“Fear Not . . . “ “You have not received the bondage again to fear . . .” Romans 8 “The true Light, which gives light to everyone, has come into the world.” John 1 Christmas is long since over.  Nonetheless my trees are still up.  And a gift arrived in the mail this past week from a friend.  What a delightful surprise!  It was quite a large and heavy box!  Upon opening it my eyes were treated to the sight of books.  Not two or three, but nine or ten!  All of them address the topic of “spirituality”, but from different perspectives.  The two I’ve found most mesmerizing thus far are “The Divine Matrix” and “Walking in Wonder”.  The latter is a written record of conversations with John O’Donahue. Early on in the book O’Donahue addresses the topic of fear.  It is quite possibly the most debilitating and destructive of all emotions.  It is the paralyzing counterpart to love.  While “perfect love drives out all fear”, the opposite is far too commonly the case. O’Donahue recounts the story of a man in India who was thrown into a dark cell. In the corner there was a poisonous snake coiled up which, he was told, would bite and kill him if he made any threatening moves.  The prisoner stood stock still in the corner of his cell all night.  When the morning light began to break through the tiny window of his cell he saw that the snake was nothing more than a rope coiled in the corner.  The application for each of us is obvious.  What dark cell have we locked ourselves into, held in the throes of terror by what we imagine to be able to kill us? What is it that overcomes fear?  Light.  But not just any light.  The light spoken of at the beginning of John’s Gospel.  The Light first spoken into the darkness which gives life and love.  The light of the creating Christ which delivers us from fear, and which I believe is delivered to us in a personal way often-times by friends.  That is why at the beginning of John’s Gospel it is not only Jesus, but John who is referenced.  John is the voice of one calling in the wilderness, a metaphor for that place that plunges us into darkness and fear, and is directing us to the Light.  Friends do that.  Friday night I was with friends who are experiencing some significant challenges which have resulted in fears.  After conversation and dinner we watched the movie “Free Solo”, about Alex Honnold who climbs El Capitan without any ropes or safety equipment.  It is a fascinating exposition not only of this incredible physical feat, but also his ability to overcome the fear, which was quite rational, that with one mistake he would fall to his death.  I believe that one of the key components that allowed him to do this was the deeply meaningful support that he received from his friends.  Who is the friend that helps to drive out fear from your life?  And to whom are you a friend, serving in the same way? The phrase “Fear not . . .” is found 366 times in the bible.  That’s once for every day of the year, plus an extra one (I borrowed that from O’Donahue).  We may encounter fears, rational or not, every day of this new year, but like that box of books we have been given a gift by and in friends who will hopefully help direct us to the Light.  Thus we will recognize that those fears are nothing more than harmless ropes.