August 21, 2016 Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost Sermons from The Church of the Covenant Fear Not The Reverend Melanie Marsh Baum Since God had commanded it, it was necessary that I do it. Since God commanded it, even if I had a hundred fathers and mothers, even if I had been a King's daughter, I would have gone nevertheless. ~ Joan of Arc The Church of the Covenant Presbyterian Church (USA) 11205 Euclid Avenue Cleveland, Ohio 44106 CovenantWeb.org
Psalm 71:1 6 1 In you, O LORD, I take refuge; let me never be put to shame. 2 In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me; incline your ear to me and save me. 3 Be to me a rock of refuge, a strong fortress, to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress. 4 Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked, from the grasp of the unjust and cruel. 5 For you, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O LORD, from my youth. 6 Upon you I have leaned from my birth; it was you who took me from my mother s ` Jeremiah 1:4 10 4 Now the word of the LORD came to me saying, 5 Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations. 6 Then I said, Ah, Lord GOD! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy. 7 But the LORD said to me, Do not say, I am only a boy ; for you shall go to all to whom I send you, and you shall speak whatever I command you, 8 Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, says the LORD. 9 Then the LORD put out his hand and touched my mouth; and the LORD said to me, Now I have put my words in your mouth. 10 See, today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to pull down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.
Fear Not I am not afraid I was born to do this. Psalm 71:1 6; Jeremiah 1:4 10 Joan of Arc was just fifteen years old when she led French troops into battle against the English near the end of the Hundred Years War. With no military training, armed with only her nation s standard, and the strength of her belief in the Divine, Joan convinced the crown prince of France to allow her to lead a French army to the besieged city of Orléans. After sending off a defiant letter to the enemy, Joan led several assaults against them, driving the English from their stronghold and forcing their retreat. She was a force of nature. She shook the English legions to their core, and gave her French brothers in arms the strength and courage to upend the century-long siege of their homeland all this without ever brandishing a weapon. It was her words, and her fierce determination to follow what she believed to be a call from God which made her an instant legend. So much so, that over 100 years later, William Shakespeare used her as his inspiration for the fiery young warrior, Joan la Pucelle, in his historical play, Henry VI, Part 1. Shakespeare Historian Nick Walton describes the character of Joan the Maid in this way: Joan becomes the scourge of the English, and she goes to her death committed to her cause, whipping her adversaries with words to the last. When, in 1431 at the age of 19, Joan was captured by the English, tried and condemned to burn at the stake, she did remain defiant to the end. During her imprisonment, she was repeatedly asked by the guards, her fellow prisoners (who were all men), and her inquisitors, why she did not appear to be more afraid, in the face of threats of violence and violation against her person, even in the face of death. Her reply, as simple as it was fierce: I am not afraid. I was born to do this. In this morning s text, we are reminded that God does not call those who are equipped; God equips those who are called. So it is for the young prophet Jeremiah. Like Joan of Arc, Jeremiah seems by all appearances to be an unlikely choice for messenger of God. Bearing the word of God to the people is not a task for the weak or fearful. It comes therefore as no surprise that Jeremiah, like many others before and after him, does not exactly see himself as Prophet
material. He is young, he is not powerful, or wise, or strong. But God has a word for Jeremiah, and a message for him to tell. Once it comes to him, he is compelled to go where it sends him, and speak what God commands. On the verge of the greatest upheaval of his life, God speaks to Jeremiah and says: Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations. Gird up your loins; stand up and tell them everything that I command you. Do not break down before them. I have made you a fortified city, an iron pillar against kings, and princes, priests, and all people of the land. They will fight against you; but they shall not prevail, for I am with you to deliver you. We don t like to hear that what we ve been doing is wrong, even when we know it s wrong. God had made covenant with the people, and the people of God had forgotten their promises. They had forgotten to walk humbly before God. They had forgotten the needs of the poor, the widowed and the orphaned. They pursued power, riches and status. How do you stand before the most intimidating crowd you could ever imagine how do you stand before everyone you respect, and fear, and love, and tell them all the things that they do not want to hear? How do you tell every powerful and important person in your family and your community that what they are doing is wrong, and that God is coming to destroy them? How do you do any of these things, when you are just a boy? God s word to Jeremiah is clear: Do not be afraid. You were born to do this. God put God s own words in Jeremiah s mouth. God walked beside Jeremiah and would not forsake him. In the end, it s not really about Jeremiah at all. The power is in the message, not the messenger. This is why God is able and chooses to use a young a boy, or a fifteen year old peasant girl, or an old man, or a middle aged woman, or a baby born in in poverty to a teenage mother to bring God s message to the world. God makes fortresses and forces of nature out of the ordinary and powerless of humanity. When they speak, even the mightiest of all the nations shall hear them.
Malala Yousafzai is someone who might have seemed ordinary and powerless. She certainly never set out to be a voice for radical activism or to win the Nobel Peace Prize. She just wanted to go to school. But when you re living in Taliban controlled Pakistan, and you re a girl, wanting to go to school is act of such deep subversion, that it could make you some very powerful enemies. It s the kind of thing that could get you killed. As a young girl, Malala attended a school that her father had founded. In September 2008, after the Taliban began attacking girls' schools near her home, Malala gave a speech in the city of Peshawar. The title of her talk was, "How dare the Taliban take away my basic right to education?" She defied the Taliban in Pakistan and demanded that girls be allowed to go to school. On October 9, 2012, a gunman shot Malala in the head when she was traveling home from school. She survived, and continued to speak out on the importance of education. In 2014, Malala was nominated for and won the Nobel Peace Prize, becoming the youngest person ever to receive that honor. The work of the prophet is to call out injustice. The work of the Christian is to learn what we can from the biblical witness and the example of Christ; and take seriously the call we hear from God. If we take this passage seriously, then we must acknowledge the ways in which God is calling each one of us to be prophets. Like Jeremiah and Joan of Arc, we are each called to go where God commands, and to speak the word of God to the people. Like Christ, we are called to look toward the outskirts, the margins, to the places where people are forgotten and humiliated, to reach out and to welcome them back in. Church is the place where the people of God come together in community to figure out this enormous and often daunting thing we understand as calling. It is here where we support one another as we discern where God is leading us. It is here that we ask the difficult questions of ourselves and of each other. It all begins here. In the coming weeks, we will explore together the call God has placed upon us to be here, in this neighborhood, among the people of God in this community. Our call may not be to lead an army in ending an unjust war, or to defy the practices of an unjust government, but writer Sally brown reminds us that there are all kinds of injustice, and many ways to face it, and to call it out. There is injustice right here, not 1,000 miles away, not across town, and there are those sitting here with us each Sunday, who have heard the call to be prophets
in our midst: working to ensure that fair and adequate housing is available to all people in our city, standing up against gun violence, working to ensure a healthy start to life for mothers and babies living in poverty, teaching understanding and cooperation between people of different racial backgrounds, educating the powerful and privileged on how they can work to undo systems that benefit them, but hold others back. There is amazing work happening now, but there is still work to be done. Perhaps this time God is calling you, or me, to bear the Word to the People. Sally Brown writes, Whatever our role in bearing the word into the world today, we should not be surprised to find ourselves involved in confrontation. God yearns over humanity with a love too profound to turn a blind eye to our self-absorption and self-deception, indifference or intolerance. There will be times when the anguish of God claims us for bold word and action. Terry O Connell is a police officer in the small suburban community of New South Wales, near Sydney, Australia. Several years ago, he found himself in the midst of unconventional and unexpected community reconciliation when he chose to make a bold move in the aftermath of the murder of a local teen. O Connell recognized the deep hurt, the anger, guilt, and shame felt by both the family and loved ones of the young victim, Michael Marslew, and by the four perpetrators of the crime and their families. He wondered what would happen if everyone affected were able to sit face to face with one another, around a circle, and speak openly and honestly about what they were feeling, and how this senseless crime had affected their lives. When the time came for the group to meet, O Connell was terrified. How could he have ever thought it was a good idea to bring a mother and a father together with the murderers of their son, convicted felons and their families with the family and friends of their victims? Who was he to stand before these people and facilitate civil conversation about what was arguably the single most devastating moment in their lives? But he did it. And it worked. For eight hours, the group sat together, sometimes in silence, sometimes in tears, each expressing anger, and hatred, sorrow, and regret. Slowly, slowly, they began to see one another as people. I won t say that all of the pain and trauma magically went away for the people who gathered for this conversation, but something happened that day. The work of reconciliation was begun, because of the bold
action of one ordinary man, who brought a message of restorative love to people in pain. Our call feels daunting, filling us with equal parts awe, humility, and absolute terror. We do not feel like prophet material. The good news is, that God has been making us ready for this call for a long time. The God who is active and disruptive, the God who sends the powerless and the voiceless, the too young and the too old, and the unimportant ones to bring the word of God and the love of God to the people is sending us with a message. God formed us and knew us before we were born, and knows what power lies within us for bold word and action, just as we are. God knows full well what we are capable of, and so God calls us: You and me and each one of us, to bold words, to fearless actions, to call out injustice, and to call in those who have been made outsiders. We must not be afraid. We were born to do this. Amen.