For some, panic is triggered by health issues: When and where should I wear a mask? Should I eat indoors at a restaurant if I have health issues? Should my children go to school or not? For them, America and the world seem to be in the throes of disease, death, and economic destruction.
Others panic because of the protests in American cities which are being sabotaged and co-opted by extremists who resort to violence and destruction. People are fearful of chaos overturning the security of the nation.
Still others are in the grip of despair because they fear that if politicians only emphasize law and order, the country will not unite to work for justice for poor and minority Americans who rightfully deserve economic stability, fair wages, clean air and water in their neighborhoods, and adequate health care.
But panic benefits no one, least of all ourselves. Our panic doesn't benefit God and God's Will and Plan for us either. If our bodies and minds are paralyzed with panic, how can we hear God's Voice? Or be able to pick up on God's Signs for us in our daily lives? Or find the courage and compassion to reach out to others to work together for our mutual benefit and the benefit of our country and world!
God and panic cannot co-exist in our souls. Why? Because God is always calling us to stay calm and move forward to take the next risk! When a storm raged and Jesus was asleep in the boat and the panic-stricken apostles woke him up, his first words were "Why are you afraid?" In other words, if God is in your boat, don't panic. Let God be God. Cut the ropes, set your sail, and wait for the Wind of the Holy Spirit to aid your travel towards new horizons. The only spiritual attitude, then, that conquers panic is the calm that envelops us if we have faith and trust in God.
It can be helpful to let history teach us lessons. On April 4, 1968, when Dr. Martin Luther King, Junior, was assassinated, his chief followers, although they were spiritual men who trusted God, panicked and momentarily lost hope. Among some of his other followers, this loss of hope degenerated into violence. Urban rebellions erupted in the wake of King’s death in over one hundred cities, and violence left sections of these cities smoldering and in ruins.
The irony was that Dr. King had always preached non-violence and would have been aghast at the violent riots. He had said, "Violence as a way of achieving racial justice is both impractical and immoral. I am not unmindful of the fact that violence often brings about momentary results. Nations have frequently won their independence in battle. But in spite of temporary victories, violence never brings permanent peace.”
But King also believed that when injustice was imprisoning people, then good men and women of conscience had to speak and act NOW, take risks, trusting in God to lead them forward in their non-violent work for change: "There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe nor politic nor popular, but he must take it because his conscience tells him it is right.”
The Reverend Wyatt Tee Walker was one of King's closest friends and the main strategist for their non-violent protests which hopefully would lead to change. After KIng's death, he continued to urge King's followers to keep the faith and continue to take necessary risks.
In a sermon to seminarians at Princeton Theological University, Walker cautioned his audience to not let panic and despair cause them to stop taking risks and cling to the status quo. Instead, Walker proclaimed, “Whatever dream of life it is we envision for our children, ourselves, our community, our church, we will never bring it to our fingertips unless it begins first with some initial risk.... The elemental character of life is one that is moving and dynamic."
The desperate reality for African Americans at that moment in history could have held them in the chains of fear. But Walker urged them to break free of that fear and instead embrace hope-filled struggle, to take a risk of faith and build a new future for America. That meant, "doing, trying, moving toward things which have never been tried before. What I’m saying to you,” Walker declared, “is that I have the ultimate faith that we are going to find a tranquility with justice in this nation, in this world. We must! And it is conceivable it could happen in our time.”
When Walker speaks about the character of life as one that is moving and dynamic, it conjures dreams for me of the moving and dynamic Holy Spirit - a bracing spiritual Wind at our backs, pushing us forward to risk again, and a Fire of dancing flames stirring up the coals of our near-dead optimism. The Holy Spirit will inspire each of us and each of our communities with the answers to our personal questions about how to live and move during this pandemic.
Walker speaks of "doing, trying, moving toward things which have never been tried before." And I think of our multitude of scientists, experimenting, testing, searching for new medicines, new vaccines, risking exploring new ideas as they learn more and more about this deadly virus. Surely the Holy Spirit is hovering over them, even if some in this country reject their work. The Holy Spirit strengthens their consciences to do the right thing NOW because they have a dream of a nation healed and restored to physical and economic health.
And surely now, as in the 1960's, the riots will die down if other Americans step forward and risk saying that they want to understand, they want to dialogue, they want Americans of all skin colors and ethnic backgrounds to work together as one to move this country forward towards greater justice and unity. Can we continue the dream of the Rev. Wyatt Tee Walker by saying with him "I have the ultimate faith that we are going to find a tranquility with justice in this nation, in this world. We must! And it is conceivable it could happen in our time.” The giants of his time achieved real change for good in this country. We too need to desire that our ship of state will risk sailing towards new horizons of justice and peace by allowing God to be God of ALL people!
Allowing God to be God can be acknowledging that God is not only moving the hearts and souls of white Americans but also the hearts and souls of black, brown, yellow, and red Americans. God is not only moving the hearts and souls of Christian Americans, but God is also moving the hearts and souls of Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, and Buddhist Americans.
Dr. King, a Christian minister, spoke of this work of God in the hearts of people of all faiths. He knew God was at work because he read the signs of the times and saw that God Who is compassionate Love dwells at the heart of all faiths.
In his 1967 address to the anti-war group Clergy and Laity Concerned, Dr. King said:
"When I speak of love I am not speaking of some sentimental and weak response. I am speaking of that force which all of the great religions have seen as the supreme unifying principle of life. Love is somehow the key that unlocks the door which leads to ultimate reality. This Hindu-Moslem-Christian-Jewish-Buddhist belief about ultimate reality is beautifully summed up in the first epistle of Saint John: “Let us love one another; for love is God and everyone that loveth is born of God and knoweth God” [1 John 4:7]."
Fr. Richard Rohr explores the Buddhist approach to calming panic by waking up, which means becoming attentive to centering ourselves in love:
"The Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh (born 1926) is one of the world’s most influential spiritual teachers. During the Vietnam War, his work for peace brought him into friendship with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Thomas Merton, and other Christians who shared his belief that peace must be who we are, not just something we demand. Thich Nhat Hanh teaches:
"This capacity of waking up, of being aware of what is going on in your feelings, in your body, in your perceptions, in the world, is called Buddha nature, the capacity of understanding and loving. . . . It is with our capacity of smiling, breathing, and being peace that we can make peace.
"Many of us worry about the world situation. We don’t know when the bombs will explode. We feel that we are on the edge of time. As individuals, we feel helpless, despairing. The situation is so dangerous, injustice is so widespread, the danger is so close. In this kind of situation, if we panic, things will only become worse. We need to remain calm, to see clearly. Meditation is to be aware, and to try to help.
"I like to use the example of a small boat crossing the Gulf of Siam. In Vietnam, there are many people, called boat people, who leave the country in small boats. Often the boats are caught in rough seas or storms, the people may panic, and boats can sink. But if even one person aboard can remain calm, lucid, knowing what to do and what not to do, he or she can help the boat survive. His or her expression—face, voice—communicates clarity and calmness, and people have trust in that person. They will listen to what he or she says. One such person can save the lives of many.
"Our world is something like a small boat. Compared with the cosmos, our planet is a very small boat. We are about to panic because our situation is no better than the situation of the small boat in the sea. . . . Humankind has become a very dangerous species. We need people who can sit still and be able to smile, who can walk peacefully. We need people like that in order to save us. Mahayana Buddhism says that you are that person. . . .
"The root-word “budh” means to wake up, to know, to understand. A person who wakes up and understands is called a Buddha. It is as simple as that. The capacity to wake up, to understand, and to love is called Buddha nature. [Christians would call this Christ nature, the Christ self, or the mind of Christ.]" (Richard Rohr's Daily Meditation for Wed. July 29.)
To allow God to be God in our own hearts and minds is to humbly recognize and acknowledge that WE HAVE NO IDEA OF HOW AND WHERE GOD ACTS! We can only humbly have faith and trust that God IS always acting and that God IS always calling us to stay calm have faith and trust in God, and to keep our own boat continually moving into new and uncharted waters. God is always saying to us, "You are that person whom I want and need to stay calm, to trust in Me, to try to understand others, and to take the risk to work for a better, more just, more tranquil neighborhood, country, and world."
Can we allow God into the boat of our own lives and into the boat of our country's life? Our world's life? Pope Francis urges us
"Let us invite Jesus into the boats of our lives. Let us hand over our fears to him so that he can conquer them. Like the disciples, we will experience that with him on board there will be no shipwreck. Because this is God’s strength: turning to the good everything that happens to us, even the bad things. He brings serenity into our storms, because with God life never dies.
” (Pope's Mission for August 1.)