God did not give us a spirit of fear, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline.
-2 Timothy 1:7
Watching the news, opening your phone, or listening the radio aren’t always fun filled hopeful parts of most of our days. The news and our newsfeeds are filled with stories of chaos, abuse, division, despair, and destruction. There are stories that lift us up but they are quickly replaced with the other. Bad news is big business and it appears there is no shortage of personalities that want to talk about it.
The problem for you and I in the midst of all of the negative tales spinning around us is we get caught up in the fear that they generate. When we hear a story that touches the primal part of our brain, the fight or flight section, we respond in ways that aren’t always reasoned and thoughtful. We tend to react to situations and we allow the feeling of fear to determine how we move forward.
We are told in our scriptures that God did not give us a spirit of fear. The spirit we have been given from God is one of trust and hope. It is a spirit of faith which can overcome our fears. When we hear of bad news whether it centers on the world, our nation, or our neighbors, the spirit of God calls us to look for the Good News. Where is our Lord in the midst of the chaos, abuse, division, despair, and destruction? How might God be calling us to speak a word of faith over and against the fear that is so quickly generated?
Pondering our life as God’s people in the Goodridge Area Lutheran Parish, it would be nice if there was an easy way forward. The fears we have for our society and our church homes are equally stressful. I have heard good and Godly people reminisce about the good-ole-days and if only we could go back to the way things used to be. We all know going back isn’t an option. We are here now and we seek the answer to the question: what is God calling is to do and be today, right now?
Fear of the unknown, fear of a future that is outside of what we may be able to control, and fear of not knowing what tomorrow brings can shape our future. But faith in a God who promised long ago to be our God shapes our future too. How can we discover hope? This fall we will turn to our scriptures and spend so time talking about what God is doing in this place. How are we being called to a future and a hope filled with a spirit of power and love?
