Love and Fear

There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear;

for fear has to do with punishment,

and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love. 1 John 4:18

Dear Friends,

If you were in worship on Sunday, you heard me recount my first experience of doing a High Ropes course. High Ropes courses have various rope, log, and cable elements about 4.5 metres off the ground. They are designed to help people—in a safe situation—to overcome or deal with their fear of heights. In my first experience with them, I was paralyzed for about 15 minutes at the very beginning until I convinced myself to trust my belay partner on the ground… to trust that she would keep me from falling. This points to the power of fear…

You’ve probably heard it said that we have two innate responses to fear: fight or flight. These are mechanisms we developed as humans to survive. As such, fear is a very powerful motivating factor. When fear is at play, we can become paralyzed or launched into attack mode. These kinds of reactions are entirely appropriate for living in the wild where our very survival depends upon immediate actions to avoid injury or death.  Most of us don’t find ourselves in that kind of natural habitat most of the time. In our much more “civilized” and developed environments, however, fear is still very much at play. I would venture to say that fear is one of the most effective tools in getting people to do something. If I can convince you that someone or something is a threat to you, I can often get you to do something. I can get you to buy something. I can get you to support something. I can even get you to attack something. Fear is a powerful motivator.

When I read the gospels and pay attention to what Jesus says and does, it seems to me that he was not trying to get people to be afraid. Certainly, there are passages wear he warns and calls people out but by and large he is not using fear to motivate people into action. Instead, he models a third way: Love. Over and over, Jesus invites people to look beyond the fearful response and instead to consider the loving response. Jesus invites them into a vision of the future he calls the Kingdom of God (or Kindom of God). He refuses to endorse and promote labelling people as others who need to be feared. Instead, he reached across these fear boundaries and invited people into the kinship of God.

In this time where it seems like many of our leaders are trying to instill fear, I invite you to do the heart work of developing a loving response. It takes work. It means listening more. It means developing patience. It means seeking understanding. It means taking risks in the name of love. Taking risks in the name of love is taking risks in the name of God. The more we do this, the more loving the world becomes.

Peace,

Pastor Phil