A Pastor’s Thoughts: Perfect Love Cast Out Fear

May is a popular month for weddings in our family. My wife and I will celebrate our 39th wedding anniversary on May 26. Our son and daughter-in-law, as well as our daughter and son-in-law, were married in May.

I love the story of a nervous couple meeting with a pastor before their wedding.  The pastor suggested they memorize a key part of the First Letter of John, chapter four, verse 18: “perfect love casts out fear.” 

In the days before their wedding, the couple found comfort in that verse. They asked the baker to put it on their wedding cake.  The message got mixed up, so the baker did not put I John 4:18 (“perfect love cast out fear”) on the wedding cake, but the gospel of John 4:18: “for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband.”  

There might be a variety of lessons from this story – it is important to know the Bible (the ultimate bestseller of all time) and to communicate with care. The best lesson, though, is to remember that God’s love is an answer to our fears. 

We live in a time of fear. Too many guns in the hands of fearful people have resulted in several recent, tragic events that have been in the news: In Hebron, a small town northeast of Albany, a 65-year-old man killed a 20-year-old woman who had accidentally pulled into his driveway. An 84-year-old man fired two bullets into a 16-year-old boy who had mistakenly knocked on his door in Kansas City. A 43-year-old man in South Florida shot at a 19-year-old Instacart delivery driver and his 18-year-old girlfriend who had arrived at the wrong address. In Texas, two cheerleaders opened the wrong car door in a supermarket parking lot and were shot. 

“Experts blame a cocktail of factors: the easy availability of guns, misconceptions around stand-your-ground laws, the marketing of firearms for self-defense — and a growing sense among Americans, that safety in their backyard is deteriorating.” (Washington Post, April 30) 

Too often politicians and the media spread misinformation about crime resulting in a more fearful nation. As a pastor I am keenly aware of crime-related problems, having ministered to crime victims and their families. I have also had church members in law enforcement, and I have taught in state prisons. Facts and faith can help us.

A new study recently published in the Annals of Internal Medicine was summarized in a Time magazine (June 3, 2022) report: “ People living with handgun owners died by homicide at twice the rate of their neighbors in gun-free homes. That difference was driven largely by homicides at home, which were three times more common among people living with handgun owners.

We detected much larger differences for particular types of homicide. Most notably, people living with handgun owners were seven times more likely to be shot by their spouse or intimate partner. In many of these cases, instead of being protective, the household gun probably operated as the instrument of death.”

The Apostle Paul knew real reasons to be afraid from personal experiences: “Five times I have received the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I received a stoning. Three times I was shipwrecked; for a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from bandits, danger from my own people, danger from gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers and sisters; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, hungry and thirsty, often without food, cold and naked.” (2 Corinthians 11:24-26)

In prison and facing his execution, Paul shared this advice: ^“Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:5-7)

(Bruce and Carolyn Gillette are pastors of the First Presbyterian Union Church in Owego.)