stories of fear and faith

Sandra: Right, if that culture of fear is created, a culture of scarcity, then the rest of us find our place and we end up fighting one another, trying to figure out our place in the whole thing. When the world turns upside down, it can be difficult to figure out how to reconcile fear and faith. Then, one by one, all the family members would go in and charge the darkness, go into the room, make sure that it was all clear and that really it was okay. Sandra: Can I respond to that since that’s my husband? That’s their job!) Copyright © 2020 His Dearly Loved Daughter Ministries. It sounds for me like what I told my kids. Achetez neuf ou d'occasion They didn’t see authors that looked like them. I’m usually walking out and shaking folks’ hands, saying, “Have a good week,” and I touched this lady who was sitting in the pews and she looked up with her face full of tears. I haven’t decided yet. You can actually galvanize yourself and we are with you in this process, and you are not alone in going in and trying to do that. There’s the demand for safety that is the cause for battle and wars and so forth, instigated by fears of others. Mark: For you it was that intersection between the lived experience that already had taught you it’s not about happily ever after, and the text. Explore other Story Tables here. "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Mark: Marshall, what’s the story for you of the moment, as you were developing this kind of vision, and learning to practice and live into courage? Sandra: I think from the reference point of my community—the northwest side, in the Humboldt Park-Hermosa area—it would be immigration and status. Reggie: My students don’t fear turning in their assignments late or not turning in their assignments. Message about how God works in the storms of our life. Marshall: To embrace the future and go into it. Thank you for that story. All of a sudden I just started to weep in the pulpit, and it was uncontrollable. I was laughing when you were talking about it because I have an actual picture of what that looks like. I think he had pilfered those on the way, and now he was trying to pilfer whatever he could get from me. It was show and tell day—that was how young I was, in grade school—and I had a Chinese coin in my pocket. When I was the first person in my family to go to college, I would hear her voice in my ear, “Don’t let anybody steal your dreams.” When I would come to those spaces where I felt like, “Does my voice matter at all? You can only have faith because you fear, and you can’t have it without courage. I remember I was once leading a program, the Chicago Urban Program, and someone who wanted to work with that program gave me a list of things they wanted to learn. That recasts, really, in a dramatic way, why then each life matters, why each story, why each community, why each long, complicated narrative and simple story is something that God weighs with full seriousness. They’re afraid to come to our church. Listening to your conversation and hearing from our students, I really feel that fear has killed faith, and because there is no faith then there’s no fear. . I’m just curious, when you hear that kind of narrative, what comes to your mind as maybe a fairly recent experience of someone in your own circle, family, friends, people in your congregations? It’s not as if only black lives matter, but it’s as if the lives that have mattered least matter most. What was interesting is that the word of prophecy was actually Kendrick Lamar that I heard—, Marshall: “We gon’ be all right,” yeah. Challenging. I was 10 years old when Dr. King was killed—he organized here in Chicago in 1966 and lived in Lawndale. Tell them about themselves. Wayne: Where is there a church in America that that could happen? People who embody the theme in unique ways tell their stories around the table, and members of the community are invited to listen in. Every community, every group of people has legitimate fears. Reggie: I’d completely resonate with that, the sense of having one’s life or one’s meaning or one’s purpose validated. There’s existential fear, the individual, personal experience of fear, but there are plenty of examples of fear and faith. It was a powerful experience for me about ministry, but it was also a recognition that those of us in ministry, especially those of us in pulpits interpreting Scripture, have got to remember the power that we have to either use the Scripture as bread and as a way to increase faith and wholeness and healing and justice, or we can misuse it as stone, which had been clearly her experience. You’ll find instances in which the characters demonstrated the fear of the Lord, and instances in which they demonstrated a spirit of fear. They didn’t see CEOs that looked like them. That’s what happens when . We all have the capacity to make it our constant companion. I have to say, as we get started, that I could easily tell the story of my life through the lens of fear. Check out the video for a little background on why we are here, what we're doing and a fun story about God giving me a message for a junior high girl. Two weeks ago, two weeks ago yesterday, I’m actually at Cook County Jail when it happens, but a car pulls up in front of our church. “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.” (Isaiah 43:1b, ESV) Zhang Linhao is a bright, smiling 16-year-old from China with an American nickname that suits her perfectly: Star. All of them, as well as my cousin, have been pulled over for no reason, on average five times. He has a section on there where he says, “All of my grandmothers are dead. They affect all of our lives every day. **Find our full privacy policy and disclosure statement here. They said, “I think it has to do with whether or not they’re going to be deported in some sort of way.” The third person, who’d up till then been very quiet, said, “I think there’s a different kind of danger, too, and it’s the danger that they won’t have value.”. Shannon: I had actually been thinking about this since you first asked us to consider Reggie: A readiness for it, an expectation of that happening. . . I want to suggest, as this comes to a close, that the goal is not to eradicate fear from the world. What would you have said to those cops if you’d been sitting there and they said that to you? Fear can work in some ways like a gift, a necessary gatekeeper and a goad towards productivity. I was a fairly new pastor at a church in Texas, and my name was out on the marquee. In this culture that pulsates with such fear right now, we have a responsibility to think about how we are or are not contributing to the upbuilding of fear. It’s what allows us to transform everything that we are — our weaknesses and our frailties — into strength and power. It was a powerful moment on that Sunday morning after the election, when the fear in the congregation was palpable in my predominantly black congregation on the South Side at Trinity United Church of Christ. They don’t care who they may hurt, so there’s a space that I think the faith community is overlooking because we’re dealing with a generation. Or take what’s behind the big, dark, scary, mysterious iron door. How are we going to address that? He was not impressed, so that led to further beating. I want us to begin by just thinking about words that we associate with fear. I remember very distinctly hearing from you, Coach, when I worked with InterVarsity and would bring students to Pastor Hatch and to Coach in the community. As a result, Israel was always one step ahead of the Aramean king. When overwhelmed by troubles, it’s only natural that fear kicks in. We have to ask ourselves, I think, as people who care about a world of fear, whether the kind of church and community of people we’re cultivating are people who are growing in their capacity to step toward danger. Wayne: I’m a white male in America, and I’ve had this unique privilege of living my adult life in an African American community on the West Side of Chicago, and I think, when you’re talking about fears, I’m a fearless person. Marshall: It’s like the most significant human fear is meaninglessness and loss of agency, which I think, all of us being in the image of God, is what that is designed to give us just by being. Yes, we can “conquer” our fears, but — surprise! To greet every one of them and call as many of them by name as I knew, and to hug every one of them, and to listen to their pain, and to listen to their sorrow, I’ve learned more in five weeks than I did in five years of reading about it. But through this study, we’re going to dig into God’s Word and learn how to live at peace. Fear is ubiquitous—for every person of every culture, race, and gender, it is going to be part of our experience. Achetez neuf ou d'occasion That was an extraordinary moment. I’m having to work real hard these days making sure not just my teenage daughter, but my preteen son too, can see the world through those things and not lose their voices in the process—and claim their authority, because no one’s going to give it to them. Can you imagine standing at a bus stop and a squad car coming up on the sidewalk and then another one coming the other way, for children. How can we build a taller wall?” Actually, that’s why I read the Scriptures. Give us an insight into how that got cultivated. Sandra: I think that’s what happens in worship on Sundays. FEAR. These are questions we seek to answer in the second part of this Bible study on fear and faith as we learn how a healthy fear of the Lord is the first step toward a life free from fear. What’s cultivated courageous responses to living in a world of fear for many of you? Different people in different contexts experience it more vulnerably and more agonizingly than other people do, but all of us share as human beings in a world of tremendous uncertainty and vulnerability. Shannon: Yeah, I think that is what church is supposed to be about—that practicing and rehearsing the way God understands the world and the way God sees us, so that we can go and try to live that way and then come back for a refresher all the time. He gets out of the car, I’ve known him two weeks. Mark: The antidote to fear is not a perfect world. Lisez « Ooter's Place and Other Stories of Fear, Faith, and Love » de Karl El-Koura disponible chez Rakuten Kobo. I didn’t hear anything for a couple years. We’ve been through these moments before. What it feels like to be in a community where the historical context is social control by means of terror and fear. Shannon: The police officers are interpreting how people experience that. We’ve been talking a lot about the experience of people who are marginalized, but fear is not only after the election something that people of color in this country have been addressing. We talk about fast to fail, so the culture is, develop something, do it wrong, and learn from it. It’s an example, I think, of the fact that the tension that fear often brings out is this contrast between what we know is a psychological experience on one level, and on another level is actually a very physical, real threat, like real things really do happen to real people in real time. They’re part of the social landscape, the economic landscape, the racial landscape, the gender landscape. And it’s not them listening to us, it’s us listening to them, to the young people. That was the only thing I had. They come to our after-school program and they coach one another on what to do if somebody knocks on your door. Just the insecurity and the stress affects their health as children, carrying that kind of load for themselves and their family. What is faith? He had no stories. I had to sit down and tell them, “This is not how you enter into a community. Nine shots are fired and it kills this young man right in front of our church. Now, in what ways does our understanding of relationship and community with God and with each other habituate it relationally? I have this unbelievable privilege, but it also has a huge responsibility. You can be the President.”. I stop my car in the middle of the street and the police stop and look at me and say, “What are you doing? What brought about, I think, that awful election, is white fear of losing significance, white fears of losing a place of prominence. . Communities have been habituated to know themselves and what society says of them by fear. It always has, but it just got a little highlight on it. Buy Ooter's Place and Other Stories of Fear, Faith, and Love by El-Koura, Karl online on Amazon.ae at best prices. For your congregation to take this step . We got her what she needed, filled up her van, and right before she was leaving I said, “Now, wait a minute, who told you to call me? Discovering Jehovah Rapha – The God Who Heals, Affair Recovery for the Betrayed and the Betrayer. Sandra: I think that creates a culture of fear. All of a sudden I remember that those are the vulnerable, the elderly and the young in our society. Mark: One of the things that would help me in the course of the conversation we’re having here—you’ve got faith, you’ve got fear, and I was just saying something to Pastor Shannon before we started the dialogue. I said, “The root of it is that God wants you to be whole and safe, and that’s what God wants for your daughter.”, I had some resources that I gave her. Seemingly impossible. I want to see what you guys do.” I plan on doing that this spring, because my friend, who I recently met, was telling me when I come back from the U.S. and step off the plane, it’s likely they will arrest me because of the work I do speaking truth to power, and that’s okay. It’s white anxiety. It took a couple of years to work through that word that I had spoken, but he came back and said, “I really needed to hear that, because I wasn’t set free from my entitlement. His life didn’t matter and wow! But faith is, too. They didn’t see professors that looked like them. What does walking in the fear of the Lord look like? There are LOTS of stories of people struggling with fear in the Bible, as well as many stories in which a healthy fear of the Lord was demonstrated in the lives of some of our favorite Bible characters. For a little bit over minimum wage, about $12 in Chicago, you can pull somebody that’s in “the gang culture.” I don’t have time to go into all of that, but they want a better life. I have no engaging or catchy story of recent events beyond the election, and shock in my faith community on that Sunday following. I try and have them thinking about what it means to be Christian. It’s not a “I need to believe that I’m going to be here tomorrow.” It’s just a simple act of daily activities—. Thank you. Long story short, we’ve been studying this for five years—I’ve read almost everything I can on why there is violence in Chicago—and we decided that we were going to start a little program. It’s almost like I’m laughing as I’m reading them, like I know what this is like, God. There are lots of things that fear causes and I do understand there’s a healthy fear of a respected law officer. But this is the anxiety, in one way or another, whether it’s the woman who appears in your office, or whether it’s somebody a policeman might encounter, like the teenage kids on the street—this feeling that somehow their life just does not have value. My nephew was shot twice in the chest for taking out his cell phone to take a picture of the cop who was abusing his friend. If we as Christians can learn how to fight through the fake fear, the fake news, the fake whatever and really begin to use discernment, spiritual discernment, which is a gift, then we can actually focus on what is really going on, as the body of Christ. Will anyone listen to me? Sandra: I was going to address that actually. We literally have plans in place for each child, telling them, “If your parent does not come and pick you up, here’s what you do.” I didn’t have to go through that at eight years old because my parents had a green card. They’re just children, 15- and 16-year-old kids. I appreciate what you said earlier about how I’m going to mess up. I had to ask, “It sounds like you have a church home. Stand strong on the Word of God, just like Susan did. That’s why I stopped for those kids that day. We need to listen to people and their stories, to listen when someone says, “Well, the police stopped me and I didn’t do anything wrong.”. I also thought about the whole Black Lives Matter movement, and even though that does not necessarily come out in church, how deeply theological that is in the context where black bodies or black lives don’t matter. Well, when I sat down next to those cops and asked, “What are the top fears you think people in Chicago have,” you’re right, the first thing they said was, “Will they survive the day?” They said, “Honestly, probably some of them fear that we’re the ones that are going to kill them, or they’re afraid that somebody else is going to kill them.”. I am so made that worry and anxiety are sand in the machinery of life; faith is the oil. I remember this violence going on in Chicago. But I think there is the sense of insecurity, the sense of anxiety, the sense of stress that particularly our children are under . Stories; Star’s Story: From Fear to Faith; Zhang Linhao, known as Star, stands inside the Billy Graham Library in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Sept. 3, 2014. We’re comfortable, and we’ve learned how to combat fear with faith. Mark: What is it about vulnerability, Reggie, that you think is connected to fear? You can see it in our news, you can see it in how we teach, you can see it in how we prepare people to grow up—we have this culture of fear. Through this four part series, we’re digging into Scripture to learn how we can overcome our chronic fear, worry, anxiety and depression using the tools God has provided to us through His Word. It’s when my kids do not fear running free in traffic that I’m scared. Our faith is meant to overcome our fears, and so whenever we feel afraid we should ask the Lord to increase our faith. All rights reserved. We’re talking along the way and he says to me, “Listen.” I said, “What’s your case?”. I had my own response to that fear that is out there, and just as a woman, that fear continues to permeate. Let it happen on the North Side—. I’m a pastor down the street, and I don’t appreciate the way you’re talking to these young people.” They said, “What do you mean, talking?” I said, “I heard you use words. Marshall: Can you have faith without fear? We can start kneeling more, praying more, and stop just being upset and uncomfortable. It matters that you have these fears. Shannon: I would also think captivity, temptation, be captive by it. Lukeeya: I just want to speak about fear in general. Anyway, he was sent to the king for his punishment. Wayne: I like that word, dissatisfaction. Bartimaeus’ focus and trust were on Jesus and Jesus alone. What you gave as examples just then is both. Sandra is executive pastor at Grace and Peace Community Church here in Chicago. Peace is something that has to be understood from Bonhoeffer. A. Peter was an able swimmer, but he did not rely on that ability now. Chicago has a reputation for that, especially in recent years—which is why I’m asking you, as faith leaders in a context like Chicago, to spend some time tonight thinking about faith in a context of fear. We’re soft as Christians. It’s a good gift that we’ve been given, but it’s a complicating gift with many dimensions that we’re going to spend some time tonight exploring. Join the author as he introduces you to stories both light and dark, fun and serious, always entertaining. . Reggie: Exposure to danger. But the Bible says that God did not give us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of love, power, and a sound mind. Are you preaching on faith? There was one kid raised by her grandma who almost had to get disrespectful in responding to her grandma: “I’m going whether you want me to or not.” It took a while for me to peel back how debilitating fear had become in our context, that people literally held on to their children, really unhealthily stifling their ability to be exposed to the world. This is an in-depth Bible study on fear and faith. Part of why we can have a topic tonight like faith in a culture of fear is that we do have a culture of fear, not just individual experiences of fear, but patterns of fear and histories of fear, tribal fears that are existent. It’s like fake news. But the other side of the coin is also true. It’s about making people mad, about shaking things up so that God can work with us to help do whatever God imagines and hopes for the world. Fear is not my native land; faith is. I met her at the shelter, and she told me that I could call here.” That meant both that Sherry was safe, and that something had happened in those two years where she had been able to get out. In our church over in Trinity, we do have young people who are killed. That’s my reality. I had only my piano book and one thing in my pocket, but I saw this big kid coming toward me, and I thought, “This is it. He’s got this. Or to be more … I’m trying to understand Chicago. I’ve been thinking about it in particular through the lens of a story about a woman named Sherry, who I met about 10 or 15 years ago. His BMW, that he earned with his own money, he’s afraid to drive, because the first year he bought it he was arrested and handcuffed in the back of a squad car. It’s a tool of the enemy. Mark: I think that’s a great way for us to draw what we’re doing here tonight to a close, because certainly what we’ve opened up is the can of worms that we all live with every day. I saw this thing where someone asks, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” And the kid says, “Alive.” This is a very constant reality. Tell them you’re glad to see them and look into their eyes and use their names.”. Each story is briefly summarized and the reference where it can be found in Scripture is listed for your own personal study. That is a pattern for her that she’s set, where she knows that’s going to happen. Bible Characters Who Overcame Fear. Faith isn’t rational or emotional. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you agree to this. If you feel like fear is winning in that battle of faith versus fear, don’t give up. Reggie: Mark, I’m sitting here trying to think of a recent story. + The Story Table takes a theme from FULLER magazine and brings it to life at everyone’s favorite conversation place: the dinner table. I think that will describe what faith means for us. . Reggie: Something gets stopped. One of the things I totally agree with that we’re talking about is that I was happy at my grandmother’s place. I went to McCormick—, Marshall: I had a class on the Gospel of Mark as a first Gospel written that, according to the deconstructionists, did not end where the one we have now ends, but ends with the women going to the tomb and it’s empty. The kingdom, of course, is represented when the margins are brought to the center. At no cost to you, affiliate links help us earn small commissions on purchases made through our links. Why are you coming to visit with me about what’s going on?” She said, “Well, I know what my pastor would say if I went to him. In his desperation, Bartimaeus cried out to Jesus and asked for mercy to be given: “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” (Mark 10:47). That’s it. I think when fear works as an obstacle to our being able to be with each other, then we have some serious problems. It belongs to all of us, and we each have different intersection points of both questions, comments, commentary, observation. I believe their faith in God will inspire you to be courageous, too. We’re going to do something to stop it and do a little part. But what we do with fear is important. The church had been increasing her fear and her sense of not being worthwhile enough to imagine God’s dream for who she was. You’re white, you’re male, your fear is that things are changing, and I can empathize with that because there’s a fear of the future. Don’t give in! It seems to me that the way we typically understand faith is some kind of cognitive exercise that is impervious to fear. If we let our minds stay in that place, fear will grow. Hello Select your address Best Sellers Today's Deals Electronics Customer Service Books New Releases Home Computers Gift Ideas Gift Cards Sell I just had a car towed out of our garage that belongs to a 29-year-old family member. A Focused Faith. Set my alarm clock. . Humans are made in the image of the Creator, and we build communities around that theology. What if they come?” The hope I find, the security I find, is that actually that’s the narrative of Scripture, is faith in fear. If you drive down the street and get pulled over, many of us are afraid for many reasons, but I keep thinking, “If I didn’t have papers, what would this be like?” I would make sure all my tail lights were perfect . So they end up in some bad decision-making because there was nobody there to tell them, or no matter how much in the family they told them, the exterior role they were in repeatedly told them they didn’t matter. Faith is an exercise of the will. The interesting thing about fear, as we all know from our own experiential point of view, is that there’s no one in the world who knows a fear-free life. You know what he says to me? All of us in different ways are in contexts where we’re given responsibility to nurture that. Mark: One of the things that connects with what you’re saying is that there’s a strong sense that fear is viral, it’s like a social infection. Mark: Hugely isolating in its own way, yeah. Retrouvez Her Chronicles: Stories of Faith, Fear and Fortitude, Volume 1 et des millions de livres en stock sur Amazon.fr. He was 19 years old, a teenager, and 300 young gangbangers were at that funeral. Faith does not come from us, but is a gift (Ephesians 2:8–9), and is a fruit (or characteristic) manifested in our lives through the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22–23). The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a toll on us. I remember, interesting story, we have periodic trips we do to Ghana with small groups of teenagers, and their first time we take them through the passport process and take them overseas on their first trip. Fears that shape how we understand each other are not simply the experience of people of color, but being habituated in a superior social position is a white experience.

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