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The Lord spoke to me with his strong hand upon me, warning me not to follow in the way of this people. He said: “Do not call conspiracy everything that these people call conspiracy; do not fear what they fear, and do not dread it. The Lord Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy, he is the one you are to fear, he is the one you are to dread, and he will be a sanctuary.” — Isaiah 8:11-12
We live in a time full of fear and conspiracy theories. The news is full of crises that grab our attention for a few minutes and then are forgotten as the next crisis comes along to replace them. Often this leaves us with a diffused sense of fear—of natural disasters, of terrorism, of economic or environmental collapse, of pandemics, of whatever terrible thing may happen next—and as well with a deep sense of powerlessness. This can easily tempt us to blame some group of other people (which one we choose depends on where we get our news) and to distrust any neighbors who look as though they might belong to, or sympathize with, that group.
In order to be truly prepared to face hard times we need to be set free from this fear. The daily practice of prepping, the gaining of competence and the meaningful work of producing what we need and building community, can help to set us free. We don’t have to keep guessing what disasters might strike us. We don’t have to decide who is to blame. We are already learning to live resiliently, so that whenever larger systems fail, we will be better able to care for ourselves, our families, and our neighbors. We are already stepping back from the over-consumption that degrades the environment, from the speculation that destabilizes the economy, to the exploitation that fuels terrorism and war. And, if we are wise, we are already taking time daily to commit ourselves to God, to take sanctuary in the One whose perfect love for us drives out all fear.
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Today In Christian History
May 4th
1256 – Pope Alexander IV founded the Roman Catholic religious order of the Augustine Hermits.
1493 – Pope Alexander VI issued “Inter caeterea II,” which divided possession of the New World discoveries by Spain and Portugal along a longitudinal line running 250 miles west of the Cape Verde Islands.
1746 – The Moravians in Pennsylvania established the Moravian Women’s Seminary at Bethlehem. It was the first educational institution of its kind established by the “Unitas Fratrum” in (colonial) America.
1784 – Birth of Carl G. Glaser, German music teacher. Of his many choral pieces, Glaser is primarily remembered today for his hymn tune AZMON, to which the Church today sings: “O For a Thousand Tongues.”
1970 – In deciding the legal case “Walz v. Tax Commission of New York,” the United States Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of a New York statute exempting church-owned property from taxation.
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Today In Christian History source: www.studylight.org
