Homecoming

In that day the Lord will reach out his hand a second time to reclaim the surviving remnant of his people from Assyria, from Lower Egypt, from Upper Egypt, from Cush, from Elam, from Babylonia, from Hamath and from the islands of the Mediterranean. He will raise a banner for the nations and gather the exiles of Israel; he will assemble the scattered people of Judah from the four quarters of the earth. Isaiah 11:11-12

‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will take the Israelites out of the nations where they have gone. I will gather them from all around and bring them back into their own land. I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel.’ Ezekiel 37:21-22

The story of the people of God is a story of returning. Those among us who love gardens and gardening may be pleased to know that the story of the Bible both begins and ends in a garden. Those who long to know and experience the full presence of God will delight to know that God lives with us in the garden at both the beginning and the end. Intentional or not, the music group Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young are biblical when they sing “We are stardust, we are golden, we are billion year-old carbon, And we got to get ourselves back to the garden.”*

We have got to get ourselves back to the garden. We have to come home. That appears to be God’s dream, too. We should want to come home. Multiple times, the people of God find themselves scattered, exiled to foreign lands, and under the control of foreign powers. The people of the northern Kingdom of Israel are exiled to Assyria. The people of the southern Kingdom of Judah are exiled to Babylon. But this is not their home. This is not where they are meant to be and it is not God’s dream for them. Through the prophets, God calls them home. Homecoming is God’s wish, God’s heart, and God’s will. Yet, as time is spent away and the generations pass, the people settle in and make their way in a foreign land. Some forget their home. Some have found what they believe is their new home. Some have found what they believe are good reasons for not returning.

While these are ancient stories, they are our stories, too. In our own time, exile happens. We get separated from home, we develop new patterns of life, and we may even tell ourselves that this is okay.

This beloved parish is home in many ways. We call the church family the household of God. It is a household in the sense of an economy with roles and relationships as in the Greek word oikos. But even more so, this parish is home because it is where so many of us center our lives and share our lives. It is home because in the absence of nearby consanguineal or affinal kin, as is true for most of us, this parish is the home where we gather with our adopted family.

After two years and more of COVID or other caused exile, God’s dream is still the same. If you have been away a while, God is calling you home. In this season of sacrifice and resurrection, come home for Holy Week and stay for the Easter Season. We are having a parish brunch between the services on Easter day. Come join your family at the Easter table. And then join us for Country Fare. There will be a place for every one in the household to serve. Things are looking green outside my office window. Flowers are dancing in the breeze and the buds on the trees are starting to pop. It is time to get ourselves back to the garden.

Grace and peace,
Fr. Bill+

* Lyrics by Joni Mitchell

Why Lent?

Deriving its name from the Anglo-Saxon word “lencton” - meaning lengthening - the season of Lent occurs at a time of year when the days are lengthening. It is a most appropriate name for that reason but even more so because it is the time of year in which the light that has come into the darkness is made most manifest in the passion of Jesus Christ and it is the time of year during which people turn toward and make preparation to receive that light anew on Easter Sunday.

Because it is the season of reparation and preparation, it became the time in the Church year in which notorious sinners underwent public penance and were readmitted to communion before the Easter feast and the time of year in which those seeking for the first time admission into the church would undergo their final preparation for baptism at the Great Vigil of Easter.

While the church has moved away from excommunicating and then readmitting notorious sinners the feel and themes of Lent remain penitential and it is now the whole body of the faithful who share in corporate confession and reparation. With practices brought forward from the Old Testament, where repentance is given symbolic expression in the donning of sack cloth and ashes, Lent begins on Ash Wednesday with the declaration that God hates nothing that God has made and forgives the sins of all who are penitent, and the imposition of ashes for those desiring an outward expression of their inward penitence. While sack cloth is not in keeping with current fashion, churches do something parallel in the veiling of crosses and statuary and the use of unbleached linens. In our readings for the season, we listen for, hear, and reflect on messages of conversion, baptism, and the promise of new life.

This Ash Wednesday we will again take blessed ashes out of the church into the world for those whose work and whose school schedules keep them from attending the traditional service at noon that day. Please join us at 7am in the courtyard if you are in that former category and invite your friends to Ash Wednesday at Good Shepherd. During the forty days of Lent we will be gathering on Wednesday evenings at 5:30 pm for a simple supper and a teaching on the Book of the Maccabees I and II. Those books tell the story of God’s faithfulness to God’s people and their faithfulness to the covenant during a time of severe hardship. The theme of faithfulness is an appropriate one during the Lenten season when our lectionary readings amplify the faithfulness of Jesus during his time of severe hardship.

Holy Week is the final week of Lent. Holy Week takes us from Jesus’ humble entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday through his death and burial on Good Friday and the Great Vigil of Easter where we welcome back the light of Christ. Keep an eye on the announcements and newsletter for information on these and other opportunities to experience the meaning of Lent. And because it may be the most appropriate time for them to do so, I encourage you to invite someone you know who has slipped in their faith journey to reconnect with God this Lent. Invite them to come and see, and let the Holy Spirit do the rest.

“I invite you, therefore, in the name of the Church, to the observance of a holy Lent, by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God’s holy Word.” - Book of Common Prayer, p. 265.

Grace and peace, Fr Bill+

Happy New Year

“Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old. I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. The wild animals will honor me, the jackals and the ostriches; for I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people, the people whom I formed for myself so that they might declare my praise.” Isaiah 43:19- 21

The prophet Isaiah brings a message from God to his people who are suffering in exile. It is a message of hope. There is a better future now breaking forth. Yes, things have been hard, mistakes were made, and the people are suffering the consequences of their actions and the actions of others that have impacted all the people. God says, “let it go.” Do not remember those former things. They poison the soul. They keep us from looking forward and seeing the new opportunity and new blessings because they keep us anchored in past. God says, “let it go, lift up your heads and see the new thing before you.”

As we enter this new year, do reflect on what is past, give thanks and make your confession, but then let go of memories that do not bring light and joy to your life. Look to the present moment for the new thing God is doing and with anticipation of blessing, look for what good thing God is bringing into your life.

We likely all have our wilderness and desert experiences, times like in the wilderness and desert when circumstances were hard and our resources sparse. Times when we and others were not our best selves. Learn from those, but remember that you are not meant to stay in the wilderness. The Lord has a made a way forward. That means you should take the way out, not stay there. The way out is to forget the former things and look for the new thing. Some may need more help with this than others. The former things can be very difficult for some and your prayers for them are a help.

A friend recently said to me that “You do not have a choice but to go through this. The choice you do have is how you will do it.” His name is not Isaiah, but he also is saying to look for the new thing, to remain a person of hope. I will carry that with me into this new year. I will look for the new thing. I will offer praise to the God of our salvation.

Grace and peace be yours in this new year,

Bill+

The Gift of Presence

“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:14

Merry Christmas to you and your loved ones, those with us and those who have gone before us. Yes, we are in Advent and yes, it is important that we observe the Advent season with the holy commitment due in itself and not merely as preliminary to Christmas. Still, Merry Christmas to you and your loved ones, those with us and those who have gone before us for they are alive in the Lord. Merry Christmas, Saint Nicholas of Myra. Merry Christmas, Mother Teresa of Calcutta. Merry Christmas all you past and present saints of Good Shepherd, Hayesville.

Every Christmas Day we hear John’s Christmas story. No trek of the Holy Family from Nazareth to Bethlehem. No donkey ride for Mary. No inn, no manger, no shepherds in the fields keeping watch over their flocks, no angel choirs. No star in the night sky and no gift-bearing visitors from the east coming at Epiphany. Most of everything we usually think about when we recall and share the story of the incarnation is missing from John’s Christmas story. It does not seem suited for a Hallmark movie of the week or even a Hallmark card. How would a children’s program enact this story before adoring parents and grandparents? Good thing we have Matthew and Luke’s stories.

Yet, there it is according to John. Merry Christmas! The fullness of God in Jesus has moved into the neighborhood. He has pitched his tent and in more ways than one. He has pitched his tent by choosing to take on human form and he has pitched his tent by choosing to live among us. This twofold enfleshment, embodiment, incarnation, is the gift of God becoming one of us and living among us. The incarnation, then, is both personal and relational. It is personal in that God came as a person and it is relational in that the person of God came to dwell among us as a family member. God incarnate is not someone who buying the home next door is seen only coming and going as the garage door opens and closes.

The sense of the Greek term for dwelling suggests someone who regularly comes over for dinner, someone you share raising your children with, someone who is there for you when there is celebration and there is loss. Long before State Farm, like a good neighbor, the incarnate God is there.

The spirit of the incarnation, then, is properly about being present and being involved. As followers of Christ, we acknowledge and welcome at Christmas the one who came among us to be one of us and to be for us. As followers of Christ, we live that spirit of the incarnation by being among and for others as Christ was and is. Think about who you know who could use the gift of your presence this Christmas. May your presence be a present to them and to you this Christmas season and beyond.

Merry Christmas,
Fr. Bill+

Oblation

ob·la·tion
noun: a thing presented or offered to God.

The Hebrew scriptures contain many passages about things offered to God. The system of sacrifice and offering described in the book Leviticus is a bit complex with its many commands about what to offer and when for expressions of thanksgiving, restoration, guilt, and for making atonement. I remember from my seminary days when our liturgy professor would check our homework by asking for a so-called “wave” offering (Lev. 8:27). He would say “Show me your homework by wave offering” and we would hold up and wave our homework papers like they were a sheaf of grain.

In actual practice, the Temple priests would take the wave offering and wave it before the Lord in thanksgiving on behalf of the people. One occasion for the wave offering was following the first harvest of the year. This was the barley harvest and corresponded to the Feast of Unleavened Bread. People would present a sheaf of barley grain as an offering of the “first fruits” - the best - of that harvest.

In the Gospels, we hear of another form of oblation. For several weeks recently in our Sunday readings, we have heard Jesus talk about his own self-oblation. He tells his disciples several times that he is to be betrayed, handed over to the authorities, made to suffer and be killed. He tells them plainly that he gives his life for the sake of others (Mk 10:45).

The Letter to the Hebrews makes much of the comparison and contrast of the offering of Jesus Christ and the Levitical priesthood. Unlike the repeated sacrifices in the Temple, his life self-offered is the perfect sacrifice once made for atonement that ends the need for all further atoning sacrifices (Heb 7:27).

In their differing ways, each of the Eucharistic prayers in the Book of Common Prayer, makes mention of this oblation. You will read this most fully stated in the Rite I prayers but it is found in all of them when they speak of his sacrificial and atoning death. Like the Hebrew scriptures that call for the participation of the people in making an offering, the Gospels invite all into the practice of self-oblation. Jesus invites all who would be his people to take up the cross and follow him. That is an invitation to imitate and walk in the pathway of self-offering that Jesus walked.

As people who make self-oblation, like Jesus Christ we offer our selves, our souls and our bodies, for the sake of the Gospel. The Gospels tell us that this is neither easy to accept nor to live out without some good measure of grace. The disciples failed to understand Jesus’ talk of his death and resurrection. They likely failed to initially grasp what he meant when he reinterpreted the offering of bread and wine as an offering of himself.

The self-oblation of God is a deeply mysterious thing and one that distinguishes the Christian faith from others. Our own walking the way of Jesus and practicing self-oblation is also a mysterious thing but understand that our gathering for the celebration of Holy Eucharist plays an important role in this. When we gather and receive the sacrament, we are being lifted up, encouraged, prayed for, forgiven, healed, and fed with grace so that we may be sent out to do the work God has given us to do - to go in peace to love and serve the Lord.

All then that we do, when we are mindful of who we are and who we serve, can be a self-oblation and the stuff of a life lived as an offering to God.

Grace and peace and self-oblation be yours,
Fr. Bill+

Exile

“These are the words of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the remaining elders among the exiles, and to the priests, the prophets, and all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.’ ” - Jeremiah 29:1,4-7

To borrow a phrase from a popular insurance company commercial, the people of God know a thing or two about exile because they have seen a thing or two about exile. Exile - a forced separation from home and life in a foreign land - happens many times in the story of God’s people. Beginning early with Adam and Eve, the people of God are exiled from their home. Individuals such as Jacob and Joseph and Moses find themselves exiled and living long periods in foreign lands. And later, the exile of an entire nation is experienced first by the northen Kingdom of Israel in 722 BC and then the southern Kingdom of Judah in 587 BC. The people of God know a thing or two about exile, about what it is like to be separated from and long for their home.

As the continuing people of God, we too are experiencing our days of exile. Eighteen months and counting. I was hopeful in the spring of 2020 that our exile would be short lived. I hoped that by midsummer we would be back at church in worship and fellowship. And I now realize how much that must be like the hopes of previous generations of God’s people who across time have found themselves forced into exile by some external circumstance. As much as we have faithfully faced shortterm challenges from within, we now face a long-term challenge for our time that comes from without.

The prophet Jeremiah writes to the exiles in Babylon with God’s words of wisdom to help them live through their exile. They are words for us today. These are not the best of times, but they are also not the worst of times for most people. Yes, there have been deep and grievous losses for some. Yes, the isolation and loneliness are deep and painful for some. God bless them with grace and peace and hope.

Jeremiah’s words from God bid all of us to live our lives. Live our lives as best we can. Even in these times, celebrate life and make a joyful noise. We have been doing that at church. We have been living. We have been offering fellowship and formation and service to the community within and without. We have been praying and worshiping and even singing when that seemed prudent. We have adapted and we have adapted some more. We have been here for you and remain here for you. We have made a life for ourselves in this time of exile.

I am deeply grateful for all who have been part of this past eighteen plus months. You have been resilient and have shown incredible faithfulness. I now ask something more. Not different, but more. Our church, our communities, and our nation need your prayers more now than ever. Like people in exile, we are not living as we want to live, but pray. Church is not as we want church to be, but pray. Our people are suffering and our communities are suffering, but pray. Our nation is not what it ought to be, but pray. Pray for the welfare of our church and all churches. Pray for all our neighbors. And pray for all in authority who lead our nation. God says that it is in welfare of these that we will find our welfare.

The people of God know a thing or two about exile. They know that one day the exile will be over. God promised that the people of God would one day come home. History tells us that God’s word is true. God’s people came home more than once or twice or three times. I believe God will do it again. God brings light to darkness and life out of death. God is the God of resurrection. Until then and while we wait in faith, making the best of life that we now have, pray for the church and know that we are here for you.

Grace and peace,
Fr. Bill+

The Smallest of Things

Again Jesus said, “What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds on earth. Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds can perch in its shade.” Mark 4:30-32

Like many other sayings of Jesus, one may look again at this passage and wonder what can be said this time that has not already been said so many times before - so many times before that the audience tunes out. Passages like these are a challenge not so much because of their difficulty but because of their familiarity. A not unexpected approach to this text would focus on the size of the seed and contrast that small size with the very large size of the full-grown plant and would then make the non surprising parallel with the small group of disciples gathered around Jesus and great size of the church as it has become a global institution.

This is all fine and good and can be used toward a number of exhortations about faith, hope, trust, and patience among other virtues. But I am thinking that the text has more to say and that its details testify to its genius. Small things matter. For the Kingdom of God to become a place where all the metaphorical birds perch in its metaphorical branches, small things matter. For our parish to realize its potential in our day and for our individual spiritual lives to deepen, small things matter. And not just any small thing, but the smallest of things and their small progress.

I have been reading recently about the Japanese philosophy of kaizen. It is a compound word of “kai” meaning change and “zen” meaning good. Kaizen is the philosophy of making small changes by setting small goals, thinking small thoughts, asking small questions about how to reach those goals, and using the smallest of means toward small steps on a longer path. As it turns out, kaizen is highly effective toward making desired changes whereas radical, innovative, and large changes often fail. Kaizen is the wisdom of fable of The Tortoise and the Hare. Slow and steady really does win the race. Small and steady get us where we are going.

It is the same wisdom expressed in the saying, “The journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step.” In organizations following kaizen, each person is expected to share in the culture of small things by looking and asking again and again “what small things can be done to improve the work place.” Each observation may be the smallest of things but multiply that small thing by each day at work and by the number of people employed. For an individual, small good changes lead to more small good changes on the way to accomplishing that thousand mile journey. Similarly, small changes compounded by the many can transform a great organization into one that is truly exceptional. And because each change is so small, it hardly seems to require much effort. One mustard seed, a cup of soil, some water and sunshine. What about then planting another seed? Just one and then another. It is a small thing, but Jesus teaches that small things planted for the Kingdom produce big results.

We are entering our customary season of stewardship. I ask for all to do something small this year. Someone once said that the simplest yet perhaps most important prayer one can offer is “Thank you.” Say a word of thanksgiving to God for God’s protection and provision over this past year. I know there have been some great losses during this time, and for some the word of thanksgiving in that loss may be for the life of their loved one and God’s presence with them in that very hard time. But start with the smallest of expression of gratitude and then ask “What next?”

Ask the Spirit for guidance and listen to your hearts. If you are not in the practice of meeting God in scripture, try the smallest of things by reading just one sentence from one of the Gospels. Maybe there is some small action or a small increase in the giving of time, talent, and treasure that you come to feel is your “what next.” Listen to that inner voice. Jesus speaks of the power of small things. I believe small things - small steps, small prayers, small actions - multiplied by the many of us can lead an already blessed community into being even more the beloved community of God.

Grace and peace,
Fr. Bill+

Wonderment

I remember an occasion from many years ago when Susan and I were visiting a friend. One day we went out to do some shopping and her young son strapped in his car seat was launching a constant stream of questions with a simple “why?” It seemed that after every patient answer she gave, his little mind would wonder some more and out of his little mouth would come another “why” as if he were probing deeper and deeper into the mysteries of life, as if each answer given was not sufficient for his ever curious brain. Somewhere along our travels, he fell asleep and the whys ended. Ended briefly, that is. When we reached the mall and our friend woke her son, his first sound was “why” as if one from earlier had failed to launch.

The Bible calls us children and Jesus says the Kingdom of God belongs to children. Children we are and child-like with wonderment we should be. A friend once described to me what retirement was like for him. He asked, “Do you remember what Saturday was like when you were a kid?” I replied, “Yes.” He then said, “It is like that but there is no homework due on Monday.”

That sounds like some sweet freedom to play and to explore, to not take everything so seriously, not even ourselves and how we succeed or fail. The next day is Saturday too. And what long days those are when without the pressure to perform and to get things done, we can pause and nap and goof off and maybe even see and hear things we otherwise are just too rushed, just too worried, just too accomplished to see and hear. There could even be space in there for us to wonder our whys. We should ask more whys. We should have that child-like endless curiosity that launches those whys. And maybe it is just fine that we do not have an answer. Maybe it is more important that we have another why, that our amazement and curiosity and playfulness do not come to an end.

Some of us, including me, should probably play hooky from our responsibilities and tend to our amazement and curiosity. We should take time away from our doing and fixing and take a little more time for our being. There is no homework due on Monday and if there is, oh well, there are other important things life, like doing nothing and simply experiencing awe. Jesus is not going to flunk us either way. If you find something amazing let others know that they may wonder with you. Say, “Everybody, look!” Too many of us are so busy adulting that we miss the good stuff that God has prepared to delight God’s children.

So, like the old Paul Harvey program I will close by letting you know that that young boy with all the whys is now a Boeing engineer. He is working on virtual reality technology and sharing with his wife the rearing of two young daughters. I hope they do to and for him what he did to and for his mom and me - the reminder of wonderment and why.

Grace and peace and wonderment to you,

Fr. Bill+

Wonderment

Page 3

The Shepherd’s Voice

Gratitude

I am grateful for so many reasons. The past sixteen months of Covid-19 have brought forth opportunity after opportunity for our church members to express creative ways of being the people of God here at church and in the community. We are a flexible and adaptive bunch. I am grateful for all those who have been a great help to me and to others as we carried on with worship of God and service to others. So many of you pitched in where you could, doing things that you had not done before, and showing a willingness to serve wherever and however that might be helpful toward creating opportunities for us to gather here at church and to bring the grace of God to people beyond our parish. I am grateful.

I am grateful for the generosity you have shown with your time, talent, and treasure. Many of you have continued to give generously of your time to take good care of our church building and grounds. While there was less use of our physical resources those always require care and maintenance. And I am grateful to those who continued to support this parish financially. I understand that some have been unhappy with the rules under which we have operated during this pandemic and I understand that unhappiness can be expressed in a number of ways including redirecting your treasure to another organization. May God be blessed and God bless you for your generosity however and wherever expressed.

I am grateful for our Bishop. The ministry of a bishop is to be the chief pastor of a diocese. In our case, that means that Bishop Jose has the care of over fourteen thousand souls in his hands in addition to the management of the diocese in all its mission and ministry. Having spent time with him on many occasions, I can say that he takes seriously his role as pastor. His care is sincere and deep. I have not always agreed with his decisions, but I do not doubt that he is doing what he prayerfully discerns he is called to do to safeguard those under his care. I am sure this past sixteen months has been hard on him and I am grateful that he has carried the burden with grace and good humor.

I am grateful for your church staff and your vestry. They have served under difficult and frequently changing circumstances and always with a good spirit. May God bless the souls of those who took a voluntary furlough. By their sacrifice and your generosity we have been able to meet all our expenses during this time without the external financial help that other organizations have required.

I am especially grateful for Tawanna for moving her workplace into her home and managing to do a great job while working remotely. While there have been many jokes and funny videos shared about how people have been working remotely, like working all day in the pajamas or only dressing from the waist up, I do know something from my former academic career of how isolating and stressful working from home can actually be.

Your vestry has been nothing but supportive and wise. I am grateful that they have so carefully led during this time and I deeply regret that their time on the vestry has not been, in my guess, as spiritual and as gratifying as their predecessors have reported. May God restore the years that the virus has taken (Joel 2:25, sort of).

Please know that I am grateful for the many ways I trust you have been a faithful follower of Christ in ways known and ways unknown. God alone is the beginning and the end of all good, and God alone is our witness. So, wherever you are and whatever you decide, whether to return or to stay home or to move on, know that I am grateful for the good that God does for you and through you. It has been days, and weeks, and months of grace. May God continue to bless you and all of God’s people.

God’s holiness be yours,
Fr. Bill+

Images of God

“Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.” 1 John 4:8

Then Jesus said to those who had believed in him, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” John 8:31-32

Someone near and dear to me has speculated more than once about the nature of heaven. To paraphrase one of their thoughts, “What if you get the heaven you believe in?” Jesus did not say much about the afterlife and that does leave much to imagine. Will Saint Peter meet us at pearly gates? Can you get there on roller skates? Whatever else heaven will be like, it will be the place where the reign of God will be in full force.

It is that kind of speculation that reminds me that Christians hold all sorts of different beliefs about the character of God, about what God values, and about what it means to live a faithful life. There is ample and growing evidence that suggests many people believe that God values the same things they value. The difficulty is in deciding which came first, God’s values or ours. That diversity may at times cause conflict among the faithful as we seek to discern in community what it means to be and remain faithful, but it also creates a rich field for study that may help us understand and overcome some of those troubles.

Neuroscience, neuro-theology, psychology and other fields of science are discovering the many ways that our beliefs affect our brains and how our brains affect our beliefs, and how both in turn affect our physical, mental, and relational well-being. It appears that what you have been taught about and what you believe about God matters for your health.

So, what is your image of God? Is God, compassionate and loving, full of mercy and slow to anger, abounding in kindness? Or perhaps, you hold a view of God as a powerful, angry, judging, and punishing deity who notes your every sin? Maybe like me, you know both images of God. The latter is the God of my childhood and that is deeply imbedded in my being. And so, as a child it was, “Thank you, Jesus, for saving me from your Father’s wrath.”

I appreciate that scripture says many things. But it says some things more clearly than others. “God is love.” “The truth will make you free.” “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father.” Knowing the truth - that God is love, that Jesus taught love and not fear - will set you free. You have God’s word on it. Again and again, Jesus says not to be afraid, but to love. Love God, love your neighbor, love your enemy, and even love yourself.

As it turns out, belief in a loving God is associated with being a less fearful person. Brain research shows that focusing on love and compassion strengthens the connections in the brain associated with loving and compassionate thought and action. And it is that part of the brain where we find the wiring for love and compassion that also regulates our fear response. Focusing on, thinking about, and believing in love and compassion strengthens those faculties and is a way of overcoming fear. I am delighted when science finds, as it does here, what scripture has already revealed. “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.” John 1:4-18.

It seems that my friend is onto something. You do, in a way, get what you believe in. The good news is that positive beliefs can be strengthened and those not yet learned can be learned. With some discipline, unhealthy beliefs can be changed - all to the benefit of our mental, physical, and relational well-being. Thanks be to God.

Grace and peace,

Fr. Bill+