Sermons

The Courage to Be in the Face of Fear
All Saints Sunday 2007
The Very Rev. Tracey Lind
The Very Rev. Tracey Lind
November 4, 2007

In our Hebrew Scripture reading, one of the great saints of God—Daniel of lion's den fame—received a vision from an angel of the Lord in which he was instructed, "Do not fear...Be strong and courageous." (Daniel 10:19) With faith and confidence, Daniel was able to overcome the fear of losing himself to a foreign land with foreign gods, and instead not only found the courage to survive exile in Babylon but to serve in its royal court with his integrity intact.

Over the course of human history, much has been said and written about these strange bedfellows – fear and courage. Author Mark Twain wrote, "Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear – not absence of fear."¹ Senator John McCain wrote, "Courage is...the capacity to act despite our fears."² News anchor Dan Rather once said, "Courage is being afraid but going on anyhow." Silent screen actress Dorothy Bernard remarked, "Courage is fear that has said its prayers." Morgan Freedman in the film Evan Almighty said, "When you pray for courage, God gives you an opportunity to act courageously."

When I think about the saints of God, the words fear and courage often come to mind. Many of the saints we remember in the church's calendar overcame their fear through prayer in order to face the opportunities that God provided for them to act with courage. Whether it was bearing the Christ Child into the world, preaching in the face of the emperor, trading places in a concentration camp, sitting down in the front of the bus, or leading a nonviolent revolution, over the millennia, the saints of God faced persecution, trials, torture, rejection, expulsion, loneliness, misunderstanding, resentment, failure, imprisonment, and even death. And yet, they persisted. They walked through their fear with courage, and left the world richer for their presence and perseverance.

These courageous women and men weren't all famous. As the author of Ecclesiasticus reminds us: "There are some of them who have left a name, so that others declare their praise. And there are some who have no memorial, who have perished as though they had not lived..."(Sirach, 44:8)

One of the most profound portraits of the intersection of fear and courage is Stephen Crane's 19th century novel The Red Badge of Courage. Henry Fleming, a young soldier in the Civil War, joined the Union Army with the romantic notion that he would heroically return from battle either with his shield in hand or lying dead on his shield. However, when faced with the reality of war, he ran away from the front line into the woods where he encountered a band of wounded soldiers and thus felt ashamed of his cowardly desertion. Over and over again, they would ask about his wound, and he had nothing to show for it. Upon seeing encountering all these wounded soldiers and seeing at least one of them die, Henry began to honestly face the truth; and after acknowledging his fear and shame, he returned to battle and fought with extraordinary bravery. Over the course of the novel, this young soldier allowed the mistakes and failings of his past to mark his character with integrity; he acted courageously in spite of his fear; and he returned home from the war having "touched the great death," and thus no longer needing "a red badge of courage" to wear upon his chest.

Most of us (whether we like or not) are more like Henry than we are Daniel. We are more likely to run from danger than meet it head-on. But once in a while, we find in ourselves what Henry Fleming discovered and what philosopher Paul Tillich once called "the courage to be."³ It is the courage to face ourselves, our limitations, and our sins with honesty and humility, to accept ourselves in spite of being unacceptable, and to receive the unconditional and unearned love of God. It is confidence (or faith) in a personal encounter with the Divine that gives one the courage to be oneself in spite of one's human flaws and failings.

This kind of courage comes from believing that in God all things are possible, that your life is accepted for what it has been, what it is, and what it will be—with all of its hope and promise. It is courage that results from faith in the promise of resurrection— that out of brokenness comes wholeness, out of fear comes courage, out of failure comes a chance to start-over, and out of death comes new life.

I am convinced that this courage is a gift from none other than God's very own self. It was this divine gift that gave Daniel the courage to face hungry lions. It was this divine gift that provided Jesus the strength to die on a cross. It was this divine gift that gave Paul the conviction to proclaim that "neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God..." (Romans 8:38) It was this divine gift that gave Henry Fleming the courage to return to battle. This courage rooted in God and manifest in Jesus has enlivened our spiritual ancestors throughout the ages, both famous and unknown.

My friends, the saints really are folks like you and me—living ordinary lives, walking through ordinary fears, and garnering the courage through the love of God to do extraordinary things. Each of us is given the opportunity to change the world by just having the courage to be in spite of our fears. It is the resolve to love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who abuse you. It is the generosity to give away your coat or even your shirt, or to share with everyone who begs from you. It is the commitment to turn the other cheek and do to others as you would have them to do to you. It is the willingness to trust the Holy Spirit in spite of the odds.

For as Audre Lorde reminds us: "When [we] dare to be powerful, to use [our] strength in the service of [our] vision, then it becomes less and less important whether [we are] afraid." So my friends, when you afraid, say your prayers, and expect God to give you the courage needed for whatever you have to face, today, tomorrow and then some. And let the people say, Amen!

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¹Mark Twain, Pudd'nhead Wilson's Calendar, 1894

²John McClain, "In Search of Courage," Fast Company, September 2004, p. 56

³Paul Tillich, The Courage to Be (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1952), 155-190.