I am not afraid of the police because I am a child of God. I am not afraid of being pulled over or stopped and frisked illegally because my citizenship is in His Kingdom. I no longer have fear of unlawful search and seizure because the Creator of the Universe knows my name. I am no longer paralyzed by the prospect of unecessary arrest because I am covered by the love and blood of Christ. I will not be afraid of Meherrin Baptist Church burning to the ground, my children being dark skinned, or going to South Carolina because I place no hope or trust in the wretched heart of any woman or man or the kingdoms and countries we construct on sandy foundations. If I am shot dead on the front porch of my home or another house while seeking help or standing in a stairwell, aisle in Wal-Mart, or park with my friends or playing with my son, I will place my heart in Jesus' hands and receive His perfect peace - and go home rejoicing.
I pray that same peace for my undocumented, refugee, and stateless brothers and sisters that call no country home. May you cling to the radical, transformative, protective, fear-destroying love of God that is more powerful than any ICE officer, embassy, consulate, border agent, drug cartel, war lord, court, corporation, or militia.
God sees all people and declares, I love you! You are made in Our Image, He proclaims and dances over you with unbridled delight. Do not be afraid! My indigenous and aboriginal brothers and sisters need not fear multi-national mining corporations and the economic interests of the U.S., China, and other wealthy nations nor those others guided by greed. The Maker of Heaven and Earth sees and will not be silent. Fear not my kin in Yemen, Somalia, Syria, Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan. No barrel bomb, boots on the ground, royal family, dictator or drone can blow up, dispossess or in any way separate you from the peace-inducing, fear-disabling love of God.
Vengeance is mine sayeth the Lord and that debt He will surely repay. To you who sits in solitary confinement stripped of your humanity and you awaiting death via injection or electricity - you are seen, you are loved. To you scrubbing yourself trying to get him or her off of you. To you suffering in silence with no vision of liberation. To you on the street, eyes down with a sign while passersby are blind to your despair. To you who lays in your sickbed or lives assisted with no hope of a visitor. Would you open your hands and your heart and receive the love of Jesus and citizenship in the kingdom of God.
The Gospel is caught up in this: Jesus, the Son of God, Second in the Trinity, knew no sin. Violation, abuse, death, violence, disease, poverty, evil and oppression are not present in the presence of God. And He left that. He became sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God. He experienced betrayal, loneliness, fear, abandonment and murder that we might experience abundant love, joy, peace, acceptance and delight - for eternity. He entered into our suffering to liberate us from it. So that we wouldn't spend our days in constant striving but in continual reception of blessings as co-heirs with Him. It is this sacrificial love that drives out fear. It is that love that makes me and any one who receives this love and follows Jesus, a child of God. I am no longer a slave to fear because I have surrendered to God's love. I am no longer a slave to fear for I am a child of God.