Tainted Mail, Untainted Message

I'm learning to lead in fearful times. My church, you see, is served by the Washington-area post office where two workers died from inhalation anthrax. We were without mail delivery for many days, and when the mail eventually came, we had some conversation about handling it. Weeks later, I found my campus mailbox at Howard University sealed shut. There was police tape across the door to the mailroom and warning signs posted. Another threat, another scare.

Living in the District of Columbia, we watch the politicians carefully. As a leader myself, I have studied how the president and the mayor have responded in the crisis. To be candid, I wish at times they weren't so self-assured. I have concluded when you don't know what to do, it's not good to pretend that you do. People know when things aren't going as well as they are being portrayed.

But I know, at the same time, that people want confident leaders. The opinion polls verify that. As a pastor, I want to allay people's fears when I can, with encouraging words underscored by holy boldness. Even in the best of times we can feel insecure. We are not oblivious to the danger, but we cannot be paralyzed by it. The thing that enables us to move on is our confidence in God as our Protector and in God's Word. In all circumstances, we are in God's hand.

"God has not given us a spirit of fear," my congregation has rehearsed, not as a mantra, but as reassurance of our identity in God.

"Is there any word from the Lord?" We have asked, much like Zedekiah asked Jeremiah. And my response is, Yes. The word is the same that God gave Joshua and David: do not fear. And it's the same as Paul said to Timothy: God has not given us a spirit of fear.

But what if the pastor, too, has reason to be concerned?

That's where my lesson from the politicians comes in: Speak honestly about the things we're sure of, and whatever the situation, I am sure of the Word of God. The Word interprets me, it interprets us, and it interprets the events of our lives. As a pastor I am to speak the Word honestly and prophetically.

God has not given us a spirit of fear. Then what has God given us? Power, love, and the good sense to avoid taking unnecessary risks.

Like many pastors, I called our congregation to the altar on the evening after the plane crashed into the Pentagon. Praying for our president and both houses of Congress is not new for us; we acknowledge those in authority over us in every worship service. Our church is only a mile from Capitol Hill, and we feel a responsibility to pray for them. But this prayer was different. It was deep, probing, corporate.

For many Christians, prayer is individual, one-way conversation that we speak to God. We want God to hear us, but we don't always want to hear from God. In this renewed conversation brought on by our national crisis, we invited God to speak to us all, and with that comes an obligation that when we hear God, we will respond.

We're learning how to live without the illusion of invincibility, coping in a time of attacks and anthrax, getting accustomed to the language of war given to us by our national leaders. For church leaders, however, the challenge is not simply to help people overcome their fears. We must urge our congregations to move beyond an attitude that "God has blessed America so we must be right." We must lead our people to do the soul work, to stop simply waving the flag and start praying for mercy and justice and peace.

Cheryl Sanders is senior pastor of Third Street Church of God in Washington, D.C., and ethics professor at Howard University.