I was standing in line for the flume ride on a hot summer day a couple years ago at an amusement park in central Pennsylvania, when a very happy Saturday suddenly turned sour.  There was some confusion between a few people in front of us in line.  After a couple tense moments, it seemed they got it worked out.  But then, one of the men involved felt he needed to get in the last word.  Actually, they were last words.  Mean words.  Words said by a white man, in hatred, toward a person of color.  And I am ashamed to say, those mean words were the last words.  I am sure I was not the only person standing in that line who was offended by what I heard.  But none of us spoke up.  We let the mean words hang in the air, while the man of color and his young son hung their heads, shuffled in place, and looked ashamed.Thinking back on that day, I feel the contrast between the last words spoken in that situation, and Jesus’ last words spoken to his disciples, deep in my being.  The very last thing Jesus said before he ascended into heaven is recorded in Acts chapter 1, verse 8.  “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”  I’m pretty sure when Jesus talked about his followers being witnesses to the ends of the earth, that included amusement park waiting lines.  But standing there that day, I was anything but a witness.  The mean words I heard went against everything I believe in.  But I felt powerless to challenge them.  I did not have the courage to speak up.  I was afraid.I realize now that everyone involved that day was afraid.  The people of color were afraid to assert themselves in the midst of a predominantly white crowd.  Onlookers like me were afraid to assert themselves in the face of such hatred.  I believe the man who said the mean words was also afraid.  He was afraid because his world was changing.  What used to be a completely homogenous hamlet in central Pennsylvania was now becoming a place of diversity.  Instead of that being a source of pride or excitement, that was a source of competition and confusion.  The man spoke with his mouth what was in his heart:  fear that he didn’t have what it takes to stay on top in a rapidly changing world.Christians gather for worship in front of an empty cross because we believe that God has the power to redeem every loss.  We mount crosses to the top of our steeples to proclaim that God has the power to bring light and life from even the darkest and deadliest days.  Even now.  This pandemic year has brought to us a lot of darkness and death.  But it has also been, miraculously, a year that has brought us light.  It has shed new light on our old lives, helping us see just how vulnerable we are. And what has been revealed, is that we are a deeply afraid people.  That is why our memory verse for this month is John 16:33.  “I have told you these things so that you can have peace in me.  In this world you will have trouble.  But be brave! I have defeated the world!”  Have peace?  Be brave?  Easier said than done, right?  It’s too bad Jesus didn’t say, “Go ahead and be afraid.  Worry, it’s good for you!  Be anxious, that’s the ticket!”  If Jesus would have said that, many of us would be passing our Discipleship 101 course with flying colors!          But Jesus did not command, or even encourage, us to be paralyzed by fear.  Before his death, Jesus told his disciples to take courage.  On that first Easter evening, the very first words out of Jesus’ mouth were, “Peace be with you.”  And Jesus’ very last words were similarly convicting.  You will receive power.  You will be my witnesses.  Not just here in Jerusalem, although that would be a feat in and of itself.  You will be my witnesses all over the world, even to the ends of the earth.    Just as Jesus called those first disciples to be witnesses to the power of God’s creative and redeeming love, Jesus calls every generation of disciples to be witnesses to the power of God’s creative and redeeming love.  Jesus calls us to continue the work of defeating the world so that earth will look more like heaven.  In order to complete the requirements of Discipleship 101, we will need lots of tools, including scripture, prayer, and worship.  We talk about those things a lot.  But to be faithful disciples, we will also need courage. Without it, we will stay stuck and not be able to follow Jesus into our next step. A couple weeks ago, on Maundy Thursday, about twenty-five people gathered in Lima Church’s parking lot for a fireside communion service.  We finished our service by singing an old camp song, “They’ll Know We Are Christians by Our Love.”  When we got to the line that says, “And we’ll guard each one’s dignity, and save each one’s pride,” I felt frozen in place with the weight of my amusement park memory from a couple summers ago.  I did nothing to guard the dignity and pride of the man and his son who were the object of the racial slur.  As I stood by the fire, the feeling of guilt was so uncomfortable, if it weren’t for the fact that I was in charge of the worship service, I might have gone home!  But I was surrounded by brothers and sisters in Christ.  I was surrounded by encouragement and grace.  I felt God’s love, so I stayed put.  And as I settled into the reality of my situation, I felt all the stiffness and sadness in me soften.  I felt forgiven and restored.But guess what happened next?  In that moment of closeness with God, another memory came to mind.  An older memory, of a time when Phil and I were involved in a church, and we noticed one of the members had a Confederate flag sticker on the bumper of his truck.  Week after week we walked past this sticker in the church parking lot, we were bothered by this sticker, we talked about this sticker with each other.  But it never occurred to us to talk to the owner of the truck about his sticker.  He was a volunteer firefighter, a hard worker, a “good guy”.  Everyone liked him.  So we never told him how that flag sticker made us feel uncomfortable.  How we felt offended by it.  How we wondered if he would consider praying about that sticker and possibly replacing it with something else.  We never said a word to him, and honestly I had forgotten all about it.  Until suddenly, on Maundy Thursday, the night when we think so much of Judas’ betrayal, I felt for the first time the weight of my own betrayal in that situation years ago.  Once again, I had failed to be a witness. But once again, I felt surrounded by a community, a community of fellow struggling witnesses.  I felt surrounded by truth and grace, and instead of words of condemnation, I heard words of calling.  I felt God saying to me, “Dorry, that was in the past.  But what would you do about that now?  Will you guard each one’s dignity, and save each one’s pride NOW?” I could hear God loud and clear.  The clarity of that message on Maundy Thursday gave me the courage to preach this message today. It’s an interesting dynamic, the way courage and discernment, clarity about what we are called to do, work together.  Our gospel lesson today illustrates this.  Jesus stood in the synagogue in his hometown, where he had attended weekly worship his whole life, and when they handed him the scriptures, he read from the prophet Isaiah.  “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”  Luke tells us Jesus commanded the complete attention of his audience.  They were captivated by him.    But then he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”  In other words, Jesus was telling them, “I am the one the Spirit has anointed.  I am the one the Spirit is working through.  I am the one called to accomplish God’s will.”  That took a lot of courage, don’t you think?  Luke goes on to tell us in verses 28-30 that the people in the synagogue grew furious with Jesus.  They drove him out of town and tried to throw him off a cliff.  They wanted to kill him!  But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.Do you see how courage and clarity worked together in that situation?  Jesus had the courage to quote Isaiah and make his bold claim that today the scripture had been fulfilled in their hearing because he had clarity about what he had come to do.  Clarity about his mission gave him courage to stay calm in the chaos that followed.  When we have clarity about what God is calling us to do, we get the courage to act.  And when we have the courage to listen to God, we get clarity about what to do next.Jesus’ first act of public ministry was to quote Isaiah in his hometown synagogue. To be a witness to why had had come and what he was called to do.  His very first words took courage!  Reading the gospel of Mark this winter, we saw how often Jesus courageously advocated for those on the margins.  We saw how quick Jesus was to act, and how passionately he advocated for people God loves but society disdains.  Mark wanted us to know without a doubt that Jesus was a very brave man!  As we approached Holy Week, we saw how this clarity of mission was going to cost Jesus his life.  How clarity and courage came to a head on the cross.  And how clarity and courage were at the heart of Jesus’ final words to his disciples.“But you will be my witnesses.”  Jesus spoke these words to disciples who had failed to be witnesses in the past.  But Jesus was not giving up on them.  Jesus wasn’t interested in a solo mission.  He passed the mantle onto his disciples so they could have the privilege of being part of God’s redeeming work.Courage is not a gift reserved for a few super-heroes among us.  It is the by-product of actively seeking and enjoying God’s presence among us.  May God bless us with the clarity and courage we need to be faithful witnesses in Lima, in Delaware County, in our state, our country, and even to the ends of the earth.  Amen.