A few years ago, when my wife Kristin and I were serving a congregation in Iowa, we became friends with John Sheahan, the local middle school principal. John was a member of the other ELCA congregation in our school district, and our churches cooperated on a number of different ministries, including a shared youth ministry program. When John retired from the middle school, he discerned a call into ministry and entered the TEEM program at Wartburg Seminary. I was blessed to serve as a clergy mentor to John during his time at Wartburg; I say “blessed” because I learned as much or more from John as he did from me.We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people’s trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming. But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love…So then, putting away falsehood, let all of us speak the truth to our neighbors, for we are members of one another…Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear…Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.—Ephesians 4.14-16, 25, 29, 31-32—
There are two sayings I will always associate with John Sheahan. One of them is: “The only thing you control in any situation is your own response.” I’ve spent a lot of time thinking on that one in recent years. My natural tendency when it comes to verbal responses is “fire-aim-ready” — as such, I’ve got a list of injured family, friends, colleagues, and others as long as my arm, and those are just the folks I know I’ve hurt, almost always without any intention to do so. How we respond in difficult moments, particularly when we are caught by surprise, says a lot about our character, our maturity, and our willingness to engage one another in love, to build up and give grace, to be kind and tenderhearted even in the midst of our own anger. That appears to be what the writer of Ephesians was trying to say: be honest, but offer your response in such a way that it can be heard clearly and constructively.
Our theme for March 2025 is “Cultivating Love through Response.” The hyper-connectivity of modern life provides ample opportunities for us to be frustrated, offended, or hurt on any given day. We live in a world of information flow, but not all of the information flowing our direction is trustworthy in this moment. Measured and thoughtful responses are as crucial as they’ve ever been for the cultivating of love among God’s people. It’s also worth remembering that silence is one of the options for response. The second saying I will always associate with John Sheahan is: “Ask yourself: is the juice worth the squeeze?” In other words, is the potential gain worth the work that it will take to get there? We don’t have to attend every single fight to which we are invited; sometimes the best way to cultivate love is to let anger, fear, and bitterness die on the vine.
“Stewardship is everything that happens after we say, ‘I believe.’” If true, that includes all of the ways we cultivate love through response. Beloved of Christ, as you cultivate love in your own life this month, pay attention to how you’re responding to the world around you, so that your growth in Christ may help others grow along with you.
In joy and gratitude,
Bishop Scott Johnson
Our theme for March 2025 is “Cultivating Love through Response.” The hyper-connectivity of modern life provides ample opportunities for us to be frustrated, offended, or hurt on any given day. We live in a world of information flow, but not all of the information flowing our direction is trustworthy in this moment. Measured and thoughtful responses are as crucial as they’ve ever been for the cultivating of love among God’s people. It’s also worth remembering that silence is one of the options for response. The second saying I will always associate with John Sheahan is: “Ask yourself: is the juice worth the squeeze?” In other words, is the potential gain worth the work that it will take to get there? We don’t have to attend every single fight to which we are invited; sometimes the best way to cultivate love is to let anger, fear, and bitterness die on the vine.
“Stewardship is everything that happens after we say, ‘I believe.’” If true, that includes all of the ways we cultivate love through response. Beloved of Christ, as you cultivate love in your own life this month, pay attention to how you’re responding to the world around you, so that your growth in Christ may help others grow along with you.
In joy and gratitude,
Bishop Scott Johnson
Questions for Conversation
Blessing: “For Rejecting a Fear of Others”
It is ancient instinct to size up the stranger,
to worship the safety of sameness,
to decide everything before there is love.
The distance between is
so carefully designed
by fear unveiled as anger and despair.
But it is all fear.
How God must ache to watch us
scattered and cast out in fear,
the human body amputating itself,
renouncing the fullness and beauty
of life together because
we are frightened.
The antidote is already near—
a spirit of gentleness and wonder
for the vulnerable and unknown,
a dangerous proximity
to those we have cut off and
called by any name other than
- Think of a hard conversation you’ve had recently. Were you in control of your own response? Are there things you wish you’d said or done differently? How might you respond in a more Christ-like fashion in the future?
- “Conflict is inevitable, combat is not.” What are the practices that help you enter conflict healthfully and avoid combat?
Blessing: “For Rejecting a Fear of Others”
It is ancient instinct to size up the stranger,
to worship the safety of sameness,
to decide everything before there is love.
The distance between is
so carefully designed
by fear unveiled as anger and despair.
But it is all fear.
How God must ache to watch us
scattered and cast out in fear,
the human body amputating itself,
renouncing the fullness and beauty
of life together because
we are frightened.
The antidote is already near—
a spirit of gentleness and wonder
for the vulnerable and unknown,
a dangerous proximity
to those we have cut off and
called by any name other than
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