Fear and Fear

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

On Saturday, 4 March 1933, Franklin Delano Roosevelt took office as President of the United States. Shortly after taking the oath of office, Roosevelt delivered his first inauguration speech, one that has come to be iconic of America rhetoric. He said:

This is preeminently the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly. Nor need we shrink from honestly facing conditions in our country today. This great Nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper. So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. In every dark hour of our national life a leadership of frankness and vigor has met with that understanding and support of the people themselves which is essential to victory.

Roosevelt took office in the midst of one of the great crises of American history.

The Cost of Peace

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

“I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.” That sounds like something out of the mouth of a warlord or a conqueror. Something to strike fear into the hearts of those faced with the point of that sharp sword. A message of death and destruction. One certainly does not expect to hear such words from the Prince of Peace. Yet that is what our Lord says.

The world likes the baby Jesus. That Jesus is easy to handle. You can picture Him nursing at His mother's breast. You can imagine Him crying in the stable, under the watchful eye of the cattle and sheep. The world loves to sing carols like “Silent Night” and “Away in a Manger”. This Jesus is easy to deal with because He is cute and cuddly and inoffensive.