Reflecting on fear and hate Vs hope and love

I'm leading a remembrance Sunday service again. I'm aware that this is almost the last time that this will be a choice (assuming that both myself and the Methodist church conceive to agree that I should be ordained). This year, the massive upsurge in nationalism means that I am even more wary than I have been in the past. Over the last year fear of the other and hated for anyone who is different has become much more prevalent. As part of the service I will be sharing elements of the post I shared this time last year on why I wear a white poppy, but I'll also be exploring how we can live with hope and love rather than the fear and hatred which appear to be shaping so much of the world today.

John 14:23–31

Romans 12:9–20

Fear and hatred are powerful motivators, often shaping peoples lives and actions yet as Christians we are called to live very differently. Phrases such as “do not be afraid” occur somewhere over 120 times in the bible, in contrast at no point in scripture are we told to be afraid of others or to hate other people.

John 14:23–31

Our Gospel passage comes from Jesus’ farewell discourse in John’s Gospel, words spoken on the eve of his death. Jesus prepares the disciples for his physical departure and reassures them that his absence will not mean abandonment. “Those who love me will keep my word,” he says, “and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.”

The key promise is that through the Holy Spirit, God’s love continues to dwell within the community. This promise transforms the disciples’ relationship to fear. Though their world is about to collapse, their teacher betrayed, executed, and gone, they are to know peace, a peace unlike that which the world offers.

The peace Jesus gives is not the enforced calm of empire or the fragile pause between conflicts, but a peace born of love and trust in God’s abiding presence. “Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not be afraid,” words that acknowledge the reality of fear, but which also invite transformation through love. Hope is made possible not because danger disappears, but because love remains stronger than fear.

In the context of remembrance, this peace resists the glorification of war. It names the world’s violence honestly while refusing to let fear, grief, or anger define us. The peace of Christ empowers us to live courageously, acting for reconciliation and compassion rather than vengeance or despair.

Romans 12:9–21

Romans 12 offers a concrete vision of what life shaped by Christ’s peace looks like. After eleven chapters of theology, Paul turns to ethics: “Let love be genuine.” The Greek agapē implies a love grounded not in sentiment or preference, but in active commitment to others’ good.

In this letter Paul gives us a simple, practical picture of what following Christ looks like:

• Hold on to what is good; turn away from what is wrong.

• Be joyful in hope, patient in suffering, and faithful in prayer.

• Bless those who treat you badly; don’t repay evil with evil.

• If your enemy is hungry, give them something to eat.

• Don’t let evil win but overcome evil by doing good.

  
  

Paul turns the wisdom of the world on its head. Instead of fear and retaliation, believers are to respond with compassion and peace.

Hope is not passive optimism but active endurance, choosing the good even when it costs. Love becomes a moral resistance to the cycle of hatred.

This is not weakness; it is strength born of hope in God’s justice and grace. By refusing to mirror violence, we can bear witness to the new creation that is already breaking into the present.

So, when we see the world around us being torn apart by fear and hatred don’t be discouraged but remember that the hope we have in Christ is stronger than fear and the love of God is stronger than hatred. To live by Christ’s peace is to be liberated from fear’s control. To love sincerely is to resist hatred’s pull. These readings call us not only to recall past suffering, but to let our remembering shape a future rooted in love, reconciliation, and courage.