<html><body><div>Part two of Sunday's draft.</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>Bob</div><div><br></div><div><font face="Arial" size="2"> “Fear,” as Tom Hanks put it, “fear is whispered in our ears and shouted in our faces. Faith must be fostered by the man or woman you see every day in the mirror. The former forever snaps at our heels and delays our course. The latter can spur our boot heels to be wandering, stimulate</font><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><font face="Arial" size="2"> </font></b><font face="Arial" size="2">our creativity and drive us forward. Fear or faith,” Hanks challenged, fear or faith, “which will be our master?”</font></div><div><p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;background:white"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Oh, I know it’s not always as simple as that. There are all sorts of objects, animate and inanimate, which seem to stalk us, to block our pilgrim’s paths so often. And, as likely as not, these tend to push us in the direction of fear. However, this is where the continually self-revealing God’s Love may encourage us.</span></p><p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;background:white"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>I don’t know about you, but there are times when thinking about God the Father may not bring me an overwhelming sense of relief. In fact, there are times when I think of the father, the Creator, and I draw back a little hesitantly. I wonder about a relationship between such greatness and the person I feel I am. The relationship between humans and God is pictured pretty rosily in Genesis, at least initially. Then doubt sets in. Perhaps someone introduces the aspect of fear through a series of “what ifs”, and we set off down that incredibly long road, if your imagination was gripped as mine was by the report of 300,000 year-old homo sapiens’ remains found in Morocco and they’re authenticated.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>For generation after generation, God was so impressive, but to all but a few Sarahs and Abrahams, and Zipporahs and Moseses, and some others, of course; for generation after generation, fear, or at least discomfort, reigned until the right time was reached when God became flesh-and-blood, making self-revelation through Mary.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Even God-in-the-flesh, though, didn’t dispel all fears. Did Jesus ask and expect too much? It was all very well to talk about love and dignity, but how can one live up to such standards? The disciples certainly had an extremely tough time of it.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Still, God continued to realise the needs of humanity and came among us. God never left us alone. And that’s what we celebrated last Sunday – the saga of the continuing expansion of our understanding of the relationship God wishes for us, and the presence, albeit unseen, but certainly felt, of the Holy Spirit who works on our hearts and our minds to help us to hold on to our faith that, indeed, the God who created everything loves us so passionately; the God who walked alongside our ancestors; the God who inspires and comforts us to this day; this marvelous, barely understandable God <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><u>LONGS</u></b> to draw us closer so that we will not be afraid of anything.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>So, here we are, living in faith not just while in this room, but with every breath we take. Here we are, ready to fight fear, as Scottish-born American naval hero, John Paul Jones, said, “If fear is cultivated it will become stronger. If faith is cultivated it will achieve mastery.” <sup>5</sup></span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Here we are, ready to accept once again the blessing of Jesus that He <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><u>WILL</u></b> be with us, always. Let us recognize fear for what it is, then – an attempt to draw us from the love of our Triune, continually-revealing God. Instead, let us accept the invitation described by Brother David Vryhof, another member of the Society of St. John the Evangelist, who wrote, </span><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'>“The God whose very Being is Love, whose Trinity of Persons flow together in mutual self-giving and love, invites us to participate in this Divine Love, to become one in the reciprocal self-giving, love and joy of God’s Triune Self. What a beautiful invitation it is!” <sup>6 </sup>It is in this participation that we <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><u>REALLY</u></b> come to know God in three Persons, God all-revealing, God all-loving.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Let us not be afraid of the dark – ever!</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Let us live in this Light which our gracious God has created for us!</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'> </span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'>NOTES:</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'> </span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";'><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style='margin: 0px; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'>[1]</span></span></span></span></span><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";'><span style="margin: 0px;"><font size="2"> </font></span><font size="2">Isaiah 9:2 (in English translations. 9:1 in Hebrew)</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";'><font size="2"> </font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";'><font size="2">2</font></span></span><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";'><span style="margin: 0px;"><font size="2"> </font></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal"><font size="2">“More”,</font></i><font size="2"> from </font><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal"><font size="2">“Brother, Give us a Word”,</font></i><font size="2"> by Brother Curtis Almquist, SSJE, 7</font><sup><font size="2">th</font></sup><font size="2"> June, 2017</font><span style="margin: 0px;"><font size="2"> </font></span><a href="http://ssje.org/word/"><font color="#3cb29e" size="2">http://ssje.org/word/</font></a><font size="2"> </font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";'><font size="2"> </font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'>3</span></span><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/TomHanks/?fref=mentions"><font color="#3cb29e">Tom Hanks</font></a> – Commencement Address at Yale, 2011. <span style="margin: 0px; color: rgb(17, 17, 17);">Tom Hanks’ Graduation Speech Transcript: </span><a href="http://gradspeeches.com/2011/2011/tom-hanks"><font color="#3cb29e">http://gradspeeches.com/2011/2011/tom-hanks</font></a></span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";'><font size="2">4</font></span></span><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";'><span style="margin: 0px;"><font size="2"> </font></span><font size="2">Philippians 4:8 (New Jerusalem Bible)</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";'><font size="2"> </font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";'><font size="2">5</font></span></span><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";'><span style="margin: 0px;"><font size="2"> </font></span><font size="2">Source unknown, quoted by Tom Hanks, Op. cit.</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";'><font size="2"> </font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'>6</span></span><span style='margin: 0px; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>“Participate” from “Brother, Give us a Word”, Br. David Vryhof, SSJE, 6<sup>th</sup> June. 2017 <a href="http://ssje.org/word/?p=15126"><font color="#3cb29e">http://ssje.org/word/?p=15126</font></a></span></p></div></body></html>