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Saint Charles’ Episcopal Church – Saint Charles, IL

The Sixth Sunday after Pentecost – Proper 7 - RCL Year A

Sunday June 22, 2008 Genesis 21:8-21 – Psalm 86:1-10, 16-17 – Romans 6:1b-11 – Matthew 10:24-39

The Rev. William R. Nesbit, Jr.

In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen.

"See, I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves." Simon Peter was crucified upside down. Andrew his brother was scourged, then tied to a cross where he preached to the people for two days before he died. James the son of Zebedee was beheaded in Jerusalem, the first of the apostles to die, during the Easter season in about 44 AD. John, his brother, was exiled to the penal island of Patmos, the only apostle to die of natural causes. Philip was hanged up against a pillar in Phrygia. Bartholomew was flayed alive. Thomas was run through with a lance. Matthew the tax collector was slain by a sword in a city in Ethiopia. James son of Alphaeus, was thrown from a pinnacle of the temple. Thaddaeus was crucified at Edessa, or shot to death with arrows, depending on which reference you prefer. Simon the Cananaean, was crucified. Judas Iscariot hung himself and his replacement Matthias was stoned and beheaded. In the immortal words of St. Teresa of Avila, "Lord, if this is the way you treat your friends, it's no wonder that you don't have many."

In North America, Christians are not persecuted for their beliefs. Ignored perhaps, but not persecuted. That is not so in the rest of the world. I was reading in an annual report from the International Christian Concern called “The Hall of Shame” about the countries that are the ten worst persecutors of Christians in the world. Some of them I suspect you could guess: North Korea, Iraq, China, or Saudi Arabia. Some of them might take you by surprise: India, Egypt, or Pakistan. The stories that come out of these countries of open hostility towards Christians is frightening and sometimes shocking. Here in the first world it is far too easy to forget the sacrificial nature of faith, that faith sometimes comes with a cost. Few, if any, of us will be required to confess our faith under threat of death.

Maybe that is why today our faith is so easily dismissed, by us as well as those around us. But still, there is a mystery that surrounds our faith. Why is it that Christianity thrives so during times of persecution? Why is it that in our own lives our faith is deepened and strengthened by times of stress and trial if we can just hang on? Why is it so easy to forget this reality? The truth is, it isn't really. It’s hard work. It has taken us here in America almost two hundred years to tame Christianity. Well, almost tame. I still have hope that we will break loose! It’s days like today that give me hope. The words of the Gospel this morning scare us. They have yet to be tamed. They turn our neatly ordered world upside down. They reveal the truth that we try so hard to bury. Life isn't easy and it isn't fair! Life is difficult! Even in beautiful little St. Charles, Illinois the wolves prowl the streets. They may not look like the wolves that prowl the streets of the west side of Chicago, or the West Bank in Israel, but they are wolves none the less. Evil is at work in the world, the whole world. There is work for us to do.

At our baptism we sign on to fight in the eternal battle, the battle between good and evil, love and hate. We renounce Satan and all the spiritual forces of wickedness that rebel against God. We renounce the evil powers of this world that corrupt and destroy the creatures of God. We renounce all sinful desires, the evil that resides within each of us, that draws us away from the love of God. It is a vicious battle. A battle which has the potential to tear families apart. The object of the enemy is to instill terror; fear that incapacitates. How are we to respond to this onslaught of evil? In our Baptismal Covenant we say we will turn from evil and turn to Jesus Christ and accept him as our Savior. We put our whole trust in his grace and love. We promise to follow and obey him as our Lord.

In our Gospel this morning Jesus gently reminds us that if we can do these things we need have no fear of evil. Faith gives us the power to overcome fear. Faith will not make our lives any easier. As I said earlier, life is difficult. It will always be difficult. Loved ones will die before their time. Good people will get sick or lose their jobs for no good reason. Bad people will prosper through evil pursuits. Faith will change none of this. But faith will allow us to see all of this for what it really is; To see the world around us with the eyes of God. Fear of the changes and chances of this world will no longer hold us in thrall.

In addition to her snippet about God's treatment of friends, St. Teresa of Avila has a lot to say about faith and fear. I want to close with a prayer written in her own hand on a bookmark that was found in her personal prayer book after her death. It has come to be called St. Teresa's Bookmark: Let nothing disturb you, Let nothing make you afraid, All things are passing, God never changes. Patience obtains all things. Nothing is lacking to the one who has God--God alone is enough. Amen.