August 10, 2025
• Rev. Dr. Rob Fuquay
St. Luke’s UMC
August 1, 2025
Faith in the Real World
Reclaiming the Church’s Prophetic Voice:
On Fear
Zechariah 2:10-11; 3:10; 7:8-10
We are in a series called Faith in the Real World. We have done this for a number of years, but usually we bring in guests, people of some recognition, to talk about what it means to practice their faith in their contexts. This year we are focusing on ourselves, and what it means to practice faith in the real issues of our world. We are focusing on some of the tough challenges going on around us right now. Last week we discussed hate. This week we look at fear.
We are using three of the minor prophets to help us. I pointed out last Sunday how prophets served an important role in the history of Israel. They weren’t so much predictors of the future as interpreters of the times. Prophets brought God’s word to bear on issues of concern in the day. So wherever we got the idea that church is no place for politics, it definitely didn’t come from the Bible. The call of the people of God has always been to serve as a witness to God’s will in the structures that shape our societies.
Something else to point out today about the prophets is their message. Of all the writings of the prophets, you could sum up what they addressed in two words: Apostasy and Injustice. They dealt with unfaithfulness to God and inequities among people. Those were not separate issues. They were two sides of the same coin. The reason faith in God was so important and things like idolatry were such a concern, is because of the way our faith is supposed to translate to our treatment of people.
Consider this verse from the Torah, “You must not worship the Lord your God the way the other nations worship their gods, for they perform for their gods every detestable act that the Lord hates. They even burn their sons and daughters as sacrifices to their gods.” (Deuteronomy 12:31 NLT) The reason apostasy matters to God is because the way we treat each other matters to God.
So today we consider what faith means in a world threatened by fear of others. Prayer…
Jack Groppel is a human performance coach who works with top atheletes to help them perform at their maximum. Often that means helping athletes overcome fears that impede their performance. He has a camp in Florida where atheletes and teams come to do exercises and trainings. I heard Groppel speak years ago. He told the story about working with a group of NFL linemen. One day they did an exercise with a cler mission. They were to jog a mile down a dirt road and eventually reach a white fence. Their mission was simple, tough the white fence and return. “But,” he explained, “you might encounter some alligators. They’re not aggressive, but give them their space. Also, poisonous snakes sometime sun themselves on the road. Avoid them.” Then right before they started he said, “Oh, I almost forgot, a wild boar has been spotted on the property. Now gentlemen, be very careful if you see this boar. Its huge. It has razor sharp teeth and boars are known to be very aggressive. If you see one, be ready to take appropriate action. So then, he sent them off.
Now, down the road, a person was hiding out in a bush. When the linemen got close, he was told to shake the bush and make a pig sound. They caught this on camera. Take a look…
Fear is often based on influences more than realities, and fear determines our responses which determine realities.
No wonder that fear down through history has been turned into a tool, a device people use to preserve or determine the realities they want to create. For instance, historian Henri Frankfort points out that shortly before the the time the Egyptians enslaved the Israelites, a former enemy invaded Egypt posing a great threat to the nation. After this threat had been long removed, rulers of Egypt realized they could keep building on that fear to keep public support for policies of the Pharoah. So you wonder how much that played a part in a policy like the subordination of the Jews?
The Roman Empire used fears like “the barbarians at the gate,” to consolidate the power of the emperor. Nero even set Rome on fire to give the appearance that there were enemies within, thus entrenching his own power. Russians built a campaign of fear toward Chechnya to win support for waging a war. You could argue that they are doing this with Ukraine as well. Americans used fear toward the native Americans to support efforts to control and limit their rights. Here in Indiana, where the third wave of the Klu Klux Klan started, fear was used in a similar way. Some say their campaign gained support not so much by building fear of black Americans, but immigrant populations from Europe that were flooding into the midwest at the turn of the 20th century. The Klan gained support through fear of these people as a threat to the American way of life. In the 1920’s city leaders even adopted the slogan for Indianapolis as “The 100% American Town.”
Fear can be a powerful tool especially when directed at people perceived to be a threat. And when it is reinforced over and over again, it becomes a reality for us.
Kylee Larson will be preaching this sermon in a couple weeks at Midtown, shared a quote and a story with me. The quote comes from Josh Riddick who said that when we hear stories meant to stoke fear we should ask, Who told this story? Why did they tell it? And who might benefit from this story?
Then Kylee told about a woman she knows who has become very afraid of migrant workers. There’s a large population of migrants where she lives. One day she was conducting a Yard Sale. A van of migrant workers pulled and began looking at clothes and other things they might purchase. She became so afraid, she went into her garage, closed the door and called the neighbor.
When asked if she had ever had a bad experience with a migrant neighbor, she said no. When asked if she knew any migrants, she did not. When asked why she was so afraid, she wasn’t sure.
Fear is a powerful determiner of how we interpret reality and therefore the realities we form. So how do we resist fear and form better, more hopeful realities?
Let’s look at the prophet Zechariah. He was one of the 12 minor prophets in the Old Testament who lived in the second half of the 6th century BCE. There are important statements in his writings, several that foretell of events in Jesus’ life like:
“See, your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on a donkey…” (Zech. 9:9) That predicts Palm Sunday.
And this verse fortelling of Jesus betrayal by Judas:“ Then the Lord said to me, “Throw it into the treasury”—this lordly price at which I was valued by them. So I took the thirty shekels of silver and threw them into the treasury in the house of the Lord.” (11:13)
One of my favorite verses in Zechariah is 6:4, “Not by might, nor by power, but my spirit says the Lord.”
Zechariah is full of rich, encouraging, hopeful statements, But the most radical statements are the ones we heard in our scripture reading this morning:
“Many nations will be joined with the Lord in that day and will become my people.” (Zech. 2:11)
And this:
“Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. Do not plot evil against each other.” (7:9-10)
I call these words radical because of the context in which Zechariah spoke them. Zechariah was addressing the exiles returning to Jerusalem. In 586BCE, Jerusalem was conquered by the Babylonians and led away as prisoners. Some 50 years later Persia conquered Babylon and this began a period of return for the Jews.
They came home having experienced the shame and pain of being assaulted and abused by a foreign power and removed from everything familiar to them. Now that they were home again, nationalistic pride kicked in. People busied themselves with building a wall around Jerusalem. Kicking out outsiders. Removing foreign threat. In that context Zechariah tells people not to oppress foreigners and see that they receive justice, and he even offers a vision of future hope that includes all nations.
I can imagine listeners saying, “I was with you Zechariah until you got to the end of your sermon and you lost me there.” And Zechariah would have said, “Exactly! You lost this part of your call. You don’t mind me saying do a better job of looking after each other and protecting your own, but that’s not why you’re here. God put you here to be an example of his mercy to the world.
Zechariah reminded them of what the Torah said. In the Holiness Code of the book of Leviticus it reads, “Do not take advantage of foreigners who live among you in your land. Treat them like native-born Israelites, and love them as you love yourself. Remember that you were once foreigners living in the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.” (Leviticus 19: 33-34)
Scholars point out that this was one of the distinctive features of Israelite culture at the time. Not only was Israel different from other nations because they believed in one God and practiced strict codes of holy living, they went so far as to provide fair and equal treatment of foreigners. No other nation talked about treating foreigners like native-born citizens. Zechariah simply reminded people of what they already believed. Protecting the rights of foreigners as much as their own was not optional. It was part of what it means to be holy.
But now they had to deal with fear. Fear based on a past reality, but fear also stoked and spread by those who would use it as a tool to convince people that its okay to neglect part of their call to holy living.
So what does it mean for us to practice holy living in a time when its easy to fear those different from us? William F. Allman, writing back in the early 1990’s when we were at war with Iraq, which is ancient Babylon by the way, and there was lots of speculation among Christians that this was all a sign of Armeggedon, he said,
In a way…Armegeddon scenarios contain a grain of truth. The world is a very dangerous place and has always been…Ultimately the allure of the Apocalypse may be in the very human trait of wanting simple solutions to complex problems. For some, it might be easier to make the single, big decision to abandon one world for the next than to make the countless, smaller, tougher choices necessary to make this one better. (James Harnish, God Isn’t Finished With Us Yet, p103)
How do we do that as United Methodists here in Indiana? What are the choices necessary for us to make this world better? We certainly live in a time when there are lots of fears directed at others, particularly immigrants. This week it was announced that the Miami Correctional Facility here in Indiana will add a 1,000 beds to house people detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement who the government said will be “the worst of the worst.” In one sense who wouldn’t support a program that gets the worst of people off the streets? That’s for the betterment of our society.
But subtly what a thought like that does is make us believe that there are at least a thousand folks around us who are really bad people, who are a threat to us, who look like people from another country. And without consciously realizing it, fear gets formed.
Not only that, could there be a chance that in rounding up this thousand people, some could be grabbed up who are not bad? Who, in fact, are good people. Innocent people. Could we end up doing wrong while pursuing a good end?
What can we do? One thing is to get informed about immigration matters. But don’t depend on CNN or Fox News. Visit places like The Immigrant Welcome Center or Exodus Refugee Immigration. Both are downtown. You might even volunteer there to learn upclose the stories and experiences of immigrants. Why they came to this country. What its like living here right now as an immigrant.
Another way is perhaps to contact our political representatives. Ask for fair and just measures in carrying out deportations. Rounding up known violent criminals is one thing. But taking parents from children and separating families is another. Let them know that this is a matter of holiness according to our faith, that we are to treat the foreigner like a native born resident. This is in our holy writings.
Finally, picture being a part of a future community that doesn’t look just like yourself. This is what Zechariah did. He said, “‘In that day each of you will invite your neighbor to sit under your vine and fig tree,’ declares the Lord Almighty.” (3:10) The vine and fig tree image is one of comfort and security where the people will live in their own homes again and safe. But notice the verse picturing this future doesn’t say you will have these things. It says you will invite your neighbor to join you. Did you realize that less than half of the population of Marion County is white? So no matter what our race or nationality is, many of our neighbors look different from us. Our neighbors include all.
Zechariah invites us to picture a future like this. If fear has a way of becoming reality for us, what if hope works the same way? What if imagining people different from us as being people who can help us build a safe, better future? People on whom we depend to do that? What if hope can become a reality?
What is one thing we can do to live into that future? What can it mean for you to invite your neighbor to sit under your vine and fig tree?
I invite you to carry that question in your heart.
Let me close with this. Another Carver McGriff story. You’ve probably heard this one. When Carver went to serve in World War 2 in Normandy, there were three Mexican Americans in his unit. Carver didn’t like them. He’d never been around Mexicans before. They looked different. Spoke a different language and stuck to themselves. Carver didn’t care for them, until he was wounded in battle. Bullets were flying overhead. And suddenly Carver felt these strong arms wrap around him and someone said, “Its okay, we’re gonna get you outta here.” It was the Mexican Americans.
That experience changed Carver. He realized he could never look down on anyone. That he depended on everyone. It not only shaped his life but his ministry. He wanted to lead a church that treated all people like that. That’s what we are doing here today. We can’t be unconcerned about the treatment of some in our land just because they aren’t citizens. We must care about everyone. Because that’s what God would have us do. We must be people of faith not fear.
Let us pray…