Courage in the face of fear(s)

Could the biblical writers please make up their minds? The portion of the psalm we read in church yesterday (see above) concludes with reference to the fear of the Lord as the beginning of wisdom. We find variations on that statement in several places in scripture.

At the same time, one of the most common biblical lines when conversation begins between heavenly and human beings: Fear not. Don’t be afraid. Beyond that, there are scriptures that place fear and love in opposition. We read in the New Testament that perfect love casts out fear.

So which is it? It’s clear we’re faced with two different kinds of fear. It may well be that we harbor both.

On the one hand, there is the fear that sets itself in opposition to love. There’s plenty to be afraid of. We live in a world with devils filled that threaten to undo us, according to Martin Luther. The history of religion across many traditions has often been fear-based, calling us to compliance and conformity. Or else. We may imagine a God who waits for us to step out of line, eternal damnation resulting. Thanks be to God, a lot of that fear-based religion as motivator for religious practice has given way to the way of love.

At the same time, we’re encouraged to embrace the kind of fear that paves the way for wisdom, wisdom as something the world needs now, something there’s just too little of? (Thank you, Dionne Warwick.) This brand of fear has to do with a recognition of God’s greatness. It can be captured in the word “awesome,” a word which may have lost meaning as it is used to describe a cup of coffee or a movie or the latest fashion.

If you’ve ever been tempted (as I have) to imagine that God is lucky to have us on the team, the fear of the Lord opens the way for a better and wiser understanding of our own place in the universe. Scripture can assist us in that understanding, as the psalm du jour speaks of God’s greatness and majesty, as it reminds us of God’s faithfulness, God’s patience.

Maybe the question for us this Monday morning is this: What kind of fear is shaping our lives these days? What kind of fear will we choose to live by?

We may need to admit that in our complicated interior life, we harbor both kinds of fear at the same time. It will take courage to deal with that complexity. A meditation from Richard Rohr which I read last week cited this quote from James L. Farmer: “Courage, after all, is not being unafraid, but doing what needs to be done in spite of fear.” Rohr goes on to note the implication, which is that if you’re not scared, it’s not courage.

In our liturgy we ask for strength and courage. Courage in terms of bravery to recognize those things that make us fearful. Courage in the sense of love (the word courage has at its root the word for heart, as in the French coeur) as we recognize the truly awesome nature of amazing grace.

What kind of fear do you harbor this morning? Ask for grace to face fear with courage. Let that prayer open the pathway to the holy fear that can lead to greater wisdom.

-Jay Sidebotham

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Memorization: Try it, you’ll like it.

I left my job as an art director in a New York ad agency on a Friday. The next Monday morning, I showed up at Union Seminary to start the three year Masters of Divinity program. Slight career shift (though some snarky friends say I’m still in advertising.)

I was excited to show up on campus. As I walked the halls, I was struck with its history, sensing the presence of spiritual giants who had studied or taught there, people like Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Paul Tillich, Raymond Brown, James Cone.

We had an orientation session, led by the Rev. James Forbes, who was teaching at the time at Union, and went on to become Senior Pastor at Riverside Church. I was impressed with the headiness of it all. So I was a bit surprised by the counsel given by Dr. Forbes, the advice he offered to help us navigate our course of study. He said: Memorize Psalm 139. It will change your life.

I grew up in a church that held memorization of bible verses in high regard. There was an almost magical way of thinking about the value of the practice. We would get points if we could recite verses in Sunday School. I developed an ability to locate the shortest verses in the Bible, for example, John 11:35: Jesus wept.

Fast forward to my matriculation at Union. I did not expect that coming to this high-falutin’ institution I’d be asked to memorize Bible verses. But I quickly came to admire Dr. Forbes, and so in that first year I memorized the first 17 verses. I don’t remember them all now, but whenever the psalm turns up in liturgy (as it did yesterday in church…see the portion of the psalm included above), I remember Dr. Forbes’ counsel. So think with me about why this psalm might be so important.

Lord, you have searched me out and known me. Psalm 139:1

For one thing, it reminds us that God knows us better than we know ourselves. It reminds me that my prayers are not a matter of clueing God in on what God does not already know. I’m coming to realize that perhaps the most powerful kind of prayer has to do with contemplation, with finding a way to sit in silence in the holy presence, trusting God knows the secrets of our hearts, that God knows what we need before we can even articulate those needs.

You are acquainted with all my ways. Psalm 139:2

It also reminds me that with such intimate knowledge of my inner thoughts, God is not put off. The great grace of our faith may be that God knows us and still loves us. In many human interactions, we sense that if people really knew who we were, they would have little to do with us. Not so with the Holy One. Which is probably what makes God holy. It’s what makes grace amazing.

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It is so high I cannot attain it. Psalm 139:5

Finally, the psalm reminds us that our lives unfold in the face of mysteries beyond our understanding. Speaking for myself, there’s no way I can wrap my mind around the mystery of God knowing us and loving us, knowing every person on every floor of every apartment in my neighborhood, in my city, in the world. That’s where faith comes in. Albert Einstein said that there were two ways to look at life. One, as if nothing is miracle. Two, as if everything is miracle. The journey of faith, which often involves a leap, asks us to trust that this divine knowledge is our reality.

So as the new year begins, maybe you want to memorize this psalm. Or perhaps pick just one verse to chew on. And see if Dr. Forbes was right. See if it changes your life.

-Jay Sidebotham

Interested in RenewalWorks for your parish? Learn more about how RenewalWorks works!

RenewalWorks: Helping churches focus on spiritual growth

RenewalWorks is about re-orienting your parish around spiritual growth. And by spiritual growth – we mean growing in love of God and neighbor.

Churches can launch as part of a fall or spring cohort or go on their own schedule.  Sign up now!!

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Beauty

It goes without saying that as we begin a new year, there is much in our world that is not beautiful. We are confronted with images of rubble in Gaza, and all the pain implied in that destruction. The cruel violence by Hamas terrorists makes us want to look away. Wanton destruction in the Ukraine continues. More than 300,000 Russian mothers have lost soldier children. Closer to home, partisan political rhetoric heats up, with language that can only be described as ugly. On that cheery note, where do we look for beauty?

The psalm read in church yesterday (above) contains a refrain heard in other psalms. It calls on us to worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. As I run across that phrase in this psalm and others, I often wonder if that is just denial at work. Is it a call to bury our heads in the sand?

Our worship, on a good day, strives for an experience of beauty. That comes in all styles of worship, architecture, language, music. All of it is intended to help us get a glimpse of the transcendent. In our life as a church, one of the things we strive for is beauty.

Newsflash: That doesn’t always happen in the church. Malcolm Muggeridge, a journalist from the last century and a late convert to Christianity, came to faith without rose-colored glasses. It was his opinion that organized religion can kill the beauty of God. (Thank goodness the Episcopalians aren’t all that organized.) I wonder if you’ve ever had that experience of the church.

Mother Teresa was well acquainted with the ugliness of the world, confronting day after day the poverty of Calcutta. She was asked by Malcolm Muggeridge how she could keep going amidst it all, the problems so enormous, her contributions so small. She replied that God had called her to be faithful, not successful. Again and again, she spoke of her vocation to do something beautiful for God (That phrase provided the title for Muggeridge’s book about Mother Teresa.) Her worship in the beauty of holiness did not need to take place in a stunning cathedral. It took place smack dab in the middle of the world’s ugliness, a beautiful expression of worship not only with her lips but with her life.

In the midst of exile, one of the ugliest phases of Israel’s history, the prophet Isaiah spoke of beauty: How beautiful are the feet of those who bear good news. (Isaiah 52.7, and echoed by St. Paul in Romans 10)

Here’s a thought as we begin a new year. Wherever we confront the ugliness of our world, whether in the news or on social media, or in our own resentful hearts, are there ways to notice beauty? And beyond that, are there ways that you and I can bring the beauty of God’s good news to those places where beauty is in short supply? Can we let the good news of grace, love offered without condition, forgiveness, healing that is ours in Jesus Christ, be shared? Can we keep an eye out for God’s beauty?

Notice the beauty today. It’s there to discover. Find it in your connection with church, perhaps. Whatever access you have to the beauty of creation, find it there. Find it in the people around you. I carry with me a sketch book. I often draw people on the subway, at an airport gate, in the park. (Sometimes risky business.) As I’ve done that over the years, I’ve come to see that there is beauty in every human being I draw, even those most disfigured, even those that fashion magazines would deem unattractive. See the beauty around you. Do something beautiful for God. Let that be your worship today.

-Jay Sidebotham

Interested in RenewalWorks for your parish? Learn more about how RenewalWorks works!

RenewalWorks: Helping churches focus on spiritual growth

RenewalWorks is about re-orienting your parish around spiritual growth. And by spiritual growth – we mean growing in love of God and neighbor.

Churches can launch as part of a fall or spring cohort or go on their own schedule.  Sign up now!!

Learn more in our digital brochure.

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What’s in a name?

Isaiah spoke with deep joy about what had not yet happened. (See reading above, a reading which you may have heard in church yesterday on the first Sunday of the Christmas season.) Not a bad way to begin a new year. He says that righteousness and praise will spring up. He affirms impending vindication, visible for all the world to see. And then he says that his readers will be called by a new name, reflective of divinely given beauty.

The Bible is full of stories of people who get a new name to signify the transformation God brings to our lives. Abram becomes Abraham. Sarai becomes Sarah. Simon becomes Peter. Saul becomes Paul.

One of my favorite name changes in the Bible comes from the book of the Acts of the Apostles. We read that a man named Joseph had his name changed to Barnabas. Barnabas means son of encouragement. The church found him to be such an encouraging presence that that they changed his name to reflect his gifts. Soon after that, he became traveling companion of St. Paul, who I suspect was not always easy to get along with. Barnabas was the guy for the job. Every time I read about his name change, I find myself wondering (with some nervousness) about how my community would change my name. What name would your community give you?

This business about getting a new name is really about stepping into a new identity, not destroying what we are or where we’ve been, but recognizing gifts and building on that, for the sake of the good news. The good news Isaiah anticipates is that God is preparing a new identity for God’s people. We can claim that possibility for ourselves. For those of us who are Jesus followers, in this ongoing Christmas season, that possibility has everything to do with Jesus showing up.

It’s not lost on me that while the reading from Isaiah turns up on the First Sunday of the Christmas season, today we also observe the Feast of the Holy Name, observed on January 1. Holy coincidence. (Happy new year, by the way. How are you doing on those resolutions?)

The Feast of the Holy Name is a day to celebrate the naming of the infant Jesus in the temple rituals of his culture. It’s worth noting what his name means. The name Jesus means God saves.

Throughout the New Testament, as early Christians took first steps as a movement, they were invited to call on the name of Jesus. In other words, they were making the claim, indeed betting their lives, on the promise that God would save. They were called to trust in the power of that name. We are still invited to call on that name, to claim that we are saved not by our good works or our good theology or our good liturgy or even our good taste. God is the one who saves. Jesus comes to make that happen. We are saved by the one whose name suggests grace.

To the extent that we can embrace that, our identity can be transformed. We might even come to feel that we have been given a new name, a new identity. And as we begin a new year, that gives cause to join with Isaiah in rejoicing and in hope. May this coming year be filled with the joy of experiencing God’s saving activity in your life.

-Jay Sidebotham

Interested in RenewalWorks for your parish? Learn more about how RenewalWorks works!

RenewalWorks: Helping churches focus on spiritual growth

RenewalWorks is about re-orienting your parish around spiritual growth. And by spiritual growth – we mean growing in love of God and neighbor.

Churches can launch as part of a fall or spring cohort or go on their own schedule.  Sign up now!!

Learn more in our digital brochure.

RenewalWorks – Digital Catalog