The Rev. Karen Burnard; search category "Rector's Ramblings" for other columns
From the June 2009 Triad:
I just finished reading Love is Letting Go of Fear, by Gerald G. Jampolsky, M.D. Some “new age” gurus claim all there is, emotionally speaking, is love and fear.
Christ’s ever new age is also about love and fear. How many times do we read in scripture “Do not be afraid”? How many different ways did Jesus tell and show us how to love? Partially from his Jewish upbringing he reminds us:
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.
(see Deuteronomy 6:4-6 and Luke 10:27.)
Naturally we love our families and friends. Jesus calls us to also love strangers and enemies.
I seems to me that if we love as we are created and called to love, there is little time left for fear. How much time do we spend fretting, worrying, embracing anxiety, all out of the fear of some potential loss, or some picture in your mind of what “could happen”? Yet God’s Kingdom is at hand. Let’s not waste it by allowing fear to impede love. Spend your energy loving, as Christ loves us.
+Karen
