Last Sunday Mary Robert preached a sermon in which she held up for us a central tenet of the gospels… that our fear of the other… our fear of the so-called stranger, is our undoing. Anthropologists speak often of the flight or fight impulse embedded in our DNA; that flight or fight is the impulse that preserves the species, preserves the tribe; that fear is a natural trait of our evolutionary heritage. But the gospel writers and the scribes of Hebrew scripture consistently point to this impulse as detrimental to the human enterprise; that it is fear driven, and that it leads to suspicion and violence and self-interest. These writers propose that it is within the human capacity to renounce this primordial impulse, and instead choose solidarity with the other, to embrace in empathy those who are different from us… Jesus is dead serious when he says, “love your enemy. ” he is speaking of the process of the world’s salvation and restoration, no less. We are to love our brother, love our sister….We are to love our brother and sister despite our differences, no matter how small or great. Violence engendered by fear is no longer, and never has been an option.
This premise, moreover, is the means of God’s kingdom on earth, that to love our neighbor is to bring about Shalom…. peace, the peace that passes understanding, peace that is a sense of well-being, peace that is a liberation from fear, and the entrance into a life of joy. Fear is pervasive in our world, just as it was in the time of Jesus, and just as it has been since time immemorial. It has forever been a trait among the powerful of our world to use fear as a means of manipulation and control, which denies freedom and joy for the other. Fear belies our ability to live into the abundant life God intends for us. It is pervasive… It is not of God.
I was watching the six o’clock news just this week, and our congressman, Bradley Byrne, was being interviewed regarding the refugee crisis in Europe. His words were loaded with fear in that he stated that by welcoming refugees into this country we run the risk of admitting terrorists into our midst. In my mind’s eye I could see hundreds of thousands of children, mothers and fathers, not terrorists, suffering the oppression of violence and warfare, looking for a way out…. looking for a hopeful future… looking for Shalom. Congressman Byrne, a former member of All Saints (was he listening while he was here?!), is not alone. Politicians both at home and abroad have defaulted for reasons of control and self-preservation by employing fear as a way of influence. Fear is the midwife of violence, and we as Christian people must stand against it.
In the Gospel of John the raised Jesus enters the locked room in which the frightened disciples are meeting…. and the first words he utters is “shalom be with you… do not be afraid.” The promise of God’s vision for us is that we live without fear, that we live knowing all manner of thing is well. It is the love of the other that engenders such a life. It is sacrifice and selflessness that subvert the ancient memory of flight or fight. It is love that will vanquish fear. It is love that makes life worth living. It is in loving our neighbor, embracing the stranger, that we experience Shalom…. Shalom the way of God in earth. Fear has no home in us…It would be our undoing…For God’s sake, choose love.
