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On the days preceding Alexei Navalny’s funeral, hundreds of people were arrested at events commemorating a man who had been Russia’s most prominent opposition leader. And yet thousands of people turned up, at a church in Moscow, to pay their respects to Navalny, despite a heavy police presence. It would have taken a lot to overcome fear and attend this funeral given the current political climate in Russia. The reality is we all carry fears, however secretly. The fear of not being good enough, fear of disgrace. The fear of illness, or of death. Fear often affects our behaviour; a lot of what we say, think, or do is actually motivated by fear. As soon as we invest in an ideal, a value and a future, we live with the prospect that that it might be undermined or taken away from us and so fear in this sense, is the opposite of Hope. Nelson Mandela in his first presidential speech said, “May your choices reflect your hopes, and not your fears.” Our fears are in part shaped and inherited and this can be said not only of individual, personal fear, but also of collective fear. Mobilising collective fear can give people a new sense of urgency for example with climate change. But if fear takes over, it can immobilise people or lead to the scapegoating of communities. Fear is an unwieldy beast which makes complex issues very dangerous and once fear is exploited it cannot be controlled, and often over time backfires. If it is the case that fears are educated into us, then we can educate them out of us. There is no more common phrase in the Bible than ‘Have no fear’, ‘Do not be afraid,’ or ‘Fear not’. The biblical command ‘do not fear’ is not about being cavalier but rather prayerful and wise in the face of fear. It is the belief that God has a much higher expectation for us, than that we simply anticipate trouble. Fear makes us defensive, turns us in on ourselves. It’s opposite is not simply courage, but love. The early Christian writer John said, ‘There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.’ No one human can fail to understand what people in the world have to be afraid of today. Like those who attended Alexei Navalny’s funeral in spite of the fear of the police presence, when we do not let fear dictate our behaviour our actions of love, courage and hope naturally begin to mirror our intentions and when this happens there are no limits to what goodness we can achieve.