Faith Over Fear: Embracing Courage and Inclusive Love

``What are we going to do? How are we going to respond? Are we going to choose our faith over fear and speak out? I look around, and I see some of you who've been out on Route 1 holding signs and protesting. I see some of you who have helped with food for our siblings who of Hispanic descent. I see so much courage here, but I want to invite you to be courageous, to choose hope, the hope for the future over the fear of the pain in the present, and to stand up to those injustices. If 12 year old Janie can do it, I think we can. Won't you join me? Amen. [01:04:59] (70 seconds)  #FaithOverFear

And here's the beauty that I think we sometimes miss because it's kind of a paradox. When we allow God's love to include others, we ourselves experience a deeper sense of inclusion. And and so it's kind of a paradox because often we think that it's a zero sum game, right, that if I include others, that means there's not gonna be room for me. If I include others, that means that, you know, some of us are gonna have to be kicked out. But, actually, what happens is that when we include others, we ourselves experience a deep sense of inclusion. [00:53:28] (42 seconds)  #InclusionWins

But Janie's life was never the same again. She was bullied by Klan's members, by people in school who were children of Klan's members, and eventually, her family had to move out of Anniston. So, yes, there is a cost, and that's why we're called to be brave because it's not something that's going to be received with joy. People are gonna try to run us off a cliff like they did with Jesus when we invite them to see god's love as including everyone. [01:03:05] (39 seconds)  #CourageAgainstHate

We are in a time when the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act that people back in the sixties fought and died for. And so now there's gerrymandering where any kind of power that African Americans had is gone. They're not being able to be elected. They're not having a voice anymore in our government. We live in a time when today, there is a rally in Washington DC called Rededicate two fifty that is led by white Christian nationalists. We are not Christian nationalists. We believe God's love is for everyone, not just white people in The United States. So we are called to that kind of courage. [01:04:06] (53 seconds)  #FaithNotNationalism

And so, really, to be completely whole as followers of Jesus, we need to do all four of those, and yet it takes courage. So one of the things that Joan Chitister said that has really stuck with me is that in order to embrace this ministry of prophecy, you have to have more hope in the future than you do fear of pain in the present. How many people, when they see, the suffering in this world, just feel overwhelmed, and they run away from it? And as followers of Jesus, we're called to run to it. [00:56:58] (46 seconds)  #HopeOverFear

I had a friend in one of my previous churches who would say to me, you know typically, would say it after I'd been criticized for a sermon. He would say, you know, what we really want you to tell us is that God loves you and don't rob banks. And he said, you know, we all need to hear God loves us, and none of us rob banks, so then we don't have to feel guilty. He said, but instead, you gotta mess with us and tell us that, no, we all need to grow. [00:50:47] (31 seconds)  #PushToGrow

We're called to go into those places where people are hurting. We're called to go into prisons like Jamie did, wherever Jamie is, a couple of weeks ago. She ministered to people who have family members in prison, through Kairos, which is a ministry, I believe, that was started by Sterling Green, who's one of our retired, clergy, started here at Epworth. And so, you know, we're called to go to those places, and it can be very frightening. And yet, that's exactly where Jesus is. And so as followers of Jesus, we wanna go where Jesus is, and Jesus goes where the pain and suffering is happening. [00:57:44] (45 seconds)  #GoToTheHurting

We experience a deeper sense of God's love that says, no. It is so much bigger than we could ever possibly imagine. And so in this this case where Jesus was in his hometown, Jesus chose courage and faith over fear. He decided to challenge his hometown to push them to understand God's love is bigger. And I think that came out of his love for them. Because if he didn't love them, he could have just stopped there and said, okay. Whatever. They're not ready to hear this. [00:54:10] (38 seconds)  #CourageousLove