{"id":582,"date":"2017-08-28T11:14:30","date_gmt":"2017-08-28T15:14:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/connietuttle.com\/blog\/?p=582"},"modified":"2017-08-28T11:14:30","modified_gmt":"2017-08-28T15:14:30","slug":"are-you-afraid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/connietuttle.com\/blog\/are-you-afraid\/","title":{"rendered":"Are You Afraid?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Are you afraid of what is going on in Washington?<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re not, you need to be.<\/p>\n

Everything that comes out of the White House is frightening: the leaks from staff who say they are staying, though it may ruin their careers because of the crazy they have<\/em> stopped, the rule of law that is ignored, the almost certain collusion with Russia, the infant at the helm with access to nuclear codes, and the blatant white nationalism that demeans and threatens people of color, immigrants, and the LGBTQ community. All of which hides the opportunism making Trump richer every day. Trump\u2019s passionate base hates Jews in addition to the groups listed above.<\/p>\n

Why do I want you to be afraid? Because if you are afraid then you get it. If you are afraid then you see the parallels between what is happening now and what happened in pre-Nazi Germany. Because if you are afraid it means you have the sense Godde gave you. I want you to be afraid so your fear motivates you to stand and speak and act. Be afraid so you vote while you still can.<\/p>\n

Use the fear. <\/em>Don\u2019t let it intimidate you. Do whatever it is you do to confront fear. The word in academic circles is ‘intersectionality’. Faith leaders have put it this way from time immemorial \u201cWe are all connected.\u201d Find your power. If you have the privilege of race or gender or class: use it. If you don’t, recognize the power you have taken for yourself and don\u2019t give it away.<\/p>\n

My friend just reminded me that many times in Scripture we are urged to \u201cBe not afraid\u201d or \u201cFear not\u201d. So why am I, a pastor, a follower in the Way, asking you to be afraid? Because if we are not afraid then we are blind to the present reality. But being afraid, recognizing the road down which this nation is travelling, is essential. To not be afraid you must first recognize what it is that you fear.<\/p>\n

If you are<\/em> afraid then<\/em> let me encourage you to ‘fear not’. Don\u2019t let the fear paralyze you. Don\u2019t let the fear suck your power. Don\u2019t let the fear intimidate you. Don\u2019t let the fear make you too tired to act and speak and stand.<\/p>\n

Be afraid but don\u2019t be afraid of the fear. It is telling you what you need to know.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Are you afraid of what is going on in Washington? If you\u2019re not, you need to be. Everything that comes out of the White House is frightening: the leaks from staff who say they are staying, though it may ruin their careers because of the crazy they have stopped, the rule of law that is … Continue reading Are You Afraid?<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[13,23,25],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/connietuttle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/connietuttle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/connietuttle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/connietuttle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/connietuttle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=582"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/connietuttle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":585,"href":"http:\/\/connietuttle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582\/revisions\/585"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/connietuttle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/connietuttle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/connietuttle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}