Fear Not

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A statute of poet Edna St. Vincent Millay in Harbor Park, Camden, Maine, from my summer sojourns. Millay is the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. She grew up in poverty and lived a brave and unconventional life.

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I was staring at a bumper sticker on the car in front of me the other day, saying “Jesus is Coming. Are you Ready?” It’s a common enough message in the Evangelical Church. Some in this community believe that Jesus will scoop up “believers” while the rest of humanity is subject to horrible tribulations. In the book Exvangelicals: Loving, Living and Leaving the White Evangelical Church, author Sarah McCammon describes how one day as a young girl, she came home to find no one there. Frantic, she ran around fearfully searching everywhere until finally, quite distressed, she found her mother hiding in a closet. Her mother then admonished her about whether or not she was ready for Jesus’ coming. If she wasn’t, her mother said, she’d be “left behind.”

These days, fear seems to be the emotion that’s driving the bus. When protestors recently packed Tel Aviv square demanding a cease fire, Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s Prime Minister, said those calling for an end to the war without the defeat of Hamas were ensuring that the atrocities of October 7, 2023, would recur again and again. To date, the war has ended 62,000 lives and wounded 160,000; Doctors Without Borders has described the conditions as among the worst they’ve ever witnessed, and they say the situation is “…a systematic total destruction of health care and disregard for civilian life.”

Last week brought the death of Evangelical James Dobson, author of The Strong-willed Child, and with it, testimonies from adults who survived the trauma of their parents’ beatings at the behest of Dobson’s child-rearing advice. One woman described being spanked repeatedly as she passed out again and again; she said her parents would only stop when they felt she was truly contrite. This crushed her will and spirit, she said, as Dobson had convinced her parents that as a two-year old, she was desperately wicked and needed to be “broken.”

These situations beg the question: Is fear the basis on which we want to live our lives? Or on the belief that a returning “Savior” will arrive to protect “the faithful” and brutally punish the rest? Or on the necessity of pounding our enemies and their children into dust? On the surety that physically beating our children into submission will somehow create peace?

The most-stated phrase in the Bible in various forms is “Fear Not” or “Do Not Be Afraid.” We now know what fear does to our bodies: It hijacks our brain, putting us into sympathetic arousal (fight or flight), activating our amygdala and shutting down our cerebral cortex, which impairs our capacity to think clearly. Research now shows that even many hours of using smartphones creates anxiety in our bodies, releasing cortisol into our systems and activating our stress response.

As we address our profound anguish, how do we have any meaningful impact in the present moment in this morass of fear and retribution? I did a meditation today (on the Insight Timer app, which I highly recommend) where the teacher said many of us are hoping that the calvary will arrive (soon, please!) and make everything alright. But the reality, he said, is that we are the calvary. Our actions, day in and day out, and our capacity to stay present, even when it’s difficult and uncomfortable, can build bridges of hope between us – instead of fear.

As one of my favorite authors, Kristin Du Mez (author of Jesus and John Wayne), said in her recent Substack blog “Infiltrating the Kingdom of Fear”:

Friend, you weren’t merely born, you were sent.
You’re not just living a life; you’re on a mission.
Your purpose is not so small as to avoid death
or even to enjoy life, but to embody resurrection.
To offer healing and peace. To seed the world with love.
To be, in words and deeds, a proclamation – 
living proof – that the Reign of God is here.
All the love you’ve received has prepared you for this.
All the wisdom you’ve been given goes with you.
You are surrounded, supported, cheered, aided
by millions, unseen yet connected, and present.
We are not-so-secret agents, infiltrating the Kingdom of Fear
on behalf of the Realm of Grace. 
You are sent, guided and protected by the Spirit of Love.
Be not afraid. I am with you. Go.

For me, the daily practice of Yoga and Qi Gong release fear from my body and bring me the security and stability I need to be present. I believe it is in this presence that we can find our way home, not only to ourselves but to each other and to our beautiful planet.
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Peace,
Anne