Fear Not

Happy Halloween!  I hope that this day full of thoughts of ghosts, goblins and spooks will be a good one for each of you.  I find it very interesting that this day based on scary things has become the second most popular holiday in USAmerica.  When you pair that statistic with the plethora of scary movies, vampire books, thrill rides and TV shows that are out there, you begin to get the feeling that we like to be scared.  The truth is many of us live in fear.  I want to explore that a bit today.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt responded to the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941 by addressing the nation with his famous speech that included the line, "We have nothing to fear but fear itself."  This oft-quoted piece of political rhetoric, while brilliant and well timed, is total BS.  We have all kinds of things to fear.  I grew up with the Cold War in full swing, and I had nuclear annihilation to fear.  Today we have disease, terrorists, a crumbling economy, LeBron James and FOX News to fear.  We are told to be afraid of everything we eat.  We are told to be afraid of people who are different from us. We are told to be afraid of our own leaders. Sue Sylvester (GLEE) says that fear is the only motivational tool that really works.  We live in a world in which people's fears, both valid and imagined, often control their lives.

At yesterday's Rally To Restore Sanity and/or Keep Fear Alive in Washington, there was much talk about how fear can immobilize and destroy us.  Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, in their own comic styles, pointed out how fear is being used to play on our worst instincts.  We become afraid of all Muslims because terrorists who happened to be Muslim did horrible things to our country.  That is like being afraid of all cars because someone you know had a wreck in one.  Colbert said we should be afraid of all robots; Stewart pointed out that R2D2 is cute and friendly.  To a great extent, their point was this:  There is plenty to be afraid of in this world.  But if we live in fear of everyone who is different from us- whether it be religious belief, sexual orientation, political persuasion, skin color or number of tattoos- then we will indeed live in constant fear.  We will become like the Bill Murray character in What About Bob? - unable to leave our homes, scared into a form of insanity.

So what do we do?  The great Larry Norman once wrote, "Why don't you look into Jesus?  I know He's got the answers..."  And indeed He does!  The King James Bible contains the command FEAR NOT 83 times.  God tells us to FEAR NOT.  The Angels tell us to FEAR NOT.  Jesus tells us to FEAR NOT.  I get the feeling they may be serious about this.  But how do we get past our fears?  We do it by living a life that reflects our belief that Yaweh- creator of the universe and everything in it- is in control.  And that same God, ABBA (daddy) loves each of us so much that He knows our names and the numbers of hairs on our heads.  Jesus came so that we would live lives filled with love, not fear.  2 Timothy 1:7 (KJV) reminds us,  "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind."   Jesus said He came to bring us abundant life, not a fearful one.  Fear will always be with us.  It can be confined to its' proper place in our lives if we will just remember this cliche- "I don't know what the future holds, but I know WHO holds the future."  When you come face to face with fear born of hatred, racism, bigotry or misunderstanding, hear the words of the Angel as the shepherds stood in their field, full of fear and misgivings.  Hear the words of Jesus to Simon Peter when He called him be a disciple, asking him to give up everything he knew for a life of mystery and uncertainty.  FEAR NOT!  Then go forward with the love of God surrounding you and lighting a dark world for others- including those you are told to be afraid of...

Now get out there tonight and scare the poop out of someone!  Hey- it's Halloween!

Because of Jesus,