Do not be afraid.

Dear Friends,

This coming Monday evening we’ll be gathering on the front lawn for our annual 4th of July picnic and fireworks watching party. That evening will be great fun (and it will also be warm).

And yet, for varied and sundry reasons, it feels like just about everyone is frustrated or angry with the some part of things are going in our country right now.

God knows we have plenty to work on as a country, but I’ve noticed recently a lot of headlines that are about what might happen in the future. The news is no longer just about the bad that happened yesterday, but the bad that could happen in the future. It's fortune telling, prognostication, prophecy.

We’ve all probably had the experience of waiting on test results from the doctor, and being consumed by the anxiety about what those results could say. Or we’ve searched out some strange symptom on Google and found out that we might be dying, usually of cancer. Some form of this individual practice has infected our national habits. Having learned, perhaps, how effective fear is for driving engagement (on both old and social media), we’ve forgotten FDR’s words, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” Fear of the future is consuming, for the future is full of an infinite number of possible evils.

Nurturing and encouraging fear is also un-Christian. “Do not be afraid,” Jesus says over and over again. As Christians we are people confident in two things: that God’s bright future far outshines any dark clouds that might be on the horizon (that’s hope) and that the opposite of fear (particularly the fear of one another) is love.

And so let us celebrate the gift of our country and freedoms as Christians — as people of hope and love, not of fear and anger. In addition to hope and love, at our celebration we’ll also have burgers, hot dogs, a waterslide, and more.

In Christ,
Fr. Andrew