2025-12-01
Brooke Strong
Sermon Text...
Zechariah and Elizabeth had been praying for decades to conceive a child, but eventually they lost hope. Then one day, as Zechariah was serving in the temple, an angel appeared to him, saying, “Do not be afraid for God has heard your prayer and Elizabeth will bear a child.” But Zechariah, believing they were too old, feared the message couldn’t be true and, as a result of his lack of faith, he was struck mute.
This story resonates with us because so often we too fail to trust God and instead respond in fear. In fact, this response is incredibly common today. In his book, The Witness of Religion in an Age of Fear, my friend and renowned theologian Michael Kinnamon contends that while fear is a normal human response, our society has become saturated with anxiety that is out of proportion to the actual threats we face. He suggests that fear has become the primary lens through which Americans view contemporary events, leading to misperceptions of the world that foster division.
Kinnamon proposes that, as people of faith, we overcome our anxiety and instead help others move beyond a culture of fear that keeps us from missing the astonishing, hopeful things that God is doing to promote a fullness of life for all, including welcoming those who are different from us.
This week’s tragic death of a National Guardswoman, and the critical injury to her fellow guardsman at the hands of a former Afghan soldier who was granted asylum earlier this year, offer an example of the ways that fear can be manipulated.
Numerous reports have definitively shown that immigrant crime rates are far lower than those of US born citizens.
For example, a 2020 report by the National Bureau of Economic Research, a private non-profit organization, showed that immigrants were 60 percent less likely to be incarcerated than those born in the US. The International Rescue Committee, a humanitarian organization founded by Albert Einstein nearly 100 years ago, reports that the chances of being killed by a refugee in the US are roughly one in three billion, making the risk vastly less likely than being struck by lightning. And while a 2021 Justice
Department study showed that prosecutions of immigrants increased between 1990 and 2018, 90 percent of those were for violation of immigration-related laws, not violent crimes.
Despite this data, the administration is using the National Guard shooting as a reason to further crackdown on immigration. While the actions of the shooter are reprehensible, to determine as a result that all asylum applications should be paused and that immigrants from certain countries should possibly have their green cards revoked, is, as Kinnamon suggests, a fear response out of proportion to the actual threat.
The words from our opening hymn offer a wonderful, different way to respond even as they also challenge us. “Come, O long-expected Jesus, born to set your people free. From our fears and sins release us, let us find our rest in thee.” These lyrics raise a number of questions for the church today. How can we offer space for people to be released from fear? Can we offer a place to find rest in God and hope in God’s promises?
If the church is to be the antidote to fear, we need to continue to build a vision of a future based on a love of others, including those who are different from us and those who are most vulnerable. This is crucial to our continued vitality as a recent study showed that churches with high levels of anxiety were in need of renewal while those who refused to depend on anything other than God showed signs of health and vitality.
The angel appeared to Zechariah and told him not to be afraid. This message was both immanent and prophetic. It assured Zechariah that, despite the fact that he was terrified, God was present with him in every moment even as it also urged him to trust God’s promise of a coming child. This extraordinary appearance of the angelic messenger broke into Zechariah’s ordinary life, challenging him to let go of his fear.
While we may not actually see or hear them, these messengers exist among us as well if we pay attention to God’s call to us. Recall that I shared with the children that hope is not a passive state. Rather, we must take active steps to ensure our hopes are realized. Particularly in this time of deep division, we are called to listen to one another carefully and respectfully, seeking to understand others as we want to be understood by them. It is important to focus on issues without questioning the integrity and motives of those who think differently than we do so that we do not react in fear to people who are other to us.
Next Monday evening we have an opportunity to practice these skills as our own Bill Shaul, an ambassador for Braver Angels, offers a mini-workshop on how to stay calm, connected and compassionate when discussing difficult topics with others. I hope you will join us to learn how we can take action to overcome our culture of fear and practice ways that enable us to promote the fullness of life God seeks for all of us.
God’s angel messengers are sometimes portrayed in scripture and religious art as having wings. Similarly, feathers often symbolize the Spirit of God, the ability to span the distance from earth to heaven, and the freedom to fly to new heights in our lives as we claim God’s possibilities for our world.
When you entered the sanctuary this morning, you were given a feather. If you didn’t receive one, they are available in the narthex; be sure to pick one up as you leave. Please take this feather home with you and put it in your pocket or someplace where you will see it regularly. My hope is that it will serve as a reminder to keep your eyes open for God’s messengers in your life, and to be a messenger of hope for others as you encounter them. Friends, my prayer is that during this first week of Advent, you may be tuned into God’s messages of hope around us and among us. Amen.