Theology for fearful times
Comforting words as a reminder that God is with us.
“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” Could Franklin Roosevelt’s words be true today? We live in fearful times. Fear is the feeling that something bad could happen. Fear comes when things are out of control, over-controlled or overwhelming. Not new. Not news. Fears can be personal or corporate. What do you fear? We might fear health, financial disasters or even death. We might fear political, economic, social, environmental or ecclesiological corruption, conflict or collapse. We fear we will fail, lose and be left alone.
In fearful situations we should focus on the fundamentals. The most fundamental of all is God. Many of our fears arise because we focus on ourselves and fracture from others. We put human morality above theology; what we must do before what God does, law before gospel.
Seven fundamentals
God is here. Central to my own understanding of God is “Immanuel.” I have been surprised by Immanuel appearing on a watercolor painting, cards and the top of a cake during different farewells throughout my career. Jesus is the incarnate expression of “God with us.” This is holy awe.
God is good. All the time. All the time. God is good. This call and response needs continual repeating. Say it aloud. This is creation and care. Hallelujah.
God loves. This is grace. God is always giving. This is the hard-to-translate Hebrew word hesed, “loving kindness, goodness, covenant faithfulness.” This is the cross.
God is at work. This is faith. God is working his loving goodness here and now. This is Lordship and the Spirit at work in the world and in our lives. This is history. This is Ascension and Pentecost.
God is trustworthy. God does not give up. This is hope. It is the fundamental Biblical meaning of “truth.” God can be trusted.
God communicates. God communicates constantly and consistently in action and announcement. This is creation, culture, Christ and the Scriptures. Hear.
God saves. God saves his people and his creation. This is Jesus. This is the resurrection. This is help.
Shelter in the storm
The Christian triune God is present, powerful, personal and purposeful. This is the Good News. God is an interactive God. God creates us, involves us, invites us, envelops us, inspires us and interacts through us. Here is our comfort and calling in body and soul, life and in death.
Bob Dylan sang in “Shelter in the Storm,” “‘come in,’ she said, ‘I’ll give ya shelter from the storm.’” Long before Dylan, the Psalmist, living near an earthquake fault amid wars and wickedness, wrote,
“God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells.
God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day. Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; he lifts his voice, the earth melts. The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress” (Ps. 46:1-7 NIV).
Lest we think the answer is complex or that, my friend, it is blowing in the wind, God’s Spirit answers, “Be still and know that I am God.”
