During Advent Mondays, I’ve been Zooming with folks for a weekly discussion group reading the book Following Jesus in a Culture of Fear by Scott Bader-Saye.
I have found Bader-Saye’s insights about the power of fear in our lives to be thought-provoking and challenging.
The author argues against the pursuit of fearlessness as a Christian value, a pursuit which would require the love of nothing (so, then, we would have nothing to fear losing). Rather, he wonders if we might do well to seek to right-size and right-place fear, accomplished in part while probing the powerful loves in our own lives (people, possessions, privileges, etc) and our relationship to those loves.
The goal, then, would not be to abolish fear, which plays an important role in motivating and fueling such good aims as relational care, social action, persistent witness, among other things. It is to deny fear outsized power in our lives when called to face scary things with courage and faithfulness for the good of those in our circles of relationship and the created world.
As we draw closer to that most famous of stories, when glorious angels appear with glad tidings of great joy for shepherds and say, “Don’t be afraid,” I wonder how those words resonate in our own lives. Bader-Saye writes, “the quieting of fear is required in order to hear and do what God asks of us. Fear makes it difficult to embrace the vulnerability involved in discipleship. Following Jesus requires that we step out “into faith’s daring.”
I am praying today that our lives are filled with love and joy, even in a time when so many forces threaten to overwhelm. May we learn to live with fear rightly sized—acknowledging it while not letting it take control. And may God grant us the grace to keep caring, loving, and sharing ourselves with others. Like the shepherds who will soon hear again the angel’s words, may we also hear the call: Be not afraid; move forward with courage into the good news of God’s love.
With you,
Scott+
The Rev. R. Scott Painter, Rector
Email: ScottP@stmaa.org
