Rest in His Peace - Sermon for the 4th Sunday of Easter, April 25, A+D 2021

Fourth Sunday of Easter, April 25,  Anno Domini 2021                                            Rest in His Peace                                                     Psalm 23 and John 10      

(Video of whole service available here:  https://youtu.be/eKGb-xqtBOo Sermon Hymn and Sermon from 16:45-33:30)        

1) The King of love my Shepherd is, Whose goodness faileth never;

I nothing lack if I am His, And He is mine forever.

   Rest in Peace.  That's a funeral blessing.  We just heard the Good Shepherd Gospel, and we’ve prayed Psalm 23, which goes so beautifully with it.   Psalm 23 makes me think of funerals, because we choose it so often, to comfort us at the death of a loved one.  To remind us that God does not abandon the faithful departed.  Jesus shepherds them still, in heaven. 

   But today I’m not saying 'Rest in Peace' about the dead.  I say it to you.  God's Word is living and active; it does not return to Him with accomplishing His desire.  And so with confidence I pray that God will use His Word, from Psalm 23, and from the Good Shepherd Gospel, to give you Peace.  The Peace that passes all understanding.  The Peace that comes from knowing the Good Shepherd, who laid down His life for you, and has taken it up again.  The Peace of being a lamb, safe within the Shepherd's arms.  Rest in His Peace.  

2)  Where streams of living water flow, My ransomed soul He leadeth,

And where the verdant pastures grow, With food celestial feedeth.

   How great is the love the Father has lavished upon us, that we should be called children of God!  How great is the love the Father has lavished upon us, that we have been called into His family through the living waters of Baptism.  That He should feed us with the Word of Life, and comfort us with the promise of the heavenly banquet, the table we look forward to joining, that table headed by our Good Shepherd, who prepares a place for us, in glory.  And until that grand day, our Good Shepherd hosts another table, here, in the midst of so many enemies, feeding His flock with His true Body and Blood, given and shed for the forgiveness of all our sins.  What a privilege for us, to gather and feast on the meal that brings us into such mysterious communion with our crucified and resurrected Savior.   

3)  Perverse and foolish oft I strayed, But yet in love He sought me,

And on His shoulder gently laid, And home rejoicing brought me.

   Rest in Peace.  Or, as Jesus said to the disciples, hiding in the upper room: Peace be with you.  We must hear, again and again, the words that our Resurrected Lord said to his frightened disciples on evening of the Resurrection.  Peace be with you.  We must hear these words, because like the Eleven, we fear.  And in our fear we stray.  We doubt and disbelieve, and look to earthly goods and powers for rescue.  When these idols fail us, we sometimes seek escape in sinful passions.  We hurt ourselves, and we hurt others.  And we are hurt by others, most painfully by those closest to us. Left unhealed, such hurts can only lead our injured hearts to want to hurt someone else, in return.  A tragic cycle of pain, inflicted and received, and inflicted and received, again and again.   

   Unless Jesus breaks the cycle.  Unless Jesus comes and speaks to us again:  “Peace be with you.”  Jesus intervenes to declare:  “I AM the Good Shepherd.  I gave my life for my sheep.  For you.  And I have risen victorious from the grave, and I share my new life, with you.”   Jesus must seek us out.  He must search the pasture and find us in the gullies and mudholes of our lives, pick us up out of the muck, forgive us, cleanse us, and bring us home again.  Jesus must seek us out, and He does.   

   In the coming weeks we will celebrate High School graduations and also Confirmation.  Joyous events, milestones, occasions to rejoice.  But also times to worry.  Because transitions bring separations, and new life situations, and the risk that lambs of the Shepherd’s flock will wander away.  We worry that our young people will be influenced by the world and drift away from their Savior. 

   We should worry for our youth, and really for anyone going through transition and change.  We worry because we know ourselves.  We know how prone we are to wander away.  But because He knows His sheep, the Good Shepherd's faithfulness is constant.  It the same for the young as it is for the middle aged and for the elderly.  He is faithful to seek for every last wandering lamb.  Jesus your Good Shepherd never stops searching, and He is always ready to carry you home.  Be a wise sheep, and gather at His feet, every chance you get.  Feed on His good food.   Hear Him say, again and again: "I love you, so much that I died and rose again, for you."  Rest in Peace, even as you go to live your busy lives.  Rest in Jesus. 

4)  In death's dark vale I fear no ill, With thee, dear Lord, beside me,

Thy rod and staff my comfort still, Thy cross before to guide me.

    From the young to the old.  From those just discovering the pains and joys of life, to those who find life slipping away.  For all people at every stage of life, the Good Shepherd is there, for you.  Jesus is always present, with the same gifts in His gentle, nail scarred hands, gifts for the young, and the old, and the in between.  He carries the same strong staff with which to protect you at every stage of life. 

    It may seem to the young and the old that your lives are so different, separated by so many decades.  Certainly the world has changed.  Life is at the same time so much easier, and so much harder.  We have such amazing technology and all the information in the world at our fingertips, but along the way we seemed to have broken the family, and our communities.  We are so often so isolated.  We are so lonely, and despair haunts so many. 

    The world has definitely changed.  But our lives really aren’t so different.  Our most fundamental desires, problems and needs are always the same.  We never stop being sheep, who need to belong to a flock.  We all need people who love us.  We are also like sheep in that we are prone to doing dumb things, easily confused and lost, always vulnerable to the attacks of ravenous wolves.  So remember, the Good Shepherd's cross is always your protection.  It's power to guide, protect and forgive you never fades.  Rest in the shadow of the Cross, for there you will find His Peace.   

 5)  Thou spreadst a table in my sight; Thine unction grace bestoweth;

And, oh, what transport of delight, From Thy pure chalice floweth!

    Unction.  Do you know what that word means?  I’ve only ever heard ‘unction’ in churchly contexts, and even then, it’s a rare word, understood by few.  And words that we don’t comprehend don’t feed our faith.  Unction is a challenging word, which is ironic, because it is so wonderful.  Unction refers to God’s love and grace, poured out upon us.  Unction is connected to the fact that God knows sometimes we need more than words.  God knows that while speech and hearing are essential to faith, we are not made of only ears and minds.  We are also made of hands and feet; we are physical bodies, covered with skin that feels.  Knowing how He created us, God bestoweth grace, He gives us His Peace in ways that hit all our senses.  He uses pictures and art, music and architecture to communicate His Good News.  He spreads a table in our sight, to fill our mouths and our bellies.  And He uses unction to love us as well.  Unction, that is, anointing, that is, pouring liquid over us, holy fluid that our eyes can see and our skin can feel.  The Lord is gracious to us through His unction, by anointing us. 

     For King David, the author of Psalm 23, unction was with olive oil, anointing him as King of Israel.  For us, God offers a holier liquid, the living waters of Baptism, where you were made a citizen of the New Israel, born again into the family of God.  Now, whenever you wash your hands and face with good, clean water, you can also remember that you have been washed with better water, water combined with God’s Word, with His holy and powerful Name, the saving unction of Christ Jesus. 

    As baptized believers, your sins are washed away and you are invited to the family table, where the simplest of words are connected to the most basic of foods: Bread and Wine.  This is my Body, this is my Blood.  Taste and see that the Lord is good.  A foretaste of the feast to come, given and shed to forgive all your sins.  The Holy Spirit uses these things, His Holy Unction and His Holy Supper, to give you rock solid connections to your Good Shepherd, connections that you can see and feel and taste, your connections to His Cross and Empty Tomb, where He laid down His life and took it up again, for you.  Rest in His Peace.    

 6)  And so through all the length of days, Thy goodness faileth never.

Good Shepherd, may I sing Thy praise, Within Thy house forever. 

   Our goodness fails.  We won't make it to the end of today before our goodness fails.  We won’t even make it out of the parking lot before we’ve fallen again.  Our goodness fails.  But your Shepherd's goodness is perfect.  It lasts forever, and it covers over all our failures.  So you can always get up, and try again.  Or better to say, Jesus will pick you up and continue to work in and through you, to speak of His love and share it with others.  You can give it away, for His love never fails.  It is limitless, and everlasting.  And for this, we sing His praise, now, and within His house forever.  

1) The King of love my Shepherd is, Whose goodness faileth never;

I nothing lack if I am His, And He is mine forever.

You are His.  And He is yours, forever.  Rest in His Peace.  Amen.

Called to be Stewards, of What? Sermon for the Second Sunday of Easter, 2021 Custer and Hill City, SD

Second Sunday of Easter, April 11, Year of Our + Lord 2021

Called to be Stewards, of What?                                                  

John 20:19-31 and Acts 4:32-35

Our Redeemer and Our Savior Lutheran Churches

Custer and Hill City, South Dakota

 

Christ is Risen!  He is Risen Indeed, Alleluia! 

Christ is risen, so let’s talk about stewardship.

    You might think I’m suggesting we consider stewardship this morning because of our 1^st reading, from Acts 4, when the believers said that all the wealth and material blessing they had was common property of all the Church.  Those who owned properties were even selling them and laying all the proceeds at the Apostles’ feet, for the care of less fortunate brothers and sisters.   Seems like an obvious stewardship text.  But that’s not what I’m thinking about.   

    Because Christian stewardship isn’t about giving money to the Church, at least not primarily.  No question, it takes financial and other human resources to do the work of the Church.  But that is a secondary issue, important, but not really the heart of Christian stewardship. 

    A month or two ago, when I was meeting with one of our newest communicant members, David Hill, the topic of Christian Stewardship came up.  I asked David what he understood stewardship to be about.  I expected to hear him say something about members giving financially to the Church, or perhaps he would think more broadly and speak of giving of our time, our talents and our treasure to support the ministry of the Church.  But not David.  He thought for just a moment, then said “stewardship has to do with how we get the message of Christ out to the world.”  Bingo!  Nailed it! 

    First and foremost, stewardship is about what we are doing with the one true treasure we have as Church, which is the Gospel.  The only pure and lasting treasure we have is the Good News of the free forgiveness of sins, won and revealed for all sinners by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God’s Son made man.  If all our members gave 10% or more of all their income, and the Church was rolling in cash, and yet we did not proclaim Christ Crucified for the forgiveness of sinners, then our stewardship would be terrible, totally worthless.  Consider an extreme example: our Mormon friends and neighbors give tons of money, and time and talent, to the Church of the Latter Day Saints, as they call themselves.  But instead of proclaiming the free forgiveness for sinners, the Mormon’s teach a straightforward works righteous salvation.  They say salvation isn’t a free gift, but rather it is must be earned by our good works. 

    This contradicts the Bible.  Even more, it robs Christ of glory, and it robs us sinners of hope.  So, despite the fact that financially, the LDS Church is a powerhouse, there is no Christian stewardship going on there.  Christian stewardship involves Christ and His Gospel, first and always.      

    Our Collect of the Day is a prayer for good Christian stewardship.  It goes like this:  Almighty God, grant that we who have celebrated the Lord’s resurrection may by Your grace confess in our life and conversation that Jesus is Lord and God; through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord, Amen.   

    Amen indeed, that’s Christian stewardship, in line with David Hill’s excellent definition:  Christian stewardship is to seek, as a congregation, as families, and as individuals, to organize our life around showing forth in word and deed the risen Lord Jesus.  This prayer helps us see that the main stewardship text in our readings today is not the 1^st reading from Acts concerning the amazing financial gifts the earliest Christians made to the infant Church.  That’s great, and it is a necessary part of stewardship.  But the main stewardship text comes from our Gospel, when Jesus says to the Apostles, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you." ²² And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them,  "Receive the Holy Spirit. ²³ If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”  Jesus sent His Apostles to be stewards of the Gospel.  Think of the many parables Jesus taught His disciples about stewardship.  You will discover that almost always, if not every time, Jesus wasn’t teaching them how to handle money, but rather what they will do with the Gospel that Jesus was fulfilling before their eyes. 

    Consider the parable of the talents in Matthew 25.  Jesus says the Kingdom of Heaven will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. ¹⁵ To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. 

    What’s a talent?  A “talent” in first century Israel was about 80 pounds of silver, an incredible amount of money, perhaps 16 years’ worth of daily wages.  Read through the Bible carefully, no where will you find that Jesus left the Apostles with any sum of money. Rather, Jesus is using a story about money to teach how the Church is to use the treasure He did leave us, which is the Good News of His forgiving love.  If we invest the Gospel, then, as happened with the first two stewards, who invested their silver, then the Holy Spirit will generate a return.  His Word does not return to Him void. 

   If we put the Word of Law and Gospel to work in the world, God will do great things.  But to bury it in a hole in the ground, as the third steward in this parable did, that is, to keep the Gospel bound up in a book that never gets spoken out loud so people can hear it, well that is a sign of unbelief.  It would be like someone having a pill that prevents cancer, or the coronavirus, but they kept it locked up in a lab, unwilling to share it with anyone.  Except being selfish with the Gospel is far worse.  Cancer and corona might end your earthly life, but not having the Gospel will lead to eternal suffering and separation from God, and every good thing. 

    So, the first and primary stewardship concern of the Apostles, and so also of the one Holy, Christian and Apostolic Church, is the stewardship of the Gospel, proclaiming, to each other and to all the world the clear and pure teaching of salvation in Christ alone, given to sinners by God’s grace alone, received when sinners repent of their sinfulness and believe the Good News of free forgiveness.  

   Now, to be able to give something away, first you must have it.  To share mercy, you must receive mercy.  To be a steward of the Gospel, first you must possess the Gospel.  Thomas had to be rescued from his doubt and convinced of the Resurrection before he could be a good steward of the Gospel.  So, how can you be a better steward?  Get more Gospel, and the Holy Spirit will make you a better steward.  Thomas needed a face to face, “put your hand in my side” encounter with the Risen Lord to be broken out of his unbelief.  Blessed are you, who have not seen, and yet have believed.  It is faith in the risen Savior that sets us free to share the Gospel, because He makes us realize that no matter how much we give it away, there is always more for us.  There is no running out of the Gospel, because the Son of God and His limitless forgiveness is the source.       

   What does being a steward of the Gospel actually entail?  Well, first, it isn’t a burden.  Your salvation doesn’t depend on your stewardship, for your salvation depends on Christ alone.  But God does want to work through each of you to grow His Kingdom.

   Each Christian has a different role in God’s Church.  All of us are called to grow in faith, and so be prepared to confess Christ to others in our daily lives.  But not all of us have the exact same role in the Church, and no particular role has more or less honor.  We all gather to hear of Christ and receive His gifts of forgiveness, life and salvation.  I am called to serve you, you are called to serve each other and your neighbors.  Here in the congregation, some provide music, pass out bulletins, take care of the altar, or run projection slides.  Some maintain the building we use, the list goes on. 

   We all share the responsibility to make sure the Gospel that goes out from this place is the true Gospel.  There isn’t any Christian stewardship if we aren’t teaching and preaching the Truth of Christ.  And of course there’s the question we all face, again and again in our day to day lives: Can I speak the Gospel?  Dare I?  What if I don’t speak well?  What if I’m rejected? 

   Well, remember that Jesus was rejected, too, and yet in the end He won the victory for you.  Don’t be concerned that you will confess Christ imperfectly, I can assure you that you will make mistakes.  But the Holy Spirit can overcome your mistakes. 

   Above all, remember, the Master who will return to see how our stewardship has gone is the same one who went to the Cross for us.  He loves you, He forgives you, and He goes with you.  So yes, with the help of His Spirit, all of us can show forth Christ by word and deed.  To get ready, we might start by praying for His help, perhaps even using the collect for today:  Almighty God, grant that we who have celebrated the Lord’s resurrection may by Your grace confess in our life and conversation that Jesus is Lord and God, Amen.  Confessing in our life and conversation that Jesus is Lord and God.  That’s Christian stewardship in it’s essence. 

   But then, what about those early Christians, selling valuable property and giving it all to the Apostles?  Well, let me say two things about that.  

   First, their context required such extraordinary generosity.  I’m not saying you shouldn’t make extraordinary gifts to the Church, if you are able and if the Lord has put the desire in your heart.  Go for it.  But we also see that making such tremendous financial gifts was never made into a law.  We don’t hear of it in the rest of the New Testament.  It’s helpful to remember that the earliest Christians were converted Jews.  By their confession of faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, they cut themselves off from their Jewish families, culture and the Jewish economy.  They were a small, persecuted band of believers who had to stick together to survive.  And so they did, including some people of means who made extraordinary gifts.  Praise be to God. 

   We are called to share the same love with each other.  But sharing the same love one for another amongst us today does not necessarily mean we must have all our material wealth in common.  What does our context require?  No one among us is starving, or being persecuted for confessing Christ as God and Lord.  No one is in prison, yet. 

   This doesn’t mean our stewardship is any less critical, including the part of stewardship that does have to do with contributing your time, talent and treasure to support the preaching of Jesus as God and Lord. What we need to always do is focus on our common treasure of Christ and His Gospel, and the Spirit will lead us to just the right financial stewardship.   

   Second, a word of caution.  If we read on in the book of Acts, right after our reading, in chapter five we will hear about Ananias and Sapphira.  Do you remember Ananias and Sapphira?  They wanted the prestige and honor they thought was gained by those who sold properties and gave all the proceeds to the Apostles.  But they didn’t want to actually give all the money.  So they lied about their donation. Sadly, they lied to the Church and to God, giving a portion of the proceeds of a sale, while claiming that they were giving all of it.  They were seeking to purchase favor and honor, as if God had not already given them eternal and infinite favor in Christ.  Ananias and Sapphira died for their scheming and lying. 

   So, never lie to God about your generosity.  Don’t turn financial stewardship into an idol. Never seek the praise of men by your gifts, and never think that you are earning favor or special status by making large gifts.  Simply reflect on what God in Christ has done for you, and give as you are able and your heart desires.  Give what you desire in your heart to give, and rejoice, for God loves cheerful givers.

   God has given you life, both your earthly life, and His eternal life.  He will not abandon you or let you go.  So you are free to be a good steward of the Gospel, in your daily life.  You are also free to be a good steward of your material blessings, time and abilities, in support of the Gospel ministry, here, and around the world.  When you struggle to be a Christian steward, come confessing your struggle and your sins, and receive more Gospel.  Get more of God’s Word.  Come to His Table, dig in and drink deeply from the Word of forgiveness and life, the Word of Jesus, who has won the Kingdom of Heaven for you.  Your sins are forgiven, including your sins of doubt and resistance.  Rejoice, and pray again with me: 

   Almighty God, grant that we who have celebrated the Lord’s resurrection may by Your grace confess in our life and conversation that Jesus is Lord and God; through the same Jesus Christ, Your Son, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever, Amen. 

 

Overcoming our Fear - Sermon for Resurrection Day, April 4th, A+D 2021

 

The Resurrection of Our Lord, April 4^th Year of Our + Lord 2021

Our Redeemer and Our Savior’s Lutheran Churches

Custer and Hill City, South Dakota

Overcoming Our Fear - Mark 16:1-8

Christ is Risen!  He is Risen Indeed, Alleluia! 

   The strife is over, the battle is won!  Jesus is risen, so we too shall arise!  Because He shares His victory with us!  Nothing can defeat us, for we are more than conquerors in Him who has loved us through death, and unto new life!  Alleluia! 

   So why we still afraid?  Why do fear and doubt and hesitation so often fill our hearts and minds, close our mouths and bind our hands and feet? 

   There’s been plenty of fear this past year.  Some of it very legitimate, some of it unfounded, some of it overblown and manipulative.  I doubt that any of us have proved immune. 

   I remember clearly the first time I drove out of our basement garage during the Covid19 lockdown that Shelee and I experienced in Spain, (a lockdown that was bonkers, btw).  I had no legal reason to leave our house in Cartagena for weeks, except to walk one block to put our household trash in the receptacle.  I didn’t like it.  But I wasn’t fearful.  I didn’t think the general panic that gripped the world was affecting me.  Then, when finally I did have a reason and a need to leave the house in our car, well, as I started the car and shifted into drive, a strange sensation came over me.  I don’t want to call it fear, but...   Let’s just say I had to overcome my emotions and tell myself to get a grip. 

   What’s scared you in the past 12 months?  Maybe night after night of riots in so many American cities... Or maybe rioters forcing their way into the capitol building...  Or maybe you’re scared right now?  Maybe your fears arise closer to home.  Is your retirement income lasting like you hoped it would?  Is your job as secure as you wished it was?  Do you have a disease that frightens you?  Or maybe a loved one is sick?  Is there tension and strife with your closest family and friends?  Everyday struggles and worries can morph into fear.  Truth is, fears are all around, some understandable, some overblown.  Fear that comes from the world, and fear that rises in our own hearts. 

   The women running away from the empty tomb of Jesus had what most of us would consider good reason to be afraid.  Mary, Mary and Salome had seen their Lord crucified.  They saw Him give up His Spirit and then slump, dead on the cross.  They had seen Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus wrap His lifeless corpse in cloth and spices and place it tearfully in a new tomb, just near Golgotha.  But early in the morning on the first day of the week, when they went to honor their beloved Jesus by properly preparing His body for the grave, the body was gone.  Even more, a young man, dressed in white, a messenger from heaven, told them that Jesus was no longer dead, that He was risen, alive again, and would meet His disciples in Galilee.  Mary, Mary and Salome had good reason to be astonished, and afraid, so afraid that they couldn’t speak.  A holy fear, but fear that left them speechless, nonetheless.    

   So why didn’t they stay frightened and silent?  How did the news of Jesus’ Resurrection spread, from Jerusalem, to Judea, to Samaria and to the ends of the earth, even to the Black Hills of South Dakota, 20 centuries later? 

   Mary, Mary and Salome left fear behind, because Jesus came to them.  That’s the only way the biography of Jesus won’t frighten you, only if the Lord Himself comes to you, speaking peace:  “Fear not.  Fear not, it is I, death could not hold me, and it will not hold you, because I have risen to share my new life with you.  Fear not, and go and tell my brothers, those frightened 11, hiding in a locked room.  Go and tell them that I am coming to them as well.”     

   The biography of Jesus, the story of His life and death, is frightening because of what it reveals about God.  The Holy, Holy, Holy Lord, who created us and provides for us, was serious when He declared that He hates sin.  Deadly serious.  When Mary’s Son cries out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”, the unbearable weight of God’s moral expectations are most fully revealed. 

   Now, it is true that many people, far too many people, do not believe that Jesus’ biography is true.  Maybe they are too wise and sophisticated to accept a 2,000 year old story, first written on sheep skins.  Maybe they prefer to believe a different religion’s story.  Or maybe they have never heard.  Whatever the case, it is the Church’s task to share the story of Jesus as broadly and as clearly as we can. 

   Because while far too many people disbelieve or ignore it today, one day soon everyone will come to understand that it’s true.  And then they will fear, as they gaze upon the One who was pierced, coming on the clouds, to usher in the new heavens and the new earth.  Then they will see and believe and fear the truth of God’s anger against sin, and sinners, revealed in the Cross of Jesus.  But if their enlightenment doesn’t come before they see Jesus coming on the clouds in glory, it will then be too late to be followed by peace and joy.  The time for faith and salvation is today.  So we work to share this story now. 

   But it’s challenging, because Jesus’ return in glory, and His death, and even His resurrection are terribly fearful things.  They are frightening, unless Jesus comes to you today, to take away your fear, by taking away all your sins.  Jesus came to Mary, Mary and Salome, and to the Eleven, to convert their confusion and fear into faith and joy.  Only the loving voice of the Risen Savior can drive out all fear.  So, Jesus comes to you today to say, “Peace to you, it is I, Jesus.  Do not fear my Father’s anger against your sin, for it is no more.  I have taken it all, for you.  You are forgiven.  You have perfect peace with God, in Me.”     

    Christ is Risen.  He is Risen indeed, Alleluia!  What joy to be gathered with you all here, today, to celebrate the victory, the perfect peace that we have in Jesus Christ, God’s Son, crucified and resurrected, for us.  Nothing can hurt us, not even death itself.  Everything is perfect, even for sinners like us, perfect in Christ Jesus. 

So why do we still fear so much? 

   Precisely because we are still sinners.  We should not fear, for Jesus has won the victory for us, just as He said He would.  We should understand this, because Jesus has told us.  But, our understanding, our confidence, our joy are not yet perfect.  We still struggle against doubt, and sin, and fear.  Every day.  We should not, but we do.  Our faith is not perfected, not yet, and so fear still plagues us. 

   Don’t beat yourself up about your fears, even though they are caused by your sin.  Neither should you just accept your fear, nor should you accept anything else imperfect in your life.  God wants you to have the fullness of joy that comes from holiness.  Don’t accept your fears, nor beat yourself up about them.  Instead, confess them.  Pray to the Holy Spirit that He strengthen your faith and take away your fear. 

And I can even tell you how He will do that:  He will use the biography of Jesus. 

   The world will tell you to conquer your fear by trying harder, by digging deep in your heart and staying positive and disciplining yourself to be brave.  That won’t work.  You can’t drive out fear, nor the imperfections and sins that cause it. 

   The Holy Spirit will not point you to yourself.  Instead, He will take you deeper into the biography of Jesus, into His story, recorded in the Word.  The biography of Jesus, that is to say, the Word of God, is the Spirit’s tool for revealing and delivering the peace of God to you.  He uses the Word of Jesus to calm your fear and relieve your guilt and shame.  For Jesus alone, in His Life, Death, and Resurrection, has faced all our fears, and the evil that causes them.  And He has won that battle, once and for all. 

   This why Jesus Himself is the Peace of God which passes all understanding.  Listen to Him.  Know His love.  Rejoice, for He has claimed you in the water of Holy Baptism, where His Cross and His Resurrection became yours.  Taste and see that He is good.  Christ Jesus will keep you safe, through all the fears of this life, unto life everlasting, life in glory and perfect joy.   

Christ is Risen. He is Risen indeed, Alleluia. 

Fear not, Jesus is your Savior, today, and forever and ever, Amen.