FEAR - A Response To The Refugee Crisis

Sky surrounded by buildings with the word "fear" in the middle.


Perfect love casts out all fear - 1 John 4:18

One day an expert in religious law stood up to test Jesus by asking him this question: “Teacher, what should I do to inherit eternal life?”

Jesus replied, “What does the law of Moses say? How do you read it?”   The man answered, “‘you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.’ And, ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’” “Right!” Jesus told him. “Do this and you will live!”   The man wanted to justify his actions, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbour?”

Jesus replied with a story - Luke 10

We are currently in the midst of the greatest refugee crisis since World War 2.

60 million refugees are looking for asylum, and the debate for whether we should accept them, and how many we should accept is far from over.

For many people the conversation is dominated by dystopian futures of ISIS terrorists and overpopulated countries; driven by “what if’s?” rooted in “us and them” narratives, and fuelled by fear.

Instead, we are called to be people that are filled with a love that drives out fear.

The question for us is not “what will happen to us if we help them?” the questions is “what will happen to them, if we don’t help them?

We need to stop viewing them as statistics, as a congealed mass, a moving force; and start viewing them as people, with stories and lives and worries and joys. A people in need of a home, because theirs is burning and rubble and pain.

May the perfect love of Christ cast all fear from our hearts and minds, may our compassion spill out into manifest acts of kindness and grace, and may we always view people as blessed and precious.



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