the One who was given power over death, the One, as we heard in today’s Gospel lesson from St. John, the One who raised Lazarus to life; the One whose own death and resurrection gives witness to the trustworthiness of the promise (a theme in today’s first two readings), the promise that God will one day bring an end to the reign of death, cause mourning and suffering to cease. God will wipe every tear from our eyes.
If there is a word for this week, and every week, it is that word – that death is not the final chapter in our lives in faith.
Death is not the end. Do not live in fear.
In my reflections at Beth Shir Shalom on Friday evening I shared a prayer that I had used earlier this past week when I had the honor of participating in a prayer vigil at Santa Monica College for the victims of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting. Representatives of Baha’i, Christian, Jewish and Muslim faiths all shared thoughts and prayers of lamentation, remembrance and hope. Here is the prayer I shared:
Lord, in our shock and confusion, we come before you.
In our grief and despair in the midst of hate,
in our sense of helplessness in the face of violence,
we lean on you.
For the families of those who have been killed we pray.
For those who have been injured and their families we pray.
For the shooter—help us to pray, Lord.
For Tree of Life congregation, the people of Pittsburgh and the Jewish community in our nation in their anger, grief, fear—we pray.
For all faith communities striving to be your light in darkness beyond our comprehension, we pray.
In the face of hatred, may we claim love, Lord.
May we love those far off and those near.
May we love those who are strangers and those who are friends.
May we love those who we agree with and understand,
and even more so, Lord, those who we consider to be our enemies.
Kyrie Eleison. Lord, have mercy.
Heal our sin-sick souls.
Make these wounds whole, Lord.
Amen
In the face of hatred, may we claim love, Lord. Heal our sin-sick souls. Help us to live in love, not fear.
Like many others, I have always associated the song, “We Shall Overcome” with the US Civil Rights movement and with the African American struggle for equal rights. To be honest, I have often felt a bit odd singing this song with groups of white people. However, I found on Friday evening that “We Shall Overcome” is a song they sing most every Friday at Beth Shir Shalom. In this week, the words of this song took on new meaning for me as I sang them amid my tears with these Jewish brothers and sisters, especially We are not afraid, We are not afraid, We are not afraid today. Oh, deep in my heart, I do believe that we shall overcome some day.
God accompanies us through our living and our dying. Death no longer terrifies us. Life no longer terrifies us. God accompanies us. Today. Every day. All days.
And, we are not afraid.
Amen.
The Rev. Eric Christopher Shafer
Senior Pastor - Mt. Olive Lutheran Church
Santa Monica, California
Sunday, November 4, 2018
