(with Dr. Melissa A. Jackson)

Sophia is a community of safety.

One of God’s promises to the ancient Israelites, during their time of exile, was that God would return them to their homeland and they would live there securely, in peace and without fear. This promise occurs throughout the prophetic books, and Ezekiel particularly offers several iterations of it. For example, Ezekiel 34:27 reads:

“The trees of the field shall yield their fruit, and the earth shall yield its increase. They shall be secure on their soil, and they shall know that I am the Lord when I break the bars of their yoke and save them from the hands of those who enslaved them.” (NRSV)

The word often translated into English as “safe” or “secure” (as above) derives from the Hebrew root word meaning “trust.” The relationship between “safety” and “trust” is an obvious one. We feel safe with those we trust. The negative is also true: we feel unsafe with those we do not trust.

A sense of safety is a basic creaturely need. It is a necessary condition for all creation’s thriving. It is part of a sense of wholeness, of well-being, of shalom.

Last week’s installment from the Sophia faculty on “freedom” highlighted Paul’s reference in Galatians 5 to Leviticus 19:18, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus also quotes this same verse numerous times (see Matthew 19:19 and 22:39; Mark 12:31; Luke 10:27).

The mutuality of a love that values one’s neighbor equally to oneself not only ties us together in the work of freedom, as discussed last week, but it also enables us to build trust that can bring us to a place, to a space of true safety, secure in the love of God and of one another. In this way, freedom and safety are close companions, each flourishing in the presence of the other. To love as God loves is to hold the well-being of our neighbor as closely as we hold our own. At Sophia, your well-being is closely held, as together we take up the charge to embody a community of welcome, of hospitality, of security, of peace.