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Viewpoint from Revd David Wells 22/08/2025
 Revd David Wells
Rector, Holy Trinity Church, Caister-on-Sea
Rural Dean, Great Yarmouth
We live in a world full of fear and anger. The recent panic when a rowing dinghy, mistakenly thought to be carrying immigrants, was spotted off Yarmouth is just one example of how on-edge we all seem to be. Where does all this fear come from?
For some of us, fear is rooted in the past. If we have experienced trauma and loss early in life, or if we grew up in a home that was dangerous and unpredictable, then fear shaped our brains, becoming so embedded in us that we remain fearful in adult life, always on the look-out for threats and never daring to take risks
 For others, fear is not so much about the past as about a precarious present. The charity Christians Against Poverty carried out a survey last year that found that across the UK a third of all adults experienced daily anxiety about money. If life is a struggle to make ends meet, with little or no security or stability, then fear and anxiety becomes a constant feature
So there is fear everywhere and that comes with a cost: a cost to the fearful whose lives are diminished by fear, and a cost to those around them, because when we are fearful we rarely treat others well, compassion and generosity go out the window
Jesus said “Do not be afraid little flock, It is the Father’s good pleasure to give us the kingdom” (Luke 12.32)
These words speak to both our past and present fears. Calling us his “little flock” is a reminder that even if there were times in the past when we were unsafe, now we have a good shepherd who is always there for us, always looking out for us. And in telling us that God has “given us the kingdom” Jesus addresses our present fears rooted in scarcity and insecurity. Through Jesus, God has opened up the possibility of a world in which the poor are fed, the humble lifted up, in which we live in peace with God and with each other and with all creation. God has given us all this and invited us into a world in which all our material and spiritual needs are abundantly met. That is the underlying reality of life. While human greed and selfishness sometimes hides and distorts this reality ,creating an illusion of scarcity, the truth is there is more than enough provided for all of us, and no need to fear
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