Sermon - 8-7-22

<p>This last week during Bible School, we learned about the story of the Good Samaritan, what it means to be a good neighbor, and how we are to love others even if they are very different from us.  And on Wednesday, we focused on perfect love that casts out fear, the perfect love of God, that enables us to look at people who are different from us and <strong>not</strong> fear them.</p> <p>Yes, do not fear!  We need to hear this message which is also found in our gospel reading for today because one of the realities of present day twenty-first century life is that fear and anxiety seem to increasingly shape our lives.  All we need do is look at the mass shootings that happen on a weekly basis or think about the past 2 ½ years of COVID and the anxiety that has grown in people’s lives due to isolation and fear of this virus.  And think about climate change.  If we take an honest look at the facts, the science and the statistics, while thinking about the growing threat of a changing climate, it is daunting, and we cannot but feel a sense of fear.  The twenty-four-hour-a-day newsfeed instills all kinds of fear in people’s lives. The newsfeed communicates political voices spewing forth rhetoric that incites fear, especially fear of others.  Quite frankly, fear seems to be a driving force in too much of present campaign rhetoric.  There is fear of terrorism – both foreign and domestic, fear of a volatile economy and our financial situations, fear of unemployment, war, hunger, poverty, homelessness, disease, and death.  The effect these forms of fear have on our culture and our lives at times seems overwhelming. </p> <p>Consequently, I think many of us have deep concerns and ask questions like:</p> <ul> <li>How might I live in order to know that I am safe and secure?</li> <li>Where is <strong>the</strong> place of security for me and those I love?</li> </ul> <p>In the depth of these concerns, we desperately need to hear the words Jesus is speaking in Luke’s gospel.  Into our fear, across centuries of human experience, Je