April 3

What is your greatest fear? I think that mine is that living will cease before death arrives – between us we could make quite a list of fears. Fears of illness – fear that the nagging pain be cancer – fear of old age – fear of dying or unemployment, of martial breakdown. Fear that the skeleton in the cupboard will one day catch up with us.

An Eastern legend tells of a pilgrim who met the plague and asked, “Where are you going?”. The plague replied, “I’m going to a city to kill 5000 people”. A few days later the pilgrim and the plague met up again and the pilgrim charged the plague with killing 50,000. “On no”, replied the plague, “I killed only 5000,the others died of fear”.

Fear is crippling. It can blight hope, remove the will to live, rob us of sleep, scar the body, heighten blood pressure, weaken the heart, and plant ulcers. These are the risks we face when we touch the tender nerve of fear. This is I guess, familiar territory for most of us. What we want to know is whether its possible not only to live with it, but more important to overcome it and conquer it. What is the Christian response to this universal dread?

One fairly obvious antidote is to share our fears with someone else. Christianity isn't a solidarity religion, it’s a team game – something we share and do with others. To share our fears, even of exams, with another human being can help us conquer it.

My authority for saying that, is the way that fear is dealt with in the Bible. People’s fears are so out in the open that the phrase “Do not be afraid” occurs no fewer that 90 times in the bible. We are not along. But this phrase is often the first half of a sentence. How the sentence is completed is all important. “Do not be afraid, God notices the sparrow fall – and you are worth much more than many sparrows”. This and many other passages are saying, do not be afraid, have faith, trust and confidence in the love and presence of God. That for many is the antidote to fear.

By the Rev'd John Jenkinson, Minister of Highfield and

Longcauseway United Reformed Churches.
For and on behalf of the Churches Together in Dewsbury.

Churches		Together	in	Dewsbury

April 3	What is your greatest fear? I think that mine is that living will cease before death arrives – between us we could make quite a list of fears. Fears of illness – fear that the nagging pain be cancer – fear of old age – fear of dying or unemployment, of martial breakdown. Fear that the skeleton in the cupboard will one day catch up with us. An Eastern legend tells of a pilgrim who met the plague and asked, “Where are you going?”. The plague replied, “I’m going to a city to kill 5000 people”. A few days later the pilgrim and the plague met up again and the pilgrim charged the plague with killing 50,000. “On no”, replied the plague, “I killed only 5000,the others died of fear”. Fear is crippling. It can blight hope, remove the will to live, rob us of sleep, scar the body, heighten blood pressure, weaken the heart, and plant ulcers. These are the risks we face when we touch the tender nerve of fear. This is I guess, familiar territory for most of us. What we want to know is whether its possible not only to live with it, but more important to overcome it and conquer it. What is the Christian response to this universal dread? One fairly obvious antidote is to share our fears with someone else. Christianity isn't a solidarity religion, it’s a team game – something we share and do with others. To share our fears, even of exams, with another human being can help us conquer it. My authority for saying that, is the way that fear is dealt with in the Bible. People’s fears are so out in the open that the phrase “Do not be afraid” occurs no fewer that 90 times in the bible. We are not along. But this phrase is often the first half of a sentence. How the sentence is completed is all important. “Do not be afraid, God notices the sparrow fall – and you are worth much more than many sparrows”. This and many other passages are saying, do not be afraid, have faith, trust and confidence in the love and presence of God. That for many is the antidote to fear. By the Rev'd John Jenkinson, Minister of Highfield and Longcauseway United Reformed Churches. For and on behalf of the Churches Together in Dewsbury.