Today I want to talk about fear.
It first came about at Vacation Bible School. I met two youngsters in my Storytelling Tent
who were afraid. It was obvious they
were allowed to watch too many scary movies - the kind with mindless killing
and mayhem - something children of eight or nine shouldn’t be watching with or
without an adult. And they were watching
these movies alone, and then spending nights alone, and afraid. Each noise they heard in the night was a
potential killer. “Haven’t you seen
‘Chucky?’” they’d ask. “Don’t you know
about ‘Saw?’”
“Yes,” I replied, “but I also know about God, and I know that
those are just movies, and they aren’t real.”
And I’d repeat our memory verse for the day, “God answered, 'I will be with you.' “Ex. 3:12, and our Bible Point,
“God is with us, so...trust God!”
I’d explain how those creaky sounds weren’t ghosts, but loose
floorboards in their old homes; how the billowing curtain wasn’t a ghost, but
air from an open window. And, blessedly,
when they returned the next morning, and the morning after that, they were
courageous and full of God sightings.
The “floating masks” they saw the night before, one child told me, were
God looking after them during the night.
The rush of air was God kissing them good night. “God is with us, so...trust God!”
Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom
of God like a little child will never enter it.” Mark 10:15
Like those children, we need to have courage to fight the
ghosts that seem to be all around us at times; the ghosts of unaccommodating
people, inaccessible buildings, eyes that won’t see, ears that won’t hear,
minds that won’t understand and hearts that won’t care. At times it just seems like more than we can
bear. But I don’t think it’s more than
those children faced.
They were truly terrified, and one of them actually lived in
a funeral parlor. She was left alone
because her parents were out “on calls” picking up the recently deceased. The other child was a foster child who had
lived in more homes than his number of years on earth. But they heard the word of God, and
believed. “I will be with you.”
I now understood what Jesus meant about receiving the
kingdom of God like a little child after my time with those children. They heard the Word and they accepted
it. There was no “Yes, but . . .” There was simply “Yes.”
When do we lose that ability to simply hear and accept? And what does it take to get it back? Can we start by remembering that God is with
us, so...trust God?
This week we are lifting up Rev. Russell Ewell, Vice-Chair
of the DisAbility Ministries Committee, who has been on the streets of
Ferguson, MO for a number of days and nights with his colleagues doing ministry
with the younger (and older) people of that community. We pray that God covers Pastor Russell, his
colleagues, and all the people of Ferguson with the healing balm of God’s
peace, understanding, and reconciliation.
We further ask that violence be replaced with calm, and angry rhetoric
with reasoned discourse.
Dear Father God, When it seems that the night is at its
darkest, and we are entombed in fear, let us remember that you are always with
us, and that we can always trust you.
Embolden us to step out in courage, claiming your name as our legacy,
and our strength ,and our security. In
Jesus’ name we pray. Amen
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