My favorite Birmingham neighborhoods are Five Points South and, adjoining it, Highland Park. Five Points is primarily an entertainment district that was a streetcar junction back in the early days of the city. Highland Park was an early Birmingham suburb dotted with parks and going up the mountain, centered around the meandering Highland Avenue. When I lived in Birmingham for four years in the 90s, I lived on Red Mountain near Vulcan and could see Five Points and Highland Park from my apartment balcony. They are great walking neighborhoods. The area also satisfies my interest in ecclesiastical architecture with its scattering of historic churches.

I recently went for coffee at a shop in Five Points and, while circling the block looking for a parking place, I went past one of the neighborhood’s great nineteenth century church buildings, St. Mary’s on the Highlands. St. Mary’s was formed in 1887 when parishioners at the Episcopal Church of the Advent downtown started their own parish on the mountain, overlooking the growing city and serving the growing Highlands suburb. The imposing English Revival church was completed in 1891. There have been expansions since, handsomely complementing the original structure.

I have always admired the church and have passed it many times. I guess I hadn’t passed it in a while, though, because as I was circling the block I was gobsmacked to see a formidable metal angel on a façade over an arched passageway leading to a meditation garden. If the angel was there on past visits, I somehow didn’t notice it; now, I don’t know how I could have missed it. I did a little research and found that the angel sculpture, by Birmingham sculptor Cordray Parker (1934-2007), is called “Fear Not.”

The banner flowing from the angel’s left hand says “FEAR NOT.” I read that those words appear in the King James Bible over seventy times and “be not afraid” shows up almost thirty. The Biblical passage that comes immediately to mind is in the gospel, Luke 2:10, when the angel announces the birth of Jesus to the shepherds in the field.

“Fear not” is a powerful piece of advice, don’t you think? It definitely applies when one sees a spectral gathering in the night sky … runs across a copperhead on a wooded trail … jumps into water over your head … watches an approaching storm … stops by woods on a snowy evening … cares for an ailing parent … feels helpless watching one’s country rapidly decline into an uncertain future …

Yes, “fear not” can adapt to many applications. I try to remember to pair it with the Persian adage “This too shall pass.” In both cases, the words are simple and forceful and might provide a flash of hope and peace in troubled times. I don’t know about you, but that’s the message I want to get from a church … even in passing while searching for a parking spot.