October Article

Dear Family of faith,
We are afraid! We are all afraid of life. That’s the reality I hear expressed around me these days: “I’m afraid that I’ll come home one day and find my house in a sinkhole.” “I’m afraid that I won’t be able to go on without my partner.” “I’m afraid that I’m stuck in a job that is grinding me down to nothing.” “I’m afraid that I won’t be able to keep paying for insurance.” “I’m afraid that I’m going to have to sell my home at a huge loss.” “I’m afraid that I have a tumor.” “I’m afraid that my children will be bullied on the bus.” “I’m afraid that I’m going to end up in a nursing home.” All these fears and others are a reflection of our insecurity about life. We don’t feel safe any more.
We feel helpless against the threats that lurk around us, powerless against the circumstances of life. We have a Department of Homeland Security to protect us from radical terrorists, but what most of us wish for more is a Department of Inward Security to protect us from the anxieties of our hearts. Once we thought the government would ensure our well-being and financial security. But when we look around and see the poverty and desperation of neighbors and friends and know first-hand the struggles of family members for jobs and insurance and housing, we realize how misplaced our confidence has been. There is no true security in insurance companies, for they can drop your coverage tomorrow. There is no true security in government programs, for they come and go with political whim. There is no true security in pension plans and investments, for Wall Street can go south in a week.
Are we, then, destined to wander this life in fear and inner desperation? Not as God’s people! Countless times God tells His people, “Do not fear!” Jesus taught us that trusting in the God who cares for even sparrows is the way to inner peace. You see, God has provided that “Department of Inward Security” that we long for in the Christian community called the church. We who trust a common Savior become family to one another. We look after each other’s hearts—caring, listening, empathizing, holding, praying for, and helping in countless ways. I was reminded of that myself this past week with all the expressions of sympathy and love over my father’s death. I received as many as 15 cards a day in the mail and phone calls and hugs. Why, last Sunday even St. Paul the Apostle Church, which meets in our Fellowship Hall, dedicated a mass to my dad! Such is the care of God’s people.
We open our homes to others when storms threaten. We hug each other when life hurts. We encourage each other when the future looks dark. We help each other when we are alone and lonely so that we can go on. And we teach each other by the way we live and the words we share that life is more important than the things we will someday haul off to the rummage sale or leave behind for our executors to deal with. Life is about relationships that make us whole—relationships among ourselves and our relationship with God.
If you are holding on to fear right now, why not let go of it? God will make a way where there seems to be no way. As Jesus taught, “I am with you, even to the end of the age.” And the Jesus we meet most often is in the face of those whose lives Christ inhabits. You are not alone against the world’s trials. God has given you family in the church.
Grateful for you and your care,

Pastor Carlan