I have been wanting to write these past few weeks but have found it difficult. The time we live in is currently very surreal and I have struggled to gain the needed perspective. While this is going to continue to take patience and empathy, as both a country and an individual, I do want to say a few things in these uncertain times.
It’s okay to be scared
It is important to feel what you feel. Emotions are indicators, much like that “check engine” light that goes off on your vehicle. They tell us that something is wrong – that our world is a little sideways. The worst thing we could do is to put a piece of duct tape over it. We can choose to ignore, but fear never leaves by simply ignoring it’s existence (much like our Creator). While I am sure that we can sometimes give too much of a voice to our feelings, I am not worried about this currently (unless you are hoarding and acting compulsively irrational, then perhaps bring it down a step). I would say that to not feel fear in this moment, would be to deny our God given humanity as well as to lack empathy at a world struggling in uncertainty.
Those of us who believe in a God will be served to remind ourselves of our Savior in the garden. Jesus, knowing the passion story that would soon unfold, isolated Himself in prayer. Even though He knew Easter Sunday was coming, He also knew He had to prepare first for Good Friday and the cross. While He prayed – asking His Father for a different route to resurrection – He wept to the point of blood.
To say He was concerned would be an understatement. In fact, if He was not afraid, one could question the need of the cross at all. The Easter story states that our sin required a great payment – it had to cost somebody something great. Christ was both the great somebody as well as the great something. He was brutalized for us, and in turn found victory. A calloused God would never be able to fully satisfy the Easter narrative.
Christian doctrine tells us that Christ was fully God, but also fully man. While many of us point to the former, we might want to take a quick moment to meditate on the latter identity. “Fully man” means that He felt emotions. It would not be unreasonable to assume He was scared. His circumstances elicited a proper response, which turned Him back to God. They were an indicator toward something “other”.
With the times we find ourselves in, many in the faith community have urged us not to worry. While I would certainly not want to argue semantics, I would say that God calls us to authenticity and in such humanity, we are found to be in need of a Father. Do not be afraid of feeling fear. The gravity of our times are great and no one should condemn you for feeling uncertain. May this fear be an indicator of a soul in need. May your process walk you toward the light.
Know that Easter is still coming.
Matt simon blog 