Olive Crest United Methodist Church
7180 North 60th Street
Omaha, Nebraska 68152

Our Pastor

Rev. Debra Tompsett-Welch

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The Spiritual Life

March 2003

"Whoever saves one life, saves the world entire."
Struggling to live a Lent free from the taint of fear.

By Rev. Michael Lee Burgess

Brothers and Sisters, before I get rolling I would like you to do me a favor. In the "Peace With Justice" section of this newsletter is a really short and easy to read little article from my friend State Senator Lowen Kruse. Please take a moment to read it. If you do you will understand what all the fuss is about over the budget, and the real truth about the Casino gambling bill and how it will affect your taxes.

I know you still need to pray and make up your own mind when voting, but please read his article. As he says, "Oh my." If you want more information and guidance then you can continue on and read the letter by Bishop Moncure, or the technical and detailed question and answer article behind that from Rev. Ekdahl. Those are both more serious, and will give you lots of food for thought. But if you read Lowen's article you will get the whole thing set in the context of the budget and what that is going to mean to your taxes in easy little bite size pieces.

Now that you have read that, (you did take two minutes to read it didn't you?) I want to share with you my struggle this last couple of months. This is the season of Lent, a time for self-reflection and looking at my relationship with God and how I am living with my soul; my best and most true self. This year it is really a struggle, because there is so much fear in the air and I find it has infected my own soul. I have erased a whole lot of newsletter articles that started screaming politics, especially foreign policy issues. I erased them partly because I love you all here, and our church family is all over the map on these issues, and I want to live in love with you as we struggle to grow our family. But I also stopped myself because the most direct way we could make a difference would be by writing our Congressmen, but they gave up their immediate influence on the issue with two resolutions and I don't want to drag us through the fire of conflict without expecting to make a difference. But that doesn't help the pounding headache I get or the upset stomach when I think about the issues, or when I hear from my inside sources what is going on behind the scenes that terrify me. But as they said in Schindler's List, "It's Hebrew from the Talmud. It says, 'Whoever saves one life, saves the world entire.'"

What I CAN do, and what I MUST do, is start with one life, and that life should first be the life of my own soul. From there I can go into the world with God, and touch another life, then another, then another, till, perhaps we might remember we are the children of God and called to be peacemakers.

But how am I going to do that? How am I going to bring my fearful heart into life, into love and wholeness? When fear dominates my thoughts and heart, there is no room for love. In the letter of 1 John 4:18-21, "There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear . . ." and the opposite is true as well. In marriage, fear destroys love. In friendships, love is crippled when there is no trust, and fear leaves trust bleeding on the ground. I feel like a deer in the headlights staring into the oncoming death of dreams. But I think that part of my answer is in the deer in the headlights feeling. I don't have to be paralyzed and trapped, I can force myself to look away for a moment, to think and act. But I can't act without looking away from the fear for a moment. If I look away then I can choose to focus my energy and leap to safety. But I have to look away. It is so hard to look away from the fear. It bombards me every time I turn on the television, look at the papers, get online or talk to those around me. One of my friends told me today that she has banned politics and the news from her breakfast table, because it upsets her body so much it is hard on her and she didn't want to eat breakfast. There is a difference between hiding your head in the sand like the ostrich, and turning you eyes away to look where you must leap to bring life. One is denial, the other is still conscious of the danger, but is breaking the hold of fear paralysis in order to act. If I am going to "save one life" I have to break that paralysis. I am not going to be able to do that by looking outward, so I am going to have to look inward.

I have to remember hope, I have to remember miracles, I have to recall the vision of the kingdom of God and act out of that center, instead of from the center of anger and rage caused by fear. But I can't overcome all this fear by just saying that, I have to do something about it. My body and your bodies are all involved whenever we feel fear. That feedback means we have to act as well as think if we are going to fight fear.

In 1933, Franklin D. Roosevelt in his first inaugural address called for a little irrational exuberance in the face of the soul deadening problems of the depression facing the people of our nation and he said that, "So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself - nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance." He then ended with "In this dedication of a Nation we humbly ask the blessing of God. May He protect each and every one of us. May He guide me in the days to come." In the midst of days of fear, at least as great as your own, he acted. He was not one of the great saints of the church from thousands of years ago that sometimes seem to be greater than we could hope to be, he was a man of our time, like us, and he found the courage to act in positive and constructive ways in the face of fear. So I have an example and can act as well, and I can take a lesson from the end of his speech as well. I can ask God for guidance in a way that involves my body and mind. This "irrational exuberance", can be part of it. I can look for joy at the same time as I involve my body and heart in seeking God's guidance.

We just started a class on Monday nights called, "Listening to God 101" It is a class in meditation, breath prayer, lifting those we love up to God, study and sharing. In the warmth of a small group of loving brother's and sisters we can gather to feel for God with our bodies, breath with God with our souls, and listen for God with our minds. When I practice these disciplines the fear falls away, and I can see and hear clearly again. Then and only then can I make healthy choices. As I told one of my friends, if I am not praying for my president, I can not disagree with him and his cabinet and policies, because I am not his enemy, I am his brother.

Causes for fear exist everywhere in our world. If I look at the world for even a moment, fear can taint my heart and narrow my world. To rise above that and stay open, I have to work hard to balance my heart and mind in God and Lent is the perfect time to do these things. Since I know your lives have fear and tension in them as well, might I encourage you to also spend some time in breathing before God? You could also turn to a loving friend and give a hug and talk lovingly about your feelings. If we acknowledge our fear, we can face it and not be guided by it. We can choose to be guided by love, but only if we make deliberate efforts. We are the gathered family of God, and we must be here for each other if we are to hold together in the midst of the whirlwind and come out of it whole and healthy. Pray for me as I pray for you, that we might still be a family where love is spoken and practiced. If we can, we can recommit ourselves to saving the world, one life at a time, and that is a dream worth living for.

Your brother-in-Christ, Rev. Michael Lee Burgess

Please, will you also join with me in praying for every one of our brothers and sisters in military service willing to give up their lives for us? And please also pray for all the civilians and children all over the world who are in harms way and those who work for peace?

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