Fear of change

The story of the transfiguration (Lk. 9:28-36) which we celebrate today is at its heart a story of change both personal and collective. It is a story that moves to the heart of our fears for our communities and for ourselves especially in the time of uncertainty. It does not matter who we are or what we do, whether we are from a faith group or from secular society with no connection to faith we all fear change in our lives. If we are not brought "on board" as our work changes we resist; if we see changes to major industry groups that employ large numbers of people we resist (coal); if our personal circumstances are opened to change as a result of illness, financial situation, social circumstances we resist as much as we are able to. All of our resistance is due to fear just as the Israelites feared the approach of Moses when he descended from the mountain as it indicated change (Ex.34:30).This is normal and yet God asks us to change. So, if we follow God, how can we fear that which God asks of us?

In some ways it is very easy to fear something that is unknown for that very reason, it is unknown. We find it terribly difficult to step forward into something that we know little about, the future. Just think about it in a way that we can probably more easily relate to in our lives. I have lived in a number of places around the world but what is fascinating to me is that in all of the places I have lived I can find a number of people who have never stepped away from their home. If they have it has been for a very few short years. I am sure you can easily identify with that whether in your own families or within your own lives. I know for example that there are people living in Australia who have never moved further than 60kms from there place of birth, a few that have never moved further than 30kms from there place of birth, which is even more frightening in a way as they have never experienced anything of a wider world. For people of faith this is nowadays often the description of our own lives unless we consciously seek God's call into a newness of life.

We often fear making the jump and changing

It is about safety for ourselves first, rather than being enabled to go out in confidence and meet change face-on. Just think about your first job interview or the second or the third each one meant a potential change in your life. We face these small changes each day of our life and yet each time we are in a small way afraid but soon overcome that reluctance because it means more to us then what went before, even if we do not know what the consequences are. In terms of our faith community when change confronts us we often become like the tortoise and hide beneath the shell of tradition and the norm for our group. We cannot abide the disruption to our ordered lives. Yet, God will always be a disruption in our lives with the insistent call into a new way and a newness of life exemplified by Christ. Only when we can truly accept that God calls us into a changing world that is filled with wonder and love will we begin to grow in response to God's persistent call.

Paul reminds the Corinthians that the call of God gives us a persistent hope that allows us to step beyond the veil of fear (2 Cor. 3:12-13). We can respond with a flexibility knowing that God is ever present to us allowing us the freedom to make choices that may be contrary to that which has given us stability in the past. In undertaking the perceived risk we do so with a full knowledge of God's persistent presence that allays all fears and creates opportunities rather than the roadblock that is created by fear. In opening our hearts to God's love we are opening our hearts to a future that is free of our own obstacles and our own barriers. We can bask in what God wishes for us and not wallow in the mire of our resistance to follow into a newness of life that is created by God's presence in our lives.