Dear sisters and brothers,
This past Sunday in my sermon I asked us to consider our fears: What are we afraid of? What deals have we made to keep fear at bay? What habits and ways of life have we developed that we think will keep us safe?
Our series during Lent revealed much about the sacrifices we make to the god of Mammon in order to keep fear at bay: we believe there isn’t enough to go around and so we gather and hoard as much as we can, and it’s too bad for those who don’t win at that game, but what can we do? It’s just the way the world works.
Breaking from the power of Mammon feels frightening in many ways… I find myself “seized with fear” (as the townspeople are in the Scripture text) at some of the implications, which we want to continue to work out as a community.
Jesus comes to free us from fear, but this deliverance is by definition disruptive to all the ways we’ve managed our fear up until now. It is comforting but also disorienting to allow Jesus to break the power of fear in our lives.
So if you haven’t had a chance to do so yet, I invite you to take 10-15 minutes to sit with and pray through the following questions:
- What fear do you need deliverance from today?
- What deals have you to keep fear at bay?
- How do you need to welcome the disruptive lordship of Jesus today to deliver you from fear?
In Christ,
Fr. Ben
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