Saying No to Fear

In 1981, I worked as an Eligibility Counselor in the Aid to Families with Dependent Children and Food Stamp programs for the Department of Human Services of the State of Tennessee. It was just after the Omnibus Reconciliation Act of President Ronald Reagan took effect. President Reagan had promised that elderly people would not lose their food stamp benefits.

The first month that the new budget came into effect, I got a call from an elderly woman. "I only got ten dollars' worth of food stamps this month. I used to get $65. Has there been a mistake?" After being assured that there was no mistake, she began to cry. "But now I can't afford my medicine! How can I eat and take my medicine too?"

Mr. Reagan kept his promise, after a fashion. All the elderly retained their food stamp benefits-but only after a special accounting procedure automatically reduced their allotment to ten dollars' worth of food per month. I received many more calls like the one from that elderly woman. It was a very painful time.

What amazing times we live in. Our society is the wealthiest in the history of the planet. We are a blessed people. Yet along with wealth comes the greatest test of all: the test of our character as a people and a nation. In the 1980s, defense spending skyrocketed while our elderly were reduced to deciding between medications or food. Some chose to make ends meet by eating dog food.

Did we live in so much fear that we felt forced to arm ourselves to the detriment of our elders? If we are driven by fear, what does that say about our character?

When our journey together through Lent finds its completion in Easter, we will hear, with the women at the tomb, the words, "Do not be afraid . . . " What are human beings most afraid of? Hunger? Loneliness? Hatred? War? Drought? Death? The message of our Faith is clear: Do not be afraid. If we give in to the leadership of fear, then we will hoard food to avoid hunger, dam up rivers and deny water rights to others, lash out at anyone who appears threatening, and pre-emptively strike other nations in acts of war instead of working through channels of diplomacy. Then, when others tire of our selfish hoarding and our warlike ways, our fear of being alone will be realized.

Fear leads to death, but Jesus leads to life-do not be afraid!

As I write these words, we have embarked on a war that will set an ugly precedent for us as a nation. It's a war that we started. Nerves are on edge and there is great concern about the well-being of our brave men and women in uniform as well as that of the innocents living in harm's way in Iraq. You don't have to listen too carefully to hear the footfalls of the dark rider, fear, as he lurks among us seeking converts.

Yet in the midst of this prevailing atmosphere, the empty tomb stands in stark defiance of the darkness of fear.

At this point in the life of our nation, we can choose military spending over education, health, and welfare. We can reject cooperation with our neighbors, break treaties, isolate ourselves, and depend on our military to establish good will. We can become slaves to an evil tyrant: fear.

However, as Christians, we are children and heirs of that empty tomb. It calls us to stand firm in the face of the minions of fear. We stand for humility, which means listening with respect to those who differ from us. We stand for compassion, which puts responding to human need and suffering above hardware. We stand for Love which recognizes and respects the dignity of every human being. We are energized in these stands by prayer, and invigorated by the tomb that lies empty, and calmed by the Presence of the Lord of Love.

In these dark days, let us rely on the sword of prayer. Let our lives be a witness that we will no longer be slaves to fear. Let us make our stand.

Joel t