Facing Our Fears

We all have fears. Some are well-known, others are hidden. Many are irrational. “Phobias,” they’re called.

Most phobias have strange sounding names, a compilation of syllables to clearly identify the dreaded curse. For example, acro means height, and phobia means fear, and when combined we have acrophobia or the fear of high places. Another is agoraphobia, whose prefix agora means public square, and when coupled with phobia we’re given the fear of crowds.

Pastors face the same fears as other mortals, though our phobias tend to be skewed by the nature of our work. For example, only a pastor could experience the trauma of acro-pious-a-phobia, the fear of tall pulpits, oranti-amen-agora-phobia, the fear that no one will show up at prayer meeting. These are just a few of our ministerial maladies. But there are more—a lot more. For example:

·         Tar-n-feath-a-phobia: The fear of changing the traditional order of the worship service.

·         Soaki-diap-a-phobia: The fear of Baby Dedications.

·         Sup-no-cup-a-phobia: The fear of running out of juice at a communion service.

·         Halle-hypo-therm-a-phobia: The fear of ice cold baptismal waters.

·         Homil-heck-a-phobia: The fear of a heckler interrupting the sermon.

·         Cyber-sat-no-sun-a-phobia: The fear of a computer crashing on Saturday night with Sunday’s sermon notes on it.

·         Hic-amen-a-phobia: The fear of getting hiccups during silent prayer.

·         Smokey-tick-a-phobia: The fear of being stopped by a cop in front of the church.

·         And, of course, our congregations bring their own unique set of phobias to church, none more worrisome than the always dreaded On-n-on-n-on-a-phobia: The fear of a long, boring sermon.

Phobias are not a new phenomenon. They abound in Scripture. The Greek words Phobos and Phobeo, from which Phobia was birthed, appear 140 times, many of which pop up in the short week surrounding the death and resurrection of Jesus.

From the fears of the scribes when Jesus threw the moneychangers from the temple, to the fears of the chief priests as they plotted Jesus’ death, to Pilate’s fears when he couldn’t find a diplomatic solution to appease the mobs, to the fears of the guards at the tomb when the angel rolled the stone away, phobias were the common reaction from those who had chosen not to believe the Son of God.

Two thousand years later little has changed. For much of the world Jesus continues to be an object of phobias. Either you worship Him or you fear Him.

Even those who believed had their own phobias—the fear of doing or believing, of not staying strong or failing to move forward, or even of speaking for God. That is precisely why …

God told Abraham, “Do not be afraid.”
God told Isaac, “Do not be afraid.”
God told Jacob, “Do not be afraid.”
God told Moses, “Do not be afraid.”
God told Joshua, “Do not be afraid.”
God told Gideon, “Do not be afraid.”
God told Elijah, “Do not be afraid.”
God told Hezekiah, “Do not be afraid.”
God told Jehoshaphat, “Do not be afraid.”
God told Ezekiel, “Do not be afraid.”
God told Jeremiah, “Do not be afraid.”
God told Daniel, “Do not be afraid.”
God told Zachariah, “Do not be afraid.”
God told Mary, “Do not be afraid.”
God told Joseph, “Do not be afraid.”
God told Peter, “Do not be afraid.”
God told Jairus, “Do not be afraid.”
God told Mary Magdalene, “Do not be afraid.”
God told Paul, “Do not be afraid.”
And God told John, “Do not be afraid.”

With the possible exception of Jairus and Mary Magdalene, all were significant contributors to God’s word and mission. All were leaders, chosen voices God used. And yet, all faced their assignments with fear.

Many of today’s leaders are equally fearful; afraid of “Rightly dividing the word of truth,” or “Holding fast the word of life.”

But His promises are as rock-solid today as they were to Abraham and John, and everyone in between. “God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”