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Without Fear                        Matthew 10: 26-27                   June 22, 2008

This past Wednesday evening, as your Synod delegates waited for a bus to take us to our opening dinner, a very impressive thunderstorm blew through the Lehigh Valley. It was one of those storms that seemed to shake the earth; with thunderclaps so loud your ears were ringing.

The storm didn't last very long, and as far as I know there was no damage done, but as we stood and listened and counted the seconds between the sight of the lightening and the sound of the thunder, I was reminded of a story I recently read.

It goes like this: As a mother was tucking her five-year-old daughter into bed during one of those earth-shaking summer thunderstorms, the little girl asked, "Mommy, will you please sleep with me tonight? I'm scared of the thunder and lightning." The mother reassured her, but kindly and firmly refused the little girl's request.

"But why won't you sleep with me?" the girl asked with tears welling up in her eyes.

"Because Daddy wants me to sleep with him," the mother explained.

At that, the little girl shook her head in disgust and muttered, "That big chicken!" *

A little bit earlier, we heard another story. It went like this:

As he begins the process of sending the disciples out to do their mission work, Jesus tells them, "Have no fear, for nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known. What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops."

If we look at the whole text of that story, particularly the passage that precedes the one we read this morning, we see that it is not surprising that Jesus felt the need to comfort his disciples with the words, "Have no fear."

It's not that they were "big chickens," as the little girl in the story describes her father. No, Jesus comforts his friends that day because he knows that his call to them to proclaim the good news of the Kingdom of God is a tall order indeed.

You see, just before the statement that we read as our Gospel text for today, Matthew tells us that Jesus described just how tall the order would be.

"I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves," he said to the disciples, "so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. They will hand you over to councils and flog you in their synagogues; and you will be dragged before governors and kings because of me."

It gets even worse: "Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death; and you will be hated by all because of my name."

Put yourself, for a moment, in the disciples place. At that point in Jesus' speech, you can imagine that the beads of perspiration were beginning to accumulate on the their foreheads as their hearts began to race. At the very least, some of them must have been thinking, or perhaps even saying, "wait a minute, this is not what I signed up for."

But then Jesus tells them, "Don't be afraid, go out and shout everything I have taught you from the rooftops. Don't be afraid, live the Gospel."

And, as we know, the disciples did that very thing. They may have had everything to fear, but they took Jesus at his word and chose to go out and preach. To live the life of Jesus without being afraid.

Our congregation, as a part of the Eastern District of the Moravian Church, is about to embark on a period we who were delegates of Synod heard described, again and again, as "the next intersynodal period."

That's church-speak, by the way, for "the next four years." And during those four years we, the members of First Moravian Church, along with the members of the 51 other congregations in our District, are challenged by our Synod - and more importantly, challenged by our Lord - to do just what Jesus told his disciples to do when he summoned them together and gave them their marching orders.

"Proclaim the good news that the kingdom of heaven has come near," Jesus tells us. "Practice hospitality, practice healing and speak the truth about justice and peace to those in power." "In short, live your life as I have lived mine."

"And remember this," he concludes, "I do not take this lightly. If you acknowledge me before others then I will acknowledge you before God. But if you deny me - if you fail to do as I ask - I will deny you as well."

Strong words. Actually, there are lots of strong words in our text for today. Scary words. They remind us that our task, as Christians, is not child's play. That being the church is serious business.

And sometimes that serious business is daunting. Even frightening. Big chickens, we might think, need not apply.

Fortunately, though, even those of us who are sometimes big chickens can also take comfort in Jesus words and realize that we can carry out our mission without fear -

• Without fear that we will fail,
• Without fear that God will turn away from us,
• And, as we who participated in our Synod are particularly aware and as we are most pleased to report to you today, we can carry out our mission encouraged by the knowledge that we are not alone. That we are privileged to be a part of a church - a body of Moravians - who share our commitment to Christ and our commitment to walking, each day, in Christ's footsteps.

In fact, that may just be the most important reason we send delegates to Synod every four years. So that we are reminded that we have a shared vision, a shared mission. So that we are reminded that we are part of a Unity that stretches far beyond this local community. So that we are reminded that we are a part of a church family that is prepared to work together to proclaim the good news of God's great love - fearlessly, from housetops that are literally all over the world.

Oh, and one more thing. Synod is also an opportunity for Moravians to gather together and do something that we Moravians do really well. Sing. And sing we did. We sang old hymns and new hymns, familiar hymns and not-so familiar hymns.

And we sang one hymn in particular. The theme song for our Synod and, I would suggest, a good theme song for our congregation as well.

So, I'd like to suggest that we sing that hymn, now, in place of the closing hymn that is listed in our order of service. You can find the words printed on the white insert that was tucked into your bulletin.

Please stand if you're able, now, and join me in singing, "We all are one in mission, we all are one in call. Our varied gifts united by Christ the Lord of all."

We All Are One In Mission *

We all are one in mission, we all are one in call,
Our varied gifts united by Christ the Lord of all
A Single, great commission compel us from above
To plan and work together that all may know Christ's love.

We all are called for service to witness in God's name.
Our ministries are diff'rent, our purpose is the same:
To touch the lives of others by God's surprising grace
So ev'ry folk and nation may feel God's warm embrace.

We all behold one vision, a stark reality:
The author of salvation was nailed upon a tree.
Yet resurrected Justice gives rise that we may share
Free reconciliation and hope amid despair.

                                                                             AMEN

* From a sermon by H. Michael Brewer, published in Lectionary Homiletics, Volume XIX, number 4
** CCLI Song #918892 1986 Hope Publishing Company Dale Wood Rusty Edwards

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