Courageous Faith

Panel of Shiphrah and Puah at All Hallows Church Leeds, UK.

Found here

What are you afraid of? 

There’s probably a list you keep catalogued away in your brain. I’ve got one too, don’t worry. Maybe it includes spiders, heights, the dark, images of thousands of little tiny holes (trypophobia - it’s a real thing!). Maybe your list has more serious things on it – loneliness, death, loss of control. Fear is an unavoidable part of our human condition, because it’s a natural, almost primal, reaction to information we get from the world around us. However, just because it’s natural, doesn’t mean it is always good. In fact, our fear being so natural, so unavoidably human, makes it an easy target for manipulation. 

I have found that the world wants us to be afraid. Not only that, but the world wants us to respond to our fear in a specific way – by closing off, shutting down, and cutting out whatever we are afraid of. When the list includes things like spiders or heights, this isn’t such a big deal. The world, however, gives us a different list of fears. The world tells us to fear our neighbors, those who look, vote, believe, or act differently than us. The world tells us to fear people who come here from far away. The world tells us to fear ideas that are new to us. The list of fears the world offers us is long, and designed to keep us trapped in our own shell. 

This Sunday, we’ll be talking about Courageous Faith. Looking at the lesser-known story of Shiphrah and Puah, Egyptian midwives who disobeyed their king, we’ll talk about how faith doesn’t prevent our fear, but it prepares us to respond courageously when fear pops up in our lives. If you haven’t read Shiphrah and Puah’s story before, I encourage you to pick up your bible and read the first chapter of Exodus. In it, you’ll find the story of how a new king came to power in Egypt who feared the Israelite people. He instilled that fear in his subjects, encouraging them to treat the Israelites harshly. When that treatment didn’t stop the Israelites from thriving, he commanded midwives to kill Israelite baby boys. Shiphrah and Puah refused, courageously deceiving their king in order to live in accordance with their faith. 

Like I said, fear is a natural reaction to information in the world around us. It’s out of our control. What is within our control, however, is our response to fear. Will we let it trap us in a shell? Or will we respond to it with courage and faith, stepping boldly into the Kingdom work of God all around us? I hope you’ll join me this Sunday as we explore Courageous Faith together. 

See you Sunday! 

Grace and Peace, 

Rev. Tim