A homily by the Rt. Rev. Ann Tottenham, Area Bishop of Credit Valley, Diocese of Toronto (Canada), given at the Parish of St. Mary in Palms, Los Angeles, on its Patronal Festival, August 18, 2002,

What a joy to be with you here again! This is my third visit; the first was on the patronal festival in 1999 and I was delighted then to find such a faithful worshipping community. It is sad to say that too few Anglican/Episcopal parishes make prayer and liturgy the priority of their communal life. St. Mary's is a shining example of a parish which is a prayerful community.

Once again we are gathered to honour Mary, the Mother of our Lord, Mary who was the first disciple, the first person to hear the Good News of the Gospel to accept it and proclaim it. Mary is the first to hear that the child she is bearing is to be called "Emmanuel", "God with us".

Mary is our model of discipleship. She lived in such a way as to know the presence of God in her life. She was open to God's grace in the daily round of her life in an obscure village, and because of this openness to God in her ordinary daily life, she was able to hear the extraordinary call of God and to accept it with all her being. " My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour". These beautiful words of Mary's hymn of praise should be on the lips of all disciples as we follow example of Mary, the first disciple.

This morning I want to go back to the beginning of Mary's story and to God's call to the virgin of Nazareth. It is the familiar story of the appearance of Gabriel, the messenger of God who says, "Greetings, favoured one!" Mary, understandably, is perplexed and wonders what is going on Gabriel reassures her, "Do not be afraid, Mary" and continues with his message that she is to bear God's son.

"Do not be afraid". Have you ever noticed how often in the Bible one of God's messengers says, "Fear not" or "Don't be afraid" or something similar? After the resurrection the risen Jesus greets his disciples in the same way. On one level, this is not surprising. An encounter with a heavenly messenger or the risen Jesus would have been a startling, unexpected and even frightening event. On another level, it seems to me that there is more behind "Do not be afraid".

"Fear not" is a message we ourselves need to hear and take to heart. The fact is, we human beings do not function well when we are afraid. Scientists talk about the "fight or flight" reflex of fear that can give us the strength to flee from danger or to defend ourselves. Even at this level of instinct too much fear can render us immobile, not able to function and we speak of being "paralysed with fright".

The heavenly messengers say "do not be afraid" to us because in our fear we can forget that God is with us. Our fears can overwhelm us so that we forget that we are God's children created and redeemed in love. Jesus summarized the Law: to love God with all our heart, soul and mind and our neighbour as ourselves. When we live in fear we can lose sight of this teaching

We human beings tend to be afraid of the unknown and our first response to people who differ from us can be one of suspicion and fear. This fear is at the bottom of the racism, homophobia and discrimination which so pervade our societies. To deal with our fears we objectify and debase those who are different, those whom we perceive as potential threats to us. We use stereotypes and misinformation to make ourselves feel stronger and better than the "other".

We forget that even our enemies are God's beloved children and part of the world .that God so loved that he sent his only begotten Son. The destructive results of this kind of fear can be seen all over our world. Think of the fear of terrorism which can turn us against all Arabs and Muslims, or of the understandable fear of violence in our society which can lead us to focus our anxieties on a particular ethnic or racial group which we then hold responsible for all that is wrong. One of the great paradoxes of life in USA and Canada is our fear of immigration. As immigrants ourselves we live in countries built by immigrants but now we want the doors closed to any further unknown or racially stereotyped newcomers.

Much of the violence and destruction in our world has its origins in fear. When we are afraid of attack from others we often resort to levels of violence which go well beyond self-defence. St. Paul says, "Do not be overcome by evil but overcome evil with good". It is certainly not easy to respond to this teaching , but I can't help wondering, for instance, what might have happened in Afghanistan if even half the money spent on bombing everything to smithereens had been spent on humanitarian aid and building up the country's infrastructure.

In our world and society today there are, of course, good reasons to be afraid. We are vividly reminded of this every time we see a plane which seems to be flying at a lower altitude than usual. The world has always been a dangerous place live and a certain degree of fear, of caution is vital to our survival. A the same time, we cannot allow ourselves to be overcome by the evil of fear.

You may say, "That's all very well, bishop, but fear is a natural human reaction and it is only natural that we respond accordingly". That is precisely the point. As redeemed children of God we are called to go beyond naturally to act supernaturally. Now, by "supernaturally" I don't mean to leap tall buildings at a single bound or to walk on water. I mean to take our natural human response and redeem it by acting supernaturally in the power of God's grace. Our openness to God's grace can enable us to do more than we ever thought possible. God's "power working in us can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine"

It is natural to fear the unknown, the other, the potential threat; it is supernatural to love our neighbours as ourselves. It is natural to retaliate when we are harmed; it is supernatural to overcome evil with good. When we are afraid we become closed-in, self-protective and suspicious. We shut out others and we shut out God. We cannot become the people God created and calls us to be.

When Mary is called by the messenger of God, it would have been natural for her to be afraid and, in fact, we read that she was rather anxious. Her natural response would have been to reject the notion that a country maiden would be called by God. It would have been natural for Mary to have been afraid, to turn away from God.

Instead, she hears the message, "The Lord is with you", and, strengthened by God's grace, is able to say, "Let it be with me according to your word." As the first disciple, Mary shows us that, despite all appearances to the contrary, God is with us and we do not need to be afraid. With God's grace we can rise above our natural fears and do more than we ever thought possible.

These are disturbing and frightening times in our world. As followers of Jesus Christ we are called to live according to God's law of love and not only in our personal, individual lives but also collectively as the Church in the world. Our fearful world is not very receptive right now to ideas about the power of love. In our own lives and in our corporate lives as the Body of Christ we need to stand as a beacon of light amid the darkness of fear.

With Mary the first disciple we say, "My soul magnifies the Lord, and my Spirit rejoices in God my Saviour. Let it be with me according to your word." Amen.