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The Fear of Fear is Community

Chaplain’s Corner: The Fear of Fear is Community

I had the opportunity to take our youth group to our biennial church conference in Kansas City several weeks ago. Dustin Gaylon, one of our speakers speaking during a morning worship session, made the comment that “the fear of fear is community.”

In the Gospel of John, as the end of his time on this earth nears, Jesus promises his disciples that he will not leave them comfortless. Before he is taken up into the sky the disciples receive the power of the Holy Spirit. But we should also not forget that as Jesus hung on the cross in John 19:25-27 he also instructs his followers to care for each other.

While the disciples were initially paralyzed with fear cowering and barricaded in a room following the crucifixion, they were soon empowered, not just by the Holy Spirit, but through the community they shared with each other as they spread the Gospel and planted new communities of faith.

The things we fear most, when brought before God and shared with our community of faith, become much more bearable. Community is a gift of comfort from God. Let us embrace it with open arms.
– Caley Ortman, Chaplain

Chaplain’s Corner: Embodying Resurrection

It may come as no surprise that I have been reflecting a lot on resurrection this month. This is the season we focus our attention on the event of the resurrection.

Anticipation builds in the church as we near the end of Lent. We sing hosannas on Palm Sunday, take communion on Maundy Thursday, reflect on the seven last words of Jesus on Good Friday, and show up for the highest attended Sunday service on Easter morning to celebrate the resurrection.

But how do we keep from losing that energy when we head back to work on Monday? I believe one way to do so is by understanding resurrection as not only a one-time event found in scripture, but also a reflection of the character of God that we are to carry forth into the world.

Resurrection means seeing the good in people and in situations where the world has long given up. It means being faithful even when the work does not seem to bear fruit or “results.” And it means releasing the logic of our own minds to the mysterious wisdom of God’s plans.

Let us not stop the Easter celebration of resurrection on Easter this year. Let us go forth and embody resurrection as well, so that the world may know the love of God through our actions.
Caley Ortman, Chaplain

Chaplain’s Corner: Finding Yourself in the Story

As Christians we believe the Bible is the living word of God. What does that mean exactly? It means that alongside studying the context of what the text meant to its original audience, we are also called to ask what the text is speaking into our lives today. There are many ways to do this, but the way that I have found particularly powerful the last few years is the question, “Where do you find yourself in the story?”

Asking this puts us into a story in a new way, not as the reader, watching passively from a distance, but as a participant. We should be encouraged to ask wondering questions: What was it like to be this person? How would I react if that was me?

But we also should be attuned to knowing when we are to identify with someone other than the main character in the story. Take, for example, the parable of the Prodigal Son: You can read the story and find yourself as the prodigal son. Six months later you might very well find yourself as the jealous brother, or perhaps the forgiving father.

We never stop reading the Bible because it can speak to us differently through different characters as our life circumstances change, meeting us where we are on our faith journey. Embrace the living word and never stop asking, “Where do I find myself in the story today?”
– Caley Ortman, Chaplain

Prosperity

Chaplain’s Corner: The True Source of Prosperity

“For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked leads to destruction.”

These closing words of the very first Psalm lay out the conventional wisdom that we find throughout the books of Psalms and Proverbs. Yet so often in life we are dismayed and frustrated at how often the wicked prosper and the righteous seem to come away empty handed. It offends our sense of what is right and what is fair.

We turn the Bible upside down for the secret key of what we have to do to make sure we have guaranteed security from pain, suffering and injustice. This dilemma was on the minds of the writers of scripture as well.

Of particular interest to me recently has been the book of Ecclesiastes. I recently heard a pastor summarize that Ecclesiastes asks the question: “What if the problem is not God failing to grant prosperity to the righteous, but with our expectation of what prosperity looks like?”

Clinton McCann suggests that “the happiness or prosperity of the righteous is not so much a reward as it is their experience of being connected to the true source of life–God.” May we remember to look for the prosperity that comes not through wealth and comfort, but through the source of life–God, which was present with us all along.
– Caley Ortman, Chaplain