In the Isaiah reading from Sunday’s Lectionary, there is a repeated phrase, ‘do not fear’, and the reason not to fear is that God has promised to be with the people. That is part of a nation’s history, but we Christians have also appropriated it as a promise for us. For we believe that God will be with us. Bad stuff may well happen, fire and flood – but we have the reassurance that God is with us. What concrete form might that reassurance take? I’ve a couple of suggested examples (there are more);-
- The closeness of God in prayer and reflection, to give us perspective
- The closeness of God in Jesus, to give us solidarity in pain, and a renewed hope
- The practical support of the Christian community
- And for Christians together (not equal to the institutional church necessarily), once again perspective, in the form of a story, a history, that has been, and will be, way into the distant future