April 28
DebDay 45: Cape Fear
The fifth oldest English name for a place in the US is on the coast of North Carolina. Cape Fear.
In 1585 an English expedition led by Sir Richard Grenville got stuck on the shoals in the fog and dark and storm waves. His sailors were afraid the boat would wreck. Thus, they named the place. For their experience. (They did survive.)
We're all dealing with fear of some kind. If not today, then tomorrow.
I'll admit I have my own fears:
Will our church want to be together when the State says we can finally assemble again?
Will all of you still love Jesus, and be willing to sacrificially engage in His Kingdom mission?
As a pastor, have I made disciples during this season?
Will our church still have any money?
A dear pastor friend of mine in Calgary just wrote his church a few days ago. He told them how they had dropped 43% of income in the (then) six weeks since the virus had sent people to their homes. He is taking a massive salary cut. The associate pastor is being laid off.
And he told them to not be fearful.
"Terror Management Theory" is the notion that religion was created as a means for humans to cope with the fear of their own mortality. Thoughts of death, and the hope of life after death are found to increase religious participation. (Not my notion, by the way.)
The original 12 were once with Jesus in a boat, and they experienced their own Cape Fear. Meanwhile, Jesus was asleep in the back. In a panic, they yelled, "Teacher, don't you care! We're all gonna die here!"
You know the story. Jesus woke up, and told the storm to stop. Why does this story matter?
Like them, we're also bent to look at the storm...instead of to the Savior. We want to know why the storm is a storm. We want causes and answers, even someone to blame.
Jesus knows that about us too.
1 Corinthians 13:12 says, "For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known."
While we want explanations, Jesus offers us...peace.
John 14:27 says, "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you." Not the world's kind; my kind. Don't be fearful.
How is His peace any different?
This kind of deep peace is not the absence of fearful things; it is the peace that frees the fearful one to look through, beyond the fearful things to see Jesus Himself.
Psalm 34:18 says, "The LORD is near to the brokenhearted." When the storm is raging, He's right there. In the stern of our own boat. Nearby. In control. Fulfilling His purposes in and for us.
Especially when stuck in Cape Fear.
-Mike Rydman, Lead Pastor, Radiant Church | Juneau
