"Do not be afraid."

Over the past couple of weeks, I have been reading through the first chapter of each of the gospels, particularly Matthew and Luke, at various times.

One thing that has struck me is the message that seems to repeat itself, over and over and over again.

"Do not be afraid."

We live in a culture that thrives on fear. We are told to fear and even hate those who are different than us, those who look different and believe differently and come from a different background or place.

We are told there are certain ways to make ourselves safer, yet it seems we read daily news of more events to fear despite so many of us taking those steps to be "safe."

When we first started attending BCMC in August, our associate pastor, John Tyson, preached on the voice of fear and the voice of faith. I still have the notes from that sermon in my Bible.

One of the things he said has stuck with me. "The voices of fear are loud, but the voice of faith is persistent. Are we still listening?"

I recognize that my comfort is largely a product of my privilege. I am white. I am middle class. I am Christian. I have been able to find a job and formed a life in small towns.

I am still working to listen to the voices of faith; often they are soft and easy to miss in the midst of the fear. I think the voices of faith speak of  acceptance and peace. They speak of trust and love.

I can't help but wonder... What if everyone who shares these same privileges that I do (or perhaps has a few more) continued to listen, to listen past the voices of fear to hear the voice of faith?

If we made a conscious choice to listen to the voices of faith, what would we hear? What would we do?

I'd like to think that we would look at our swords of fear, rejection, misunderstandings, and hatred. And we would realize that it's time to form those swords into plowshares to cultivate trust, love, and understanding.

Because the voice of faith tells us, "Do not be afraid."