阅读经文 

在过去的两年里，多种危机引起了全社会的恐慌。一场全球大流行病已导致数百万人死亡，并在生活的各个领域造成了混乱。种族主义暴力和压迫没有得到遏制和解决，一些抗议活动以破坏和流血告终。几个国家有争议的选举造成了更多的混乱、暴力和猜疑。所有这些事情以及更多的事情都让人们想知道接下来会发生什么。结果，许多人都生活在恐惧之中。

我不认为使徒行传中 “全教会都甚惧怕”仅仅是因为发生在亚拿尼亚和撒非喇身上的事情。大多数人不需要担心以同样的方式受到惩罚。他们知道神是有能力的，讲真话是很重要的。但他们不知道的是接下来会发生什么——这可能就是他们所害怕的。

2020年，当世界因新冠病毒（COVID-19）而陷入瘫痪时，我们不知道接下来会发生什么。我们不知道事情何时才恢复正常。我们不知道谁会得病。所有这些都造成了恐惧。但在整个过程中，神过去和现在都掌管着一切。所以我们可以保持冷静。我们可以做我们需要做的事以保证安全。我们可以遵循神对我们的生活和社区的旨意。而且我们可以相信，无论发生什么，神仍然在掌管。

Over the past two years, multiple crises have caused community-wide fear. A global pandemic has left millions dead and has caused disruption in all areas of life. Racist violence and oppression have gone unchecked and unresolved, and some protests have ended in destruction and bloodshed. Contested elections in several countries have caused more disruption, violence, and suspicion. All of these things and more have left people wondering what will come next. As a result, many people are living in fear.

I don’t think that the “great fear” that “seized the whole church” in Acts was due only to what happened to Ananias and Sapphira. Most of the people didn’t need to be worried about being punished in the same way. They knew that God is powerful and that truth-telling is important. But what they didn’t know was what might happen next—and that is probably what they were afraid of.

When the world shut down from COVID-19 in 2020, we didn’t know what would happen next. We didn’t know when things would return to normal. We didn’t know who would get sick. All of that caused fear. But throughout everything, God was and is in control. So we can remain calm. We can do what we need to do to stay safe. We can follow God’s will for our lives and for our communities. And we can trust that no matter what happens, God is still in control.