By Peter W. Marty


A Lutheran Christian life for today


Walking through our fears Response will ask to behold one thing above all else—the gift of faith


T


aking an inventory of personal fears makes for an interesting exer- cise. If you sign onto the project, be sure to ask yourself where your particular fears seem to originate.


And don’t forget to look for patterns to the things that scare you. See if some desire to control events is any part of the list. Notice those fears that revolve around interpreting people who are unlike you in some way.


Chances are good that our personal fears say more about us than they do about the object to which they are supposed to be directed. In fact, our fears can inform our worldview to the degree that some days we expect danger or evil around every next corner. Often we look in the direction of another person and expect the worst. Is that person an ally or a threat to my understanding of life and my sense of right and wrong? There is plenty of variety to our fears. We may fear death, but just as easily we can fear life and the risk that accompanies living with adven- ture. We fear ridicule, humiliation and failure. Sleeping on the first floor with the window open in the summertime frightens me more than I like to admit. Mammograms, prostate tests, spiders, crime and a 102-degree fever in a child may all create some measure of fear. I meet people who seem strangely fearful that they might compromise some core principle of their Christian life by getting to know another human being—just because that individual is different from themselves in their own self-understanding. Their gut tells them to love, but their boundary-oriented faith warns them to keep a distance. Interestingly enough, fear is morally neutral. It doesn’t have to do with


our character. Rational or irrational, fear simply shows up. Biology sud- denly gets involved. Once our brain is aroused by fear, the little almond- shaped piece inside our cranium—the amygdala—functions like a bur- glar alarm. It alerts everything else. We then devote critical brainpower to staying focused on events we fear may cause us harm. Our imaginative capacities quickly shut down. Sound reasoning disappears.


Fear rapidly becomes contagious. If you want to defeat something in politics these days, just get people good and scared about what certain legislation might do.


Politics is not the only inspirer of fear. If you want to destroy the full- ness of life, let almost any fear stiffen the hinges on the door to your heart. It’s impossible to be joyful about much of anything if you are afraid. Fear becomes a tyranny that keeps us from being fully alive. It morphs into a curse that limits wholeness.


No wonder the Scriptures spend so much page space distilling two


words: Fear not. Whether it’s the angel calming pregnant Mary or speaking to some


terrified shepherds, whether it’s Jesus trying to get his followers to let go of prejudice and greed, or whether it’s the resurrected Christ trying


to get some fright- ened followers out of lockdown mode, “Fear not. Do not be afraid” are watchwords for faithful living. A Lutheran Christian response to the stranglehold of fear will always ask us to behold one thing above all else—the gift of faith.


This would not be an intellectual faith in propositions or an academic faith in elegantly worded doctrines, but faith that assures there is enough of God to go around. We get to embody a faith that God knows God’s way in and through every situation of our lives.


Fear keeps telling us there is “not enough” to go around. Not enough time, not enough resources, not enough strength, not enough grace, not enough patience and not enough God. Trusting faith believes in God’s suffi- ciency no matter what. It reminds us that there is indeed enough of God to free us from paralyzing anxiety. Never pretending that all fear will disappear, trusting faith simply lends us the courage to walk through those fears.


On good days, this walk turns into a


leap. It’s a leap into an unknown future where we are not in control, but always at home—a leap into the lap of a trustwor- thy God. M


Marty is a pastor of St. Paul Lutheran Church, Daven- port, Iowa, and the author of The Anatomy of Grace (Augsburg Fortress, 2008).


No wonder the Scriptures spend so much space distilling two words: Fear not.


May 2011 3


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