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Following Jesus in nonviolent struggle for justice and peace, we love our neighbors and enemies as God loves us all, becoming a peace church to share in Gods work to save the world.

Fear Not

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   One of the most familiar phrases of the Bible, to those who are familiar with the Bible, is "Do not be afraid," or "Fear not."

    Why?

    Because fear is debilitating. It saps energy and life. And because it is destructive. It poisons human relationships, and that is always destructive.

    But the Bible also presents alternatives to fear. There are many; we mention two today.

    First, faith.

    Faith in God is the foundational alternative to fear. If this sounds trite, or like a truism, it is not. People of faith (Christians, whoever) do not start by dismissing faith as irrelevant, trite or too obvious to bear mentioning. On faith, I will not do your homework for you. I'll just point you in a direction (perhaps one you have never explored.) Go to the Psalms and read about "enemies," and what the psalmist does about them. (Don't get sidetracked by "but should, or do, people of faith have enemies?" Just assume that there are some legitimate reasons to fear some behaviors of some others.)

    Go to the psalms and read until enemies are mentioned. Then watch the psalmist ASK GOD to do something about the enemies--to protect, save or deliver from the enemies. This is a prayer of faith on the part of the psalmist. It presupposes that God cares about our fear of enemies, and may be expected to do something to protect us. Twenty years ago I wrote an essay titled "Does God save from enemies?" I'll spare you a repeat of it (write for a copy if you wish), but I will put the question in your mind. When you think God and salvation, or God as savior, do you think of God saving from enemies? A question of faith.

    Second, another alternative to fear of enemies is love. Love is a form of power for dealing with disrupted or dangerous human relationships. When the Bible says "perfect love casts out fear" (I John 4), it is not describing sentimental emotion, but concrete ways of acting in the world. If you fear terrorists, there are concrete ways of acting which can deal with that fear and those terrorists--ways that are better than a "war on terror." Satan cannot cast out Satan, and war cannot end war.

    The behaviors described in Jesus' sermon on the mount, and the way of life which Jesus lived, describe such concrete actions which restore rather than destroy human relationships. Those behaviors are concrete expressions of love. If we would rather abolish war than abolish people as a response to terror, we could look at Glen Stassen's book    JUST PEACEMAKING: TEN PRACTICES FOR ABOLISHING WAR.    Published by Pilgrim Press in 1998, the book is filled with actions which express faith and love in a world of politics, realism, and enemies. You name it, the book is realistic.

John K. Stoner jstoner@ptd.net

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