News

In the 1950’s a popular book was titled, “Fear Strikes Out”. It was an autobiography of a major league baseball player, Jim Piersall, who struggled both privately and publicly with mental health issues. (The book was made into a movie, with Karl Malden playing Piersall’s father) After taking a time out to deal with his mental issues, Piersall had many more years as a successful, if still colorful, player.

We live in an age of great fear. Many fears are emphasized over and over by media and politicians alike. We fear terrorism, immigrants, the ending of democracy, global warming, inflation, and on goes the list. These fears then are compounded with some of our own personal fears of health, relationships, and family. What fears could you add to the list?

An honest appraisal of human history need not go very deeply into history to discover there has never been a time free of fear. Viktor Frankl, psychiatrist and psychologist, a survivor of a holocaust camp, and one who lost many family members in such camps, said about fear, “Fear makes come true that which one is afraid of”. When I read this quote, I was reminded of something similar from former Tonight Show Host, the late Johnny Carson, “Choose your enemies carefully, You become them.”

I have found both quotes to be true far too often in both my life and in the lives near and far of those I have witnessed over the years. All kinds of walls are built to protect us from some danger. In so doing as we hide in bitterness, fear, and anger behind our walls, we act and react and behave like those of whom we are afraid.

Christians ought to know better. “Fear not” says Jesus. It is not that there was nothing to fear in Jesus’ day nor that being a follower of Jesus insulates us from fear or protects us from fearful things happening to us. It is that fear can paralyze and change us into something other than a called follower and servant of Jesus.

I wonder if the reverse of Frankl and Carson’s quotes for the Christian might be something like, “Love makes true that which one hopes?” or “Chose your neighbors carefully, you will be cared in turn by them?” You can play around with either of these and no doubt improve on them, but the point is, if we want people to be a certain way, perhaps as followers of Jesus in behooves us to treat them in particular Christian ways.

Yes, there no doubt is a cost in such Christian treatment. Are we not called to pick up a cross and follow? That is, it seems a part of our living and serving as Jesus would have us do assumes some cost on our part. We may certainly fear such a cross, but do we fear it so much we spend more time protecting than we do serving? Do we spend more time insulating than engaging?

In some ways the Civil Rights walks and protests in the 1950’s and 1960’s were about even more than Civil Rights. They were excellent examples of a willingness to face clubs, firehoses, and police dogs as acts of love for the betterment of many. I have actually seen some scars of both black and white marchers in those days. They are scars not worn with great hubris, but instead worn with an attitude of having done what needed to be done.

Jim Piersall struggled with some mental issues his entire life, yet because of his willingness to admit to himself and his fans that mentally he was ill, Piersall was able to return to his life and go on in a way he could not have had he not been so forthright.
What might you and I do to make our fears strike out?

Recently I read that Russia has now made it illegal to teach or even talk about the discovery, some years ago, of mass graves in Katyn Forest, Russia. Buried were Polish leaders slaughtered by Soviet troops under Stalin’s orders after WWII ended. This made me wonder if we, too, have not learned many of history’s lessons taught to us in the 20th Century.

Just think of how many issues of the 20th Century seem to have arisen from the corpse of history to live once more in our time. In my early years I well remember air raid tests while at home and duck ‘n cover drills in school. I have yet to see either make their return, but now in the news most days are threats and counter threats regarding possible use of nuclear weapons. Will there be a Cuban Missile Crisis de ja vu?

European nations prior to WWI and WWI were mostly independent and competitive. Today’s European Union has warts and hiccups that seem preferable to the various issues leading to the starts of two horrific and deadly wars. Yet some appear to want to go back to failed models of the last century simply for points of pride and self-improvement. Can “Our Country First” lead once more into horrific conflict?

The NRA, once a leader in gun control and responsible gun use, has transformed into a mouthpiece for gun manufacturers accepting the deaths of school children as the cost of freedom. Have we become so used to such shootings they no longer motivate us to do something about them?

Think of the progress made in Civil Rights in the last century. Now we want to prohibit even talking about why such progress (and more) was, and is, needed. Do we actually believe progress can be made without talk about why it has been and is needed?

Air pollution, still a major problem made some progress in the last century due to emission restrictive devises on cars and smokestacks in addition to other environmental changes. I remember almost missing the chance to attend a Dodger game in Los Angeles in the late 60’s due to smog so thick and heavy it was hovering in the upper-level seats. The game was paused until a determination was made to resume play. Unfazed by progress made there is a move to roll back many emission requirements that have made vast improvements.

Democracy once a cultural value despite some of its complications, is under attack. As a child I was taught how different we were from the Soviet Union; now we seem to want to emulate its authoritarianism in the name of law and order.

Our Christian faith has a word for knowledge gained from history’s difficult stories: repentance. Martin Luther described the Christian life as a life of repentance. When we learn of a past wrong, we are to repent. The Greek word in the New Testament for repent means, literally, to turn around; that is to learn, change, and grow. Only those able to repent can learn the lessons of history to prevent their reoccurrence. Others remain in their ignorance and cover up or blame others leaving the lessons of history for the pages of books, not for the improvement of lives.

Of course, there is much need to celebrate the good events of history. There seems no shortage of praise for things done rightly. But without repentance for those events, people, and issues of wrong, history is simply a shallow, one-sided tale. Those with trust in a gracious God can repent. We can learn from all of history. Why are we afraid to admit, dialogue, and work together?