One night while Paul was in Corinth, the Lord said to him in a vision, “Do not be afraid.” (Acts 18:9)

“Do not be afraid!”  My sisters and brothers in Christ, we have a lot going on in today’s world—economic struggles, pandemic stress, discord and anger amongst our community, friends, and family over the virus and the response to it, openings/closings of schools/businesses, 90,000+ Americans dead from the virus, pay cuts, furloughs, layoffs, unemployment, worries about whether you’ll get to play your favorite sport this summer or fall, and the list goes on.  But, Jesus and the inspired words of Scripture are persistent in this one message, “do not be afraid!”  We hear it today from Jesus to Paul, from Jesus to the Apostles, in the Psalms, throughout the Old Testament, in the teachings of the early Church, and in the teachings of our modern faith leaders.  Be not afraid!  Jesus, God the Father, and God the Holy Spirit are here for you—to carry you, to strengthen you, to guide you, to bring you peace, to heal our divided world, to instruct us, to open our hearts and minds, and we need not fear our eternity because God is at our side!  We can be cautious, we can be wise, we can be calm, we can be reasonable, but we needn’t be fearful for God is with us!  Amen!