From Fear to Trust

by Rachelle Lyndaker Schlabach

“You have nothing to fear by throwing your trash where it belongs.”

This announcement on Metro, DC’s transit system, caught my ear the other day. After the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Metro as well as other public venues removed trash cans that could be easy places to put bombs. Now, Metro proudly announces that “safe” trash cans have been installed and we can all rest easier about throwing away our trash as we travel to work.

Fear has the power to shape our actions in many ways, as individuals and as a nation.

This is not altogether negative. As Martin Luther King, Jr. described it: “Normal fear protects us; abnormal fear paralyzes us. Normal fear motivates us to improve our individual and collective welfare; abnormal fear constantly poisons and distorts our inner lives. Our problem is not to be rid of fear but rather, to harness and master it.”

The natural paradox of fear is that we turn in on ourselves at the very time when we most need others and when we most need God.

After the Sept. 11 attacks, much of the world stood ready to reach out to us. But we chose in our response to largely “go it alone.” Even worse, our nation’s fear of being attacked again led us to attack other nations, causing fear in other parts of the world.

This cycle will never lead to true security, which must be built on right and just relationships and a fundamental trust in God’s power to save.

Indeed, fear can be the window that opens us to trust in God’s all-sufficient power. When the apostle Paul begged God to remove the “thorn” in his flesh, the answer was: “my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9).

In this Memo, we look at the ways in which the United States seeks to build “security” and suggest alternatives. Theo Sitther examines the connection between economic justice and conflict. Krista Zimmerman and Tammy Alexander critique efforts to secure the border. Gabe Schlabach looks at how our country’s civil liberties have changed since 2001, and Valerie Ong describes how security standards have victimized people seeking refuge in our country.

In small actions and large—as we travel to work and as we, as a society, decide how to spend our federal budget—let us witness to others by trusting in God’s security. For as the writer of 1 John says, “there is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.” (1 John 4:18).