Do Not Be Afraid

Have you ever thought of the words, “Do not be afraid” as a blessing? Autumn is here, a new season, new program endeavors (school, church, etc.), new harvest, the blanket of cooler weather arriving to rest the earth, new dying to new beginning. I decided to post this blessing on my blog so it may continue to be a blessing for me and for you. I wrote it after being invited to provide a blessing for students, faculty, and staff during the Opening Convocation at The Iliff School of Theology. Often when I sermonize, or prepare for blessings and prayer, I ponder the yearnings in my own heart. I recalled my own visceral emotions from being a new student in graduate school, and asked myself what I would have liked to have been blessed with as a beginning seminarian. 

I also recalled what one of my dear mentors, Rev. Greer said as he commented about my first sermon that I gave in my ordaining congregation. Knowing me well, he could see how I had preached from a vulnerable place. “[Sermons] are not only windows for others into the ancient stories of our faith tradition. They are windows into ourselves. Good preaching, in my humble opinion, speaks as much of, and to, the soul of the preacher as it does to the souls of those listening.” This is what he called preaching with integrity. When I preach, bless, write, pray, lead, it comes from my own sacred space of wonder, infused with Spirit to whom I call upon with open heart, mind, and body. Where do your thoughts and prayers take you? Is it to a place of head or heart? Is it to a place of attachments, or freedom? Do you take risks in response, or remain comforted by the same wineskins unable to receive fresh wine? (Mk. 2:22) 

It is easy to fall into fear when something new presents itself. My teacher, in the Benedictine Spiritual Formation Program, used to greet us, encourage us, and send us out with the all important reminder to not be afraid. Fear is an unfortunate, driving force in much of our world, even in some religious circles, and it warps and shadows the light of release, vulnerability, possibility, and willingness to listen and to change. Brene Brown, a research professor and writer, talks about people who have a profound capacity for joy, and how they can lean into vulnerability because of it. (I quoted her in my first sermon by the way!) She explained that being joyful is vulnerable because we tend to go straight to how that joy might be taken away. Fear sneaks in, and we imagine what might go wrong instead. I think this falls inline with new beginnings as well. She said that people who “soften into joy” (or, as I would add, begin something new, or courageously begin to change) instead of using a blissful moment as a “warning to start practicing disaster, they used it as a reminder to practice gratitude.”

While the context of the following words are within a seminary of new/seasoned students and professors embarking on a new year of academic studying, teaching, and reciprocal learning, may these words also be a blessing in whatever newness you find yourself in. The running theme is a blessed reminder to not be afraid. (Is. 44:8, 54:4, 51:7, Acts 18:9, Joshua 10:25, Jeremiah 46:27, 30:10, Zech. 8:15, Lk. 12:4, Mt. 28:10, 14:27, Mk. 5:36, Jn 14:25, and so on…you get the point…I could go on and on. The words “Do not fear”, “Do not be afraid”, “Fear not” are all over the sacred scriptures, and for good reason…and for a blessing):