Message on Youth Sunday

May 11, 2025

Thank you again to our kids and youth for being willing to lead us and

share your time and gifts with us. We are so grateful for each of you just as

you are. Usually you aren’t in here when I share a little word and I know

you didn’t have much choice in the matter, but still I am grateful we are all

together.

When I share something, I use ancient words and I have found that these

ancient words are good for any time I want to speak from a certain kind of

place. Some of the adults know it by heart by now so if you are moved, you

are invited to join me in saying Psalm 19. May these words of my mouth

and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Oh God, my Rock and my Redeemer. Amen.

"Even though I walk on this Earth covered in shadows, I am not defined by my fear."

That line that Miko read from the reimagined Psalm 23 really tugged at my heart this week.

What does it mean to be not defined by fear?

I am not defined by my fear.

Do you notice it doesn’t say, that there isn’t fear present? Rather it says

that fear wont’ define us. Sometimes I think we have this idea that we have to wait until fear goes away before we act.

And in this moment when many are living in fear and when fear is being

weaponized, and when it’s easy to feel afraid, how do we not let ourselves

be defined by fear?

What do people do when they are afraid?

Fight. Flight. Freeze. Faun.

And I notice that is starting to happen.

Even with our economy, it’s a retraction. When we are afraid, we hold on.

But I wonder if part of our job always and especially right now as people

committed to love, to caring for other creatures and for our interconnected

life together on planet earth, is to be among the ones who refuse to let our

choices be defined by fear. I think we must refuse to give up on seeing our

destinies as woven together. We refuse to give up on kindness. We refuse

to give up on a story where all belong.

You might already know the story of this holiday, I guess like a lot of origin

stories, there are a couple and one seemed to have paved the way for the

other. In the early 1900’s, 1914 to be exact, President Woodrow Wilson

declared Mother’s Day to be a national holiday and this effort was driven by

the work of Anna Jarvis of Philadelphia who did this because her mom Ann,

went to great lengths to bring soldiers together whose families had been

torn apart by being on different sides in the Civil War.

And long before the official holiday was declared, in the year 1870 Julia

Ward Howe worked to establish what she called a Mother’s Peace Day.

Julia Ward Howe was a prominent abolitionist, feminist, poet, and the

author of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.”

She was focused on freedom. She helped to heal the wounded during the

civil war and worked with the widows and orphans of soldiers on both sides

of the conflict, realizing that the impact of the war would extend far beyond

the battle field. Even when it seemed ridiculous to some, she proclaimed to

anyone who would listen, “rise up through the ashes and devastation.”

At the end of her Mother’s Peace Day Proclamation she wonders if the

women of the world should get together for a special meeting. She wrote,

“In the name of womanhood and of humanity, I earnestly ask that a general

congress of women without limit of nationality may be appointed and held

at some place deemed most convenient and at the earliest period

consistent with its objects, to promote the alliance of the different

nationalities, the amicable settlement of international questions, the great

and general interests of peace.”

“rise up through the ashes and devastation.”

But doing this takes courage. This holiday is about courage and being

brave. It is about speaking truth in times when fear has closed the lips of

many. It is about not allowing being afraid to stop us from doing what is

right and true. It is about daring to ask for peace in a time of war. Even

when that seems ridiculous.

It is always our job to be committed to love, but especially now, it is our job

to refuse to be defined by fear.

What does it look like for you to not be defined by fear?

Beloved of God, let us not be defined by fear. May it be so. Amen.