Eric H. F. Law - Fear Not: Living Grace and Truth in a Frightened World

Praise for Fear Not

Once again, Eric Law has gifted the Church with a vibrant and relevant resource for creating authentic community from which to heal and change the world. In a time when our culture is being held hostage by fear-based messages seeking to harden our hearts against each other, Law offers a liberating way through. This book will bless faith communities with hope, courage, and strategies for building the beloved community God calls us to in dark times.

Jacqui Lewis, Senior Minister at Middle Collegiate Church, New York City

Holy Scripture tells us that perfect love casts out fear, but we do not find many places in our religious culture that provide tools to help us as we seek to engage that perfect love and overcome our individual and collective fears. Eric Law in Fear Not provides the reader tools that are clear and concrete enough to help in navigating the culture of fear that surrounds us.

Catherine Meeks, Executive Director of Absalom Jones Episcopal Center for Racial Healing, Atlanta

I related to this book so muchto how trapped in fear we are, but also to how there is something better that we can create! The stories encouraged me, the scripture grounded me, and the content empowered me. I want more than risk management; I want life. I cant wait to gather some friends so we can read this, create grace-filled life together and Fear Not.

Sandhya Jha, author of Transforming Communities: How People Like You are Healing Our Neighborhoods

Other Books by Eric H.F. Law

The Wolf Shall Dwell with the Lamb:
A Spirituality for Leadership in a Multicultural Community

The Bush Was Blazing but Not Consumed

Inclusion:
Making Room for Grace

Sacred Acts, Holy Change:
Faithful Diversity and Practical Transformation

The Word at the Crossings:
Living the Good News in a Multicontextual Community

Holy Currencies:
6 Blessings for Sustainable Missional Ministries

Holy Currency Exchange:
101 Stories, Songs, Actions, and Visions of Missional and Sustainable Ministries

With Dave Law
Drawing on Holy Currencies:
Awesome, Amazing, and Animated Activities for Stewardship

Available at ChalicePress.com

Dedication

For my mother, Law Tam Un-Oi,

and my brothers and sisters:

Hung-Kwan Law, Maria Oi-Kam Ho, Stephen Hung-Fai Law,

Michelle Sau-Fong Ng, and Horatio Hung-Yan Law

for their unconditional love for me.

Copyright

Copyright 2019 by Eric H. F. Law. Much of this books text is from Finding Intimacy in a World of Fear, copyright 2007 by Eric H.F. Law.

All rights reserved. For permission to reuse content, please contact Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, www.copyright.com.

Bible quotations, unless otherwise marked, are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

Cover design: Jennifer Pavlovitz

ChalicePress.com

Print 9780827211322

EPUB 9780827211339

EPDF 9780827211346

Contents

Acknowledgments

I am blessed by being part of a few trusting communities that enable me to be vulnerable, take risks, tell the truth, and experience intimacy. First of all, I thank my family, especially my mother and my brothers and sistersHung-Kwan, Maria, Stephen, Michelle, and Horatiowho exemplify unconditional love for me. They are the foundation I stand on each day of my life.

I am thankful for my home community at Sandpiper #3, Palm Desert, especially Dale and Nancy Hibler, Loraine Alvarez, Chuck McLucas, John and Pat Callender, Mary Kronman, Linda Clode, Michael ONeill and Mark Hild, Bette and Jan Coffyn, Jim West and Karen Prinzmetal, Jon and Lois Jean Fults, Ruth Gray, Sue Brown, and Pat Griggs. From the moment I set foot in this community six years ago, I knew I would be safe and secure, with no fear of rejection or isolation. I am grateful for my colleagues and friends at the Kaleidoscope Institute for their commitment and passion for building open and accepting communities, especially Lilline Dugan, Peter Bechtel, Lynn Oshita, Lucky Altman Lynch, Alexandra Conrad, Dorothy Wilson, Keith Yamamoto, and Bonnie Rice. They have been there to help me face my fear during the transitional time of the Institute. I thank the bishops and staff of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles and the Cathedral Center for their prayers and support for me and the ministry of the Kaleidoscope Institute. Their ministry creates a safe and gracious space for people to gather to explore the possibility of faithful transformation. I thank Kaye Ballard and Myvanwy Jenn for their constant friendship and support, Linda and Paul Kelly for love and support for Steve while I was working on this book, Kent Steinbrenner for his enthusiasm and knowledge of the English language, and my editor Trent Butler for his patience and understanding. I thank Steve Rutberg for being the intimate soul mate I come home to. Finally, I thank God for being my true security.

In God, whose word I praise,

in the LORD, whose word I praise,

in God I trust; I am not afraid.

What can a mere mortal do to me?

(Ps. 56:1011)

Preface

It has been more than ten years since the publication of the first edition of this book, then titled Finding Intimacy in a World of Fear . To be honest, I was disappointed at how little impact this book had made over the last ten years. I wrote the book as a response to the fear-based reactions to the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, and the way fear was used in subsequent years to motivate people to act in constructive and destructive waysmostly destructive. My goal was to help readers to address fear in constructive and faithful ways. My hope was that these constructive analyses and processes would spread, at least through churches within the major denominations, to help reverse the ever-increasing fear trend in the United States. But the fear-exploiters and marketers continued to skillfully deploy their weapons, gaining power and money. Ten years after the initial publication of this book, I found myself living in a world where fear reigns supreme, regardless of ones political or ideological perspective: fear of politicians and government officials such as Trump, Obama, or Clinton; fear of government agencies such as the FBI, Department of Justice, and the White House Administration; fear of terrorism, disaster, climate change, immigrants, police, or people of color. The list goes on.

Meanwhile, intimacya time and place where we can be face to face with one another to share truthespecially among those who are different politically, racially, and economically, is getting harder and harder to achieve.

I was interviewing Scott Bader-Saye for another writing project. Scott published Following Jesus in a Culture of Fear around the same time that Finding Intimacy in a World of Fear came out. We were commiserating because we felt that our books were not having the impact that we had hoped. What we had both offered in our books was a rational, intellectual approach to fear. Yet fear is a powerful emotional and intuitive thing, and has been used from the beginning of human community to effectively motivate people for good and for bad.