For the past few months, I have been in conversations with churches about how they and I might be in ministry together. So many of our churches in the UCC (and probably outside of the UCC too) are struggling with various levels of anxiety. I myself have had a certain amount of anxiety about my future and the future of my family about our unknown future!
To what extent are we Christian communities willing to be led by our fear? Do we want the most fearful of our members to be in positions of leadership? In my experience, the more anxious someone is, the less capable they are of effective leadership. And yet, anxiety can be as much of a motivator for someone to participate in leadership as avoid it. For an extreme example of this, look at former Vice President Dick Cheney. His fear led him to run off to an 'undisclosed locations', take his home off of google maps, break international laws about torture, and ignore the Constitutional protections around Separation of Powers. His fear is now leading him to the Sunday morning talk shows criticizing the sitting administration, an unprecedented act of disrespect so soon after leaving office.
Again, Dick Cheney is an extreme example, but last fall, American voters said 'no' to being ruled by fear, and 'yes' to hoping for a better future. Christians can draw from 1 John 4, where the letter writer talks about how love, coming from God, has the power to cast out fear. Do we want to be led by fear or by love? Whether that fear is in the world around us, or even if that fear is in the hearts of church members, my hope is that we have the courage to show love in the face of fear, confidence in the face of anxiety, and be a beacon of grace in a world of judgment.
"God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them."
-1 John 4:16b
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