You know your day is
going to be interesting when you pass a cement truck on the interstate with the
nickname “Stone Slinger” emblazoned on its side. Hmmmm.
Was the nickname a reference to David and his slingshot? Maybe, but add a cement truck, an interstate
and vehicles with glass windshields, a completely different image popped into
my mind. I scrunched up my face in a crinkly frown, furrowed brow and eyes
scanning the horizon (all within nanoseconds, mind you) . . . and then passed
him as quickly as I could.
No Super Pastor Cape
ideas this day (see last week’s post for the reference). Plain ol’ fear stepped in instead. Which was a wise decision, given the size of
my Prius and the stones that sucker had the capability of slinging. Fear can be a good thing, protecting us from
known dangers.
Most of our fears don’t
deal with bodily harm, however. They
simply project negatives into the future and hold us back from accomplishing
untold feats. One Sunday, as part of a
sermon, I asked my little flock in Paris, Texas what they might do if they put
fear aside for a moment. What would you
do if you knew you wouldn’t fail? Much to my amazement some folks took me
seriously. We celebrated Holy Humor
Sunday a week after Easter, and a clown ministry was started; one woman joined
the choir; one fellow wrote a song with guitar accompaniment; and another
applied for a position with a local non-profit (and got the job)!
Fritz Kunkel, author ofCreation Continues: A Psychological
Interpretation of the First Gospel, suggests three steps to deal with fear
from a Christian perspective.
From Matthew’s Gospel,
Chapter 8, Kunkel points out that the first and determinative phase of the
reducing of the fear level is that of deciding seriously and decisively to
respond to Christ’s call to Follow him.
Follow Jesus. Put your blinders
on, in other words, and simply follow Jesus, and trust, no matter what. Do you have that kind of faith?
When you follow Jesus,
don’t think you’re in for smooth sailing, however. The next stage is one of
turbulence—storm. What were we
thinking? This is scary stuff. Kunkel says brace yourself and hang in there,
yes, in the midst of the storm. Because
with Jesus, the storm will pass. Trust
him.
The third phase? Rather than giving his disciples a sabbatical
following the terrible storm, he landed with them in Gentile territory and
immediately took them into the presence of demons. And even when the demoniac is healed, his
neighbors get upset because the community’s economy is shaken up when all those
pigs jump off a ledge and drown themselves. The late great N. Gordon Cosby says that
“Jesus always takes us into the midst of the demonic, and he reduces our fear
sufficiently to enable us to name it as evil, to look it squarely in the face.”
That’s the Christian
calling, isn’t it? That’s the Christian
story—facing evil, but knowing that in the end, love will win out. Love!
Not failure. Sooner or later, if
we’re going to go all the way with Jesus, we need to face the evils in the
world.
Cosby’s words simply
ring off the page for me, as he too mentions Kunkel’s steps.
I
would call you to that first step (committing yourself to following Jesus). Make it very, very clear.
The
second step is to begin the night sea journey through the storms.
If
you get into the boat, he will never leave you….if you get into the boat, he
will never leave you alone.
And when you get to that
place for ministry, my West End friends, you will not fail. Not with Jesus going ahead of you, staying by
your side, and watching your back. Jesus can do that, you know.
Simply follow. I think I’ll
follow Jesus, rather than the stone slinger.
Grace and joy,
Julie
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