Faith, Hope, Love & Weeds

In last week’s Parable of the Weeds of the Field, the devil sowed weeds amid God’s good field of wheat. It’s about suffering, evil, and sin. Like God’s people in the parable, we see it and know it all too well. Preacher and scholar Tom Long says, with this parable, Jesus responded to three questions: God, did you do this? Do you want us to fix it? Will it always be this way? The answers, of course, are firm but gentle no’s. Here’s a bit more on question #2. 

God doesn’t want us to solve evil; God will do it. What does God ask of us instead? Faith, hope, and love, as Paul in Romans puts it. All three involve managing our natural fight-flight-freeze response.

Faithful writer Elizabeth Oldfield says, “When we are fearful, anxious, destabilised we can reach for things that look like solutions but will make everything worse.” The parable seems wise to this fuel for our weed pulling itch. Alex Evans, who Oldfield quotes, describes what happens inside of our bodies, starting with the amygdala, which reacts much faster than the rational, thoughtful part of our brains. And he connects this physiology of fear to the politics of our time.

…the amygdala can be amazingly good at keeping us alive when we’re in physical danger. And there lies the problem. …Your amygdala…can also decide to trigger fight-flight-freeze in the face of anything else that it perceives as threatening.

Like… arguments with our partners. Train cancellations. Call centre queues. People on the internet who are wrong. News coverage of wildfires, or airstrikes, or famines, or riots, or the cost of living, or corruption, or government incompetence.

And fight-flight-freeze…fires up all kinds of mental and emotional reactions too. Rage or terror can descend over us like a mist. We become less empathetic, more aggressive. We focus on our individual self-interests, not the common good. Or we lock into our in-groups and start ‘othering’ anyone we see as different from us.

…Fight-flight-freeze is ground zero for [our] toxic state of our politics, and it’s very much an equal opportunity affliction. None of us is immune. Everyone everywhere is freaking out. And so it is that something that starts in our private thoughts ripples out into the world, and helps to create the chaotic reality that we’re all inhabiting.

Oldfield points to faith, hope, and love as the antidotes to fight-flight-freeze. She calls her writing “an antihistamine for an allergy to faith, enabling you to get past the thorns to smell the flowers.” But you’re already past the thorns. So in her advice, you’ll hear what you already know:

…we need each other. We are made to be each other's safety. Time together, in our bodies, is medicine. Collective ritual is so steadying, but so are meals together, making art together, enjoying art together… [C]ollective singing in particular being a powerful way to let hard feelings move through us. If there is not already a choir or a congregation you can show up to, be the brave one and gather people. I would be astonished if you don’t feel better after.

Thanks be to God, there is already a congregation and a choir, a praise ensemble, Joyful Noise, bible studies, women’s circles, a men’s breakfast, and more…

Pastor Clark Olson-Smith