Faithful Living in Fearful Times

“There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear;” -1 John 4:18a

Daoud Nassar represents the third of four generations that have owned and farmed a hilltop in the West Bank of Palestine. He shared the story with a group of church leaders of how he has engaged in a 35-year legal struggle to keep the Israeli government from taking away his family’s land. No matter how many documents are requested and provided or how many testimonies and affidavits are submitted, his land remains in jeopardy.

This is not just a legal battle. It is also a physical one. Israeli “settlers” frequently come on his land with clubs and guns, threatening his family and the farm workers with physical harm. If a Palestinian person strikes back or defends themselves, they are arrested and taken to jail, sometimes for extended periods of time. Roads are built on his land that require lawsuits. Trees that have borne olives for decades are bulldozed simply to apply more pressure on his family.It would be understandable for Daoud to become hateful or to give up and leave. Many Palestinians have sought a more peaceful and prosperous life elsewhere. Yet he remains on the land and refuses to hate anyone. He does so as an expression of his Christian faith. You can find out more about his story and how you can help here.

I was deeply moved and inspired when Daoud told us his story, especially as it echoed other stories we heard as we visited people in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land (ELCJHL). So many people could articulate the humiliation they had endured and yet, while we heard a lot of anger, no one exhibited any hate. Everyone prayed for and worked for a future where Israelis and Palestinians could enjoy full human rights—a witness the church in the United States needs right now. We can learn so much from these siblings in Christ!

To say we are in anxious and fearful times in America is to state the obvious. The federal government is using fear to try to control the people. This is especially true for people of color, the LGBTQ community, and women. The responses have varied from numbing and avoiding to protesting and posting. The anger is evident everywhere. So is the hate.  In scripture, the opposite of love is not hate: it is fear. Fear is the root of anxiety and hatred. It is the tool of the empire, because when people are afraid, they are easier to control. As Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels said, “If you want to manipulate a people, keep them afraid.”

Perhaps that is why almost all encounters with angels in the Bible begin with them saying, “Do not be afraid.” In fact, it is often in the command form of the verb, which would sound more like, “Stop being afraid!” Now just saying that is not super helpful. Whether it comes from a human or an angel, being told to simply stop being afraid can even seem cruel unless it is tied to to something more powerful. I believe that anchor is Divine Love.  

When Jesus was baptized by John, we read that the heavens opened and a voice proclaimed, “This is my son, the beloved, in whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:17) Before he healed or taught or fed anyone in the gospels, Jesus was a beloved child, already pleasing to God. That identity cannot be taken away by anything. Jesus goes from the waters of his baptism to the wilderness where Satan tries to undermine that identity, but to no avail (Matthew 4:1-11). Jesus has internalized Divine Love, and now he embodies it.

When provoked and slandered, Jesus never retaliates. Instead, he forgives and includes. He teaches his followers that this is the key to living in God’s Kingdom. We too are called to practice embodying and radiating Divine Love. It is also the owner’s manual to faithful living in fearful times.

The people of God have experienced oppression before. In fact, it is more the norm than the exception for marginalized communities. Therefore, those of us who are freaking out a bit right now ought to look to the witness and wisdom of siblings who have been in situations like ours before and have kept their faith intact.

That is what I received from Daoud and so many others on this recent accompaniment trip to the Holy Land. They resist oppression by living faithfully and serving the needs of people in their communities. They measure the vitality of their church not by the number of people who attend on Sunday, but by the number of people from all faith backgrounds that they empower every day. They are literally casting away fear by practicing love.

We are certainly called to show up and protest the dehumanizing actions of our government. We are also called to nurture our relationship with Divine Love and to pour that love out in tangible ways to people around us. The act of loving our neighbor dilutes the fear created by our overly saturated, doomscrolling culture. Want to feel better? Want to be less afraid? Remind yourself that you belong and are beloved, and then simply love someone in a concrete way. Remember that those who want to control us will keep doing things to make us afraid. Let’s remember and practice the truth that Love is the greatest power in the universe, and the only thing that truly matters.

Peace,
+ Dave