Rev. Dr. Devin Strong
Spirit of Peace Lutheran Church
A careful reader of the Bible will notice that very often when an angel appears to a mortal in scripture very often the first thing that they say is, “Fear not!” A careful reader of the human condition will notice how ineffective this instruction is! When someone tells me not to be afraid, my first reaction is, “Why! What’s going on to be afraid of?”
Fear is a big part of the human condition. We are afraid of dying. We are afraid of getting sick and hurting. We are afraid of failure. We are afraid of being embarrassed in front of others. We are afraid of running out of money. The list goes on. We just can’t help it. Fear is hard-wired into our existence. At the same time, fear run amuck is one of our biggest sins. Fear keeps us from trusting God when we should. Fear keeps us from acting boldly as disciples.
Fear keeps us from using our God-given gifts in new ways, and fear keeps us from crossing boundaries to love someone who is different from us.
Recently, sixteen-year-old Ralph Yari of Kansas City was shot in the head for ringing the wrong doorbell, and 20-year-old Kaylin Gillis of upstate New York was shot and killed when she and her friends pulled into the wrong driveway on a rural road.
I don’t want people in our great country to have to fear for their lives if they make such simple mistakes. Neither do I want our children to have to be afraid of dying as they go to class.
It is striking to think about how many of the major issues in our world, from the border crisis to the abortion debate, are driven by fear. As I said, fear is natural for us humans, and in some cases, fear is the appropriate response to the situation. I can understand how many people living south of the border fleeing poverty and violence are afraid and are coming to the U.S. in search of a better life, but I can also understand how people who live in border towns and border states are afraid of thousands and thousands of people overwhelming their towns when they lack the resources to care for so many. I understand how a young girl might be terrified when she is pregnant when she does not want to be, and I understand the fear of those who worry that life itself is being treated too casually.
As a citizen and a voter, I certainly have my own thoughts on how our leaders should deal with many issues, but as a pastor, it is not for me to prescribe how anyone should vote. That would be an abuse of my platform.
But as Christians, perhaps we can begin by aknowledging the deep and real fears of people on all sides of tough issues. Instead of stoking those fears and driving each other farther apart, we need to hear, really hear, the fears of our fellow humans. The issues that we face in the twenty-first century are difficult and incredibly messy, but when we honestly acknowledge the fear of the other, we come together on some kind of common ground.
In so doing we may not get to “Fear not,” but by listening to each other, maybe we can at least keep our fear from ruling us. God loves you, and so do I!