Throughout the Gospel and the second volume of Acts, the author of Luke sets up a distinct contrast between the kingdom of God and the kingdoms of this world. He specifically sets up this contrast between the kingdom of Rome, the primary political entity in Israel and the greater Mediterranean region, and the kingdom brought about through the coming of the Messiah. The unfolding drama of the Gospel presents this contrast from the outset. 

In Luke 2, the familiar story of the birth of the Christ child subtly, but poignantly sets up this contrast. As the story opens, Luke informs us that Caesar Augustus has issued a decree for a census throughout the entire Empire. This seems to place the spotlight on Caesar and the Roman Empire. Luke does this because he desires his readers to think of all that Caesar Augustus the Empire he established represents. 

Caesar Augustus was considered one of the greatest leaders of Rome. Tradition states that Augustus’s birth was proclaimed as good news because of the coming of a savior. He was also proclaimed as Lord. His reign brought to end the many civil wars that had plagued the Roman Republic. During his reign the Empire enjoyed an unprecedented time of peace and prosperity. This peace came to be known as the Pax Romana – Peace of Rome. This peace, as with many kingdoms of this world, was upheld through military might. It also was not true peace as there remained squabbles and small rebellions throughout the Empire. People did not experience the true harmony, compassion, and provision that should come with peace. Rather, they experienced oppression, heavy taxation, and limits upon their ability to flourish. The author of Luke secretly highlights this by mentioning the census. These censuses were used for one purpose: to have a count of the subject peoples in order to evaluate taxation. In other words, they served as tools in order to further establish the authority of Rome.

Luke quickly shifts the spotlight from the grand halls of Roman power and enforced peace to a different kingdom in which true peace can be experienced. As the scene at the manger in Bethlehem unfolds and the various characters take their places the peace that God intends for all people emerges. Joseph takes his betrothed Mary for registration in response to the decree of the Roman Empire. While there, Mary gives birth to her firstborn—the labor we celebrated once again last week.

Then a curious scene emerges in the shadows of Bethlehem. Somewhere on the outskirts of town a group of shepherds have gathered. Shepherds were a despised people within Israel due to the fact that shepherds’ work often precluded them from participating in religious activities. Shepherds were among a select group of social reprobates who could not serve as witnesses or judges in a trial. They were generally viewed as vagabonds and thieves. They are a people often rejected and ignored by the world, left to their duties of tending sheep. It is to this group of social outcasts that God chooses to make an announcement of astonishingly good news—good news in which God declares a true peace that subverts the ways of the Empire. By coming first to these shepherds with this message of good news, God declares that this good news, this peace, is for all people, especially those cast out from society.

READ: Kingdom of God, Kingdoms of Men

Luke chooses to announce the good news by deliberately contrasting Christ the Lord with Caesar Augustus. As mentioned, tradition developed that Augustus’ birth was declared as good news. Augustus was also declared as Savior and Lord. The angel that appears to the shepherds uses the same phrasing. Thus, Luke subverts the Empire, declaring the Christ child as the true king. The good news is that Christ is Savior and Lord, not Caesar Augustus and the militaristic, domineering, destructive policies that came through the kingdom over which Augustus ruled.

After the initial message from heaven in which an angel announces the good news that Christ is the Lord and Savior that the world needs, a large group of the heavenly host appears, declaring God’s kingdom action through the advent of the Christ. That kingdom action is to bring peace on earth. This is not Roman peace enforced through violence, but God’s peace given through the gift of the Messiah, who will sacrifice himself for all the earth.

This peace arrives in the form of an innocent child. Through the work, grace, and love of God, this child grows to bring the kingdom of God to fruition. This kingdom is realized through the willing sacrifice of the Christ on the cross. Through this act, the Christ brings about reconciliation between God and humanity. The peace we need is established. This kingdom is also established through the formation of an alternative community, a community that should stand for God’s peace in the midst of a world, of many kingdoms that seek to create a false peace through dominance, self-centeredness, militarism, and destructive choices. Christ the Lord establishes this community, which has come to be known as the church so that this blessed people might bring about the peace sorely needed in this world.

Those of us who claim obedience to Christ the Lord must discover how to live in an alternative manner. Rather than adopting the patterns of the kingdoms of this world—kingdoms like Rome that rule through division, oppression, and militarism—we need to adopt the patterns lived out and declared by Christ our Lord. We need to view the humble self-sacrificial attitude of our Jesus and discover how to live this out in our world.

God came to live among us in order to bring about peace on earth for all people. The kingdoms of this world and loyalty to those kingdoms will never bring about God’s peace. Instead, we must bow to the Christ, like lowly shepherds. Even though we might be cast out from the powers of this world, we can come and worship. Then we, like the shepherds finding the acceptance of God’s grace and peace, can glorify and praise God. 

Our acts of worship can then be lived out through sharing the good news of God’s peace, of God’s kingdom with all whom we encounter. Instead of sowing attitudes that bring about division and hatred we sow attitudes that reconcile people, drawing them into healed relationships. Instead of following after leaders who enforce “peace” through their violence and rhetoric, we follow our Lord and Savior who guides us into the peace he establishes.

“The Kingdom Is Yours is a song of hope and a reminder that the poor in spirit will inherit the earth. God honors the heart willing to lay its brokenness at his feet, and the soul that responds to violence, abuse and loss with the love of Christ. Society has its own standard of success, but God still honors faithfulness, humility and love when they’re hardest to do.” (Brittney Spencer)

“In a dog-eat-dog world, where only the strongest survive; where your brother may betray you in order to climb the next ring of the ‘corporate ladder,’ where loneliness threatens to be your closest friend, where abuse seems routine, and hope sounds like a fairy tail, Jesus speaks. He says his kingdom is at hand. He invites us in. It’s a place where the poor forever reign, where the pure finally win, where the peacemakers can rest, and where the persecuted rejoice. ’The Kingdom is Yours’ is a song of hope for those living in the tension of these two realities. It’s a reminder of what is to come.” (Micah Massey)

“The Kingdom is Yours is an encouraging reminder from Jesus’ beatitudes that the kingdom of God belongs to the unlikely: the grieving, the vulnerable, the hungry, the persecuted.” (Aaron Keyes)

VERSE 1
Blessed are the ones who do not bury
All the broken pieces of their heart
Blessed are the tears of all the weary
Pouring like a sky of falling stars

VERSE 2
Blessed are the wounded ones in mourning
Brave enough to show the Lord their scars
Blessed are the hurts that are not hidden
Open to the healing touch of God

CHORUS
The kingdom is yours, the kingdom is yours
Hold on a little more, this is not the end
Hope is in the Lord, keep your eyes on him

VERSE 3
Blessed are the ones who walk in kindness
Even in the face of great abuse
Blessed are the deeds that go unnoticed
Serving with unguarded gratitude

VERSE 4
Blessed are the ones who fight for justice
Longing for the coming day of peace
Blessed is the soul that thirsts for righteousness
Welcoming the last, the lost, the least

CHORUS
The kingdom is yours, the kingdom is yours
Hold on a little more, this is not the end
Hope is in the Lord, keep your eyes on him

VERSE 5
Blessed are the ones who suffer violence
And still have strength to love their enemies
Blessed is the faith of those who persevere
Though they fall, they’ll never know defeat

Written by Terrell Wilson (BMI), Brittney Spencer (BMI), Micah Massey (ASCAP), Aaron Keyes (ASCAP)
© 2017 Common Hymnal Digital (BMI), The Wilson Songbook Publishing (BMI), BSpencer Publishing (BMI), Common Hymnal Publishing (ASCAP), 10000 Fathers (ASCAP) (admin by IntegratedRights.com). CCLI 7109354

NEW YORK – LIVE FREE USA joins The Quincy Institute and Red Letter Christians to host: “55 Years Later: Can the Church Study War No More?”

The event comes amid a harrowing war in Ukraine, violent crime spikes in US cities and continued economic distress in communities of color across the country.  This FREE forum will invite people of faith and good will to reflect and commemorate the life and legacy of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Beyond Vietnam speech where he calls on all people to defeat the “triplets of evil: militarism, racism and poverty.” National leaders will gather to re-read the historic speech, followed by a panel conversation featuring Rev. Dr. Bernice A. King. Special musical guests Brian Courtney Wilson, Aaron Niequist, and Common Hymnal will perform.

“Violence abroad and violence at home require the active engagement of the church if we are to be agents of peace and justice in these times. We cannot allow our tax dollars to be a slush fund for military contractors abroad or militarization in US cities.” says Pastor Mike McBride.

Adds Shane Claiborne “the prophets call people of God to study war no more! We intend to amplify this call among faith leaders and congregations with an aim to resurrect a faith driven anti-war movement which encompasses the foreign and domestic expressions of state violence: international military actions in Ukraine, Yemen, Somalia and Israel/Palestine; police and state violence including the death penalty; and community gun violence in black and brown communities”.

Executive Director of Quincy Institute Lora Lumps says, “The importance of the faith community, in partnership with bi-partisan policymakers, advocating for peaceful resolutions to violent conflicts at home and abroad has never been more critical. As the Biden administration and this Congress adds close to $100B to already bloated military budgets and private contracts, poor people in the United States and underdeveloped countries around the world are met with death and needless suffering. We cannot not be so committed to funding violence and strength through might.”

This event is April 2 from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. at Riverside Church, the location where Dr. King gave this historic speech. The event is free and open to the press.

Proof of vaccination or negative PCR test (within 72 hours of event) and masks are required for entry to Riverside Church. 

WHO: Rev. Dr. Bernice A. King, and RLC Leaders, Shane Claiborne, Rev. Michael McBride, Rev. Traci Blackmon, Rev. Todd Yeary (RLC Board Chair), Lisa Sharon Harper (RLC Board Member), Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis, Jemar Tisby, Sharon Risher,  Michael W. Waters, Erich Kussman, Carlos Rodriguez, Diana Oestreich, Common Hymnal, and Aaron Niequist.

WHAT: MLK Beyond Vietnam 55 Years Later: Can the Church Study War No More

WHEN: Doors open at 3:30 ET on Saturday, April 2; the event will run from (approx.) 4-6 ET.

WHERE: The Riverside Church, 490 Riverside Dr, New York, NY. Live stream can also be viewed on RLC’s Facebook, YouTube, or website.

RSVP: bit.ly/mlkvietnamspeech2022

CONTACT: Katie Kirkpatrick, sc@redletterchristians.org, (856) 477-3277

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There is a place for steel bolts and cameras. There is a place for the contemplation of danger and the assessment of harm, the strategic memorization of exits and the hermeneutic of slight suspicion masked by a welcoming smile, an outstretched hand; would that there were fewer places for these things.

But there are other ways to pursue security that do not drive us apart, set us apart, set up barriers between us and the others made in the same image. When God split the adam, flesh from flesh and bone from bone (see Genesis 2:18-23), it was not to divide them but to create companionship, desire, comfort, turning humanity into what Wilda C. Gafney in Womanist Midrash calls “a bifurcated being (1).” 

If we were to pursue that which did not separate but brought us back together, what might that look like?

LISTEN to Walk With Me by Common Hymnal 

This is not a call to those who are busy defending themselves from direct action, nursing new wounds, or shell-shocked. It is the call and responsibility of those of us who are otherwise safe, with our feet by the fire, worried by the violence of others, and saddened by the sorrow of our friends. Our solidarity is not in pretending that our risk is the same but in changing the factors that destabilize the field.

What if we were to attack instead of retreat? What if, in place of despair or even a secure defense, we were to perpetrate an all-out offensive on the things that threaten to divide us: antisemitism, racism, domestic (what a word) violence, the prevalence, and ease of acquisition of guns, America’s preferred instrument of destruction?

From red flag laws to the red hot fire of forges melting down guns for garden tools, there are ways of making ourselves more secure that do not demand our separation but our cooperation. There are ways of reconciling ourselves to a human nature full of faults and fault-lines that require the filling in of trenches, the digging out of land mines, making straight the paths and passages between us (see Isaiah 40:3-5). 

Fund a violence interruption program; find out from the local trauma center who is doing the work you want to support. Mount a letter-writing campaign; find out from local and state anti-violence chapters what kind of legislation is being considered that will make our communities more or less safe from gun violence and other types of harm. Attend anti-racist and abolitionist educational opportunities. Bring some home to roost. 

What if we were to do the work of peace instead of the work of privilege, the building of towers of ivory and arrow-slits?

There are ways of loving our neighbors that do not require us to arm ourselves against one another, but that require us to equip ourselves with subversive understanding, deep collaboration, a conspiracy that recognizes the secret image of God settled subtly into every human being.

What if we were to combat the cold by setting fire to the things that chill us instead of shivering in dismay?

1 – Wilda C. Gafney, Womanist Midrash: A Reintroduction to the Women of the Torah and the Throne (Westminster John Knox Press, 2017), 21

One of the most perplexing realities of January 6th for me as a Christian minister was that many protestors proudly identified as followers of Jesus Christ. When I read about the life and teachings of Jesus in the New Testament, I learn of a radical, renegade Rabbi who resisted corruption not through violent insurrection but through grassroots organizing, through empowering individuals and communities to create a more just world through subversive acts of justice in their own daily lives. The Jesus I sought to follow was fundamentally different from whatever Jesus the insurrectionists had pledged their allegiance to. 

As I reflected on the insurrection and the entire Trump Presidency, it became clear that what was driving this violent behavior by white Christians was a deep-seated fear of losing their place of power and privilege in our country. As the national conversation around racial justice has progressed, as the disease of white supremacy continues to be exposed, and as the population of white people is surpassed by the multi-cultural array of diverse peoples that make up modern America, many white Christians are seeing the “promise” of a “Christian nation,” which really means a white, conservative, Christian nation vaporize before their eyes. 

READ: “Nothing New Under the Sun”: Opposing Racism Today

And yet, as a white Christian pastor myself, I have a strange feeling that losing privilege and power may be precisely what is required to save the souls of white Christians. After all, one of the central images of Jesus in the New Testament describes Christ as “emptying himself” of his own status and power to bring about redemption to the world. (Philippians 2:7) In Christian theology, Jesus rejects using his divine power for his own self-interest but leverages it only for the good of those around him. Following this example, the early Christians believed that only through following Jesus’ example could they experience the redemption of their souls and the world at large. 

The heart of Jesus’ message in the Gospels is to “love our neighbor as ourselves.” Yet, white Christians have far too often been known for how we marginalize our neighbors of different religions, cultures, and sexualities. Jesus leveraged his power for the good of even those perceived as his “enemies,” and yet white Christians are known for spending millions to get proximity to power and secure our own self-interests. In short, white Christianity has far too often chosen to worship the idol of our own privilege and power than the one who gave it all up for the salvation of the world and calls us to do the same. 

REGISTER: Join us on February 27th at 7pm EST for a special “Race in America” event with Michael W. Waters

What white Christians have failed to see is that losing privilege and power isn’t actually a loss- instead, it means that our society will begin to function more equitably for everyone. It means that people’s ability to get ahead will not be based on the color of their skin or the religion they belong to but on their merit. It means that the Christian worldview will not be the assumed worldview in various settings throughout our pluralistic nation, but that doesn’t mean that the Christian worldview will somehow become suppressed. As the Prophet Isaiah writes, when the “valleys are exalted, and the mountains made low,” then “the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all people will see it together.” (Isaiah 40:4-5) In other words, only when the playing field is leveled will the world experience the love and light of God together. 

The fact is that white Christian privilege will continue to be exposed and lost as our society continues to strain towards justice- this, I am confident, is the reality of our nation. The question is whether white Christians will give it up willingly, following the example of their Savior, or whether they will continue to resist and fight to preserve a world that gives them a leg up at the marginalization and oppression of everyone else. 

This is a moment of reckoning. White Christians have but two options set before us: to walk the narrow road with Jesus in the path of repentance of our exploitation of whiteness and Christian supremacy to ensure our diverse neighbors have a fair shot, or to continue walking on the broad road that exploits our privilege for our own benefit, where everyone not like us is viewed as an enemy to be marginalized so we can flourish. If we continue buy in to that lie, like the so-called Christian insurrectionists of January 6th, we can scarcely claim to be authentic followers of Jesus, and we’re sure to bring about much more destruction, indeed.  

You can hear more about Brandan’s book for youth in the RLC Book Club Children and Youth Edition.

However, January 6 was about more than political violence. It was an act of religious violence as well. Insurrectionists carried crosses, Christian flags, and banners that proclaimed “Jesus Saves”. Attackers held prayer circles on the Capitol grounds before storming the building. The Christian Nationalism that fueled January 6 is rooted in heresies. As Christians, we must reclaim our faith and defend our democracy by countering the lies of Christian Nationalism. 

Let’s unpack three of the heresies that uphold Christian Nationalism – and the antidotes we can find in Scripture. 

Heresy #1: Idolatry

Like the Israelites creating a golden calf in the image of Baal in Exodus 32, today people have melted down and recast God in the image of tyrants. Christian Nationalists have cast God as white, male, jingoistic, and American. This God is indistinguishable from the political leaders they swear allegiance to but bears no resemblance to the God of the Bible. Idolatry is the worship of that which leads us astray from God’s liberative plan for humanity. 

If we follow the God in the Bible, we follow a God who loves all of humanity, not just one particular race or country. Our vision is bigger than the interests of our class, religious, national, or ethnic group. This liberating God calls us to build a society based on shared power around a moral vision of loving our neighbor and welcoming the stranger. 

READ: Reflections from a Recovering Christian Nationalist Leading to the Anniversary of January 6th

Heresy #2: Lying About Our History to Glorify Ourselves

When you cast God in your own image, you can easily rewrite history with yourself as the hero. We have seen this whitewashing of American history since our nation’s inception. (This is why I refer to Critical Race Theory as “telling the truth about American history”.) When white Christians are hailed as the heroes, founders, and rightful owners of this country, we deny the full story of the systematic exclusion of people of color, Native Americans, women, LGBTQ+ people, and religious minorities from the benefits of our so-called democracy. This leads to the belief that electing white supremacists “makes America great again” and the belief that elections in which voters of color defeat white supremacists are “stolen elections.” Authoritarian rulers perpetuate these lies to exalt themselves and oppress the “other.” 

“Remember you were once slaves in Egypt and I freed you” is one of the most frequent commands throughout Scripture. The Ten Commandments and the rest of the Law follow this command to remember. God charges us to have historical empathy and remember and reflect on history through the eyes of God’s oppressed children. Confronting white supremacy and our role in sustaining such systems is an essential spiritual calling for white people in America today who seek to be faithful. The call to remember who you are and whom you serve is the spiritual discipline that enables us all to embrace truth and follow God rather than commit idolatry by giving unquestioning loyalty to an authoritarian. 

Heresy #3: Defiling the Image of Human Beings 

On January 6, coup participants erected a gallows outside the U.S. Capitol building. They carried Confederate flags through the rotunda. White supremacist, anti-semitic hate symbols were found throughout the crowd. The message was clear. 

All human beings are created in the image of God and have inherent dignity. It is the primary lesson of the Creation story in Genesis 2. Those who follow the God who calls creation good, who makes all in God’s image, will make space for dignity to take root and for hope to flourish. Recognizing human dignity is a spiritual practice. This practice requires us to root out every form of racism, anti-semitism, xenophobia, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, and bigotry. Whenever we see a category of people dehumanized, we must move to interrupt. We need to practice in our congregations, in our communities, and through our policies. By embracing and expanding a vision of multiracial, multifaith democracy we can participate in this spiritual practice. 

It is poignant to me that January 6 is also Epiphany, the day we remember the Magi discovering Jesus and refusing to report his location to Herod. The Magi chose Jesus the liberator over and against Herod. To be faithful is to oppose tyrants and to embrace multiracial democracy.

Like the Magi, we have a choice in how we respond to the demands of authoritarianism. In the days surrounding the 2020 election, faith communities across the country jumped into action to ensure that every vote was counted and the will of the people was heard. We stepped up to defend our democracy, and we will do it again. This is where I find hope. Hope is not a prediction or assurance that everything will be okay. It is a commitment to imagine and work for a better future for God’s children. Surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses, including the late Representative John Lewis, we have an opportunity this year to continue their work to build and protect a multiracial democracy. 

Defending our democracy requires accountability for those who have attempted to overthrow it. Take action today by signing onto this letter from Faith in Public Life and Faithful America to demand accountability for those who participated in and supported the attack on January 6. 

Accountability is necessary but not sufficient. We also need to pass pro-democracy legislation like the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act in order to ensure that no future attempts to overturn the will of the voters can succeed.

No matter our religion, race or party, most of us believe that we the people have a moral right to choose our leaders by free, fair and peaceful elections. Democracy is not inevitable. Our faith calls us to show up and defend it. 

For more information on how to reclaim Scripture as a handbook for resisting tyranny, check out Rev. Butler’s book, “Who Stole My Bible?”

Please also read the statement and join faith leaders in saying no to Christian nationalism. 

In Luke 2, the familiar story of the birth of the Christ child subtly, but poignantly sets up this contrast. As the story opens, Luke informs us that Caesar Augustus has issued a decree for a census throughout the entire Empire. This seems to place the spotlight on Caesar and the Roman Empire. Luke does this because he desires his readers to think of all that Caesar Augustus the Empire he established represents. 

Caesar Augustus was considered one of the greatest leaders of Rome. Tradition states that Augustus’s birth was proclaimed as good news because of the coming of a savior. He was also proclaimed as Lord. His reign brought to end the many civil wars that had plagued the Roman Republic. During his reign the Empire enjoyed an unprecedented time of peace and prosperity. This peace came to be known as the Pax Romana – Peace of Rome. This peace, as with many kingdoms of this world, was upheld through military might. It also was not true peace as there remained squabbles and small rebellions throughout the Empire. People did not experience the true harmony, compassion, and provision that should come with peace. Rather, they experienced oppression, heavy taxation, and limits upon their ability to flourish. The author of Luke secretly highlights this by mentioning the census. These censuses were used for one purpose: to have a count of the subject peoples in order to evaluate taxation. In other words, they served as tools in order to further establish the authority of Rome.

Luke quickly shifts the spotlight from the grand halls of Roman power and enforced peace to a different kingdom in which true peace can be experienced. As the scene at the manger in Bethlehem unfolds and the various characters take their places the peace that God intends for all people emerges. Joseph takes his betrothed Mary for registration in response to the decree of the Roman Empire. While there, Mary gives birth to her firstborn—the labor we celebrated once again last week.

Then a curious scene emerges in the shadows of Bethlehem. Somewhere on the outskirts of town a group of shepherds have gathered. Shepherds were a despised people within Israel due to the fact that shepherds’ work often precluded them from participating in religious activities. Shepherds were among a select group of social reprobates who could not serve as witnesses or judges in a trial. They were generally viewed as vagabonds and thieves. They are a people often rejected and ignored by the world, left to their duties of tending sheep. It is to this group of social outcasts that God chooses to make an announcement of astonishingly good news—good news in which God declares a true peace that subverts the ways of the Empire. By coming first to these shepherds with this message of good news, God declares that this good news, this peace, is for all people, especially those cast out from society.

READ: Kingdom of God, Kingdoms of Men

Luke chooses to announce the good news by deliberately contrasting Christ the Lord with Caesar Augustus. As mentioned, tradition developed that Augustus’ birth was declared as good news. Augustus was also declared as Savior and Lord. The angel that appears to the shepherds uses the same phrasing. Thus, Luke subverts the Empire, declaring the Christ child as the true king. The good news is that Christ is Savior and Lord, not Caesar Augustus and the militaristic, domineering, destructive policies that came through the kingdom over which Augustus ruled.

After the initial message from heaven in which an angel announces the good news that Christ is the Lord and Savior that the world needs, a large group of the heavenly host appears, declaring God’s kingdom action through the advent of the Christ. That kingdom action is to bring peace on earth. This is not Roman peace enforced through violence, but God’s peace given through the gift of the Messiah, who will sacrifice himself for all the earth.

This peace arrives in the form of an innocent child. Through the work, grace, and love of God, this child grows to bring the kingdom of God to fruition. This kingdom is realized through the willing sacrifice of the Christ on the cross. Through this act, the Christ brings about reconciliation between God and humanity. The peace we need is established. This kingdom is also established through the formation of an alternative community, a community that should stand for God’s peace in the midst of a world, of many kingdoms that seek to create a false peace through dominance, self-centeredness, militarism, and destructive choices. Christ the Lord, establishes this community, which has come to be known as the church so that this blessed people might bring about the peace sorely needed in this world.

Those of us who claim obedience to Christ the Lord must discover how to live in an alternative manner. Rather than adopting the patterns of the kingdoms of this world—kingdoms like Rome that rule through division, oppression, and militarism—we need to adopt the patterns lived out and declared by Christ our Lord. We need to view the humble self-sacrificial attitude of our Jesus and discover how to live this out in our world.

God came to live among us in order to bring about peace on earth for all people. The kingdoms of this world and loyalty to those kingdoms will never bring about God’s peace. Instead, we must bow to the Christ, like lowly shepherds. Even though we might be cast out from the powers of this world, we can come and worship. Then we, like the shepherds finding the acceptance of God’s grace and peace, can glorify and praise God. 

Our acts of worship can then be lived out through sharing the good news of God’s peace, of God’s kingdom with all whom we encounter. Instead of sowing attitudes that bring about division and hatred we sow attitudes that reconcile people, drawing them into healed relationships. Instead of following after leaders who enforce “peace” through their violence and rhetoric, we follow our Lord and Savior who guides us into the peace he establishes.

I could share more of the moments etched in my mind, but what I’ll remember most is what I didn’t see. Let me explain.

My first hint came when I learned that our Black community affectionately called Linda Dunikoski, the lead prosecutor, “Auntie Linda.” On the night of the verdict, the phrase popped all over my social media. I wondered if Ahmaud’s own Aunt Theawanza started it, so I searched. That night, over 3,000 posts mentioned Auntie Linda. I recognized names from our local Black community, but many also posted from across the nation and most invited Linda Dunikoski to Thanksgiving dinner. “She can sit at the head of the table.” “She gets to carve the turkey.” “She can have the first scoop of mac and cheese.” Auntie Linda was everywhere, and Auntie Linda was family.

Then the week after the verdict, the absence became clearer when I listened to The Daily podcast, looking for insights into the prosecution’s strategy. The hosts commented on the risky and surprising choice to exclude the racial context of Ahmaud’s murder. I followed the trial closely and I remember: Dunikoski only mentioned race once, and it was a small note in her closing arguments. One of the podcast hosts wondered out loud if the family disapproved of the state’s handling of the trial. But his cohost explained, “Ahmaud Arbery’s family was extremely pleased with the way Ms. Dunikoski conducted herself in court before there was even a verdict. And from other conversations with African-American people in Brunswick, Georgia, after the verdict, you got this sense that for a lot of people it felt like a more poignant victory…”

A more poignant victory.

READ: The Cross and the Lynching Tree: A Requiem for Ahmaud Arbery

That’s when all the dots connected and I saw it: When the prosecution left race out of the trial, all that was left was equality, humanity, and dignity.

That is what I didn’t see. I did not see a trial about what white men can do to a Black man. Of course, race matters, and of course his murder was all about race. But by leaving it out, Dunikoski and her team dignified Ahmaud Arbery as a human. It was not about Ahmaud’s skin, but about his death. About his life. About his right to live. Full stop.

Of course, our Black community understood. They listened to Dunikoski speak of Ahmaud Arbery as a man of equal standing with other men—as it should be in the eyes of the court, as it should be in the eyes of our nation, and as it should have been that February afternoon in the quiet streets of the Satilla Shores neighborhood. And because of this, they trusted Dunikoski with a kind of trust that is often only extended to those closest to us—family—and called her Auntie to prove it.

But this is why it matters to me and why it should matter to all of us. As I watched Dunikoski guide the jury through the trial without focusing on categories and colors, she showed us all how the American judicial system should work, with equal rights, equal standing, and equal dignity.

I don’t know if Linda Dunikoski believes in the same already-but-not-yet Kingdom of God as I do, but all that I did not see in that courtroom reminded me. We are siblings, sons and daughters and children of God. And through the gatherings on our courthouse lawn, Auntie Linda’s strategy, the dignifying of a fellow human being, and the outpouring of Thanksgiving invites, I saw how we belong to one another—how we are all equal, how we are all family, and how we can live in an America with justice for all.

But after spending five weeks biking more than 1,600 miles along the border with a group of faith leaders and activists, where I spoke with border patrol officers, ranchers, humanitarians, faith leaders, mayors, business owners, residents, migrants, and asylum seekers, I can say this picture of the situation at the border is far from the truth. There is a crisis at the border, but it is one that puts immigrants – not US citizens – in danger.

Throughout our journey, which aimed to create a better understanding of the US immigration system and the reality along the border, I asked the same question of everyone that our group met: “What do you know to be true based on living here that you wish people in the rest of the United States knew?”

One of the most common answers is that border communities are not as dangerous as they are portrayed in the media. We heard this everywhere we traveled, from people of all backgrounds and political persuasions. One day we floated along the Rio Grande River near McAllen, Texas, landing in the exact location where a group of governors held a press conference just days before in which they stoked fear about the border. The local riverboat captain we were with pointed to the place where they held the press conference and said to me, “We are here every day. What they described is simply not reality.”

The border is safe unless you are an immigrant. For immigrants and asylum seekers, it is dangerous and even deadly. The only option for entering along the southern border is to cross the Rio Grande River, climb a wall, or trek through a desert. We spoke with immigrants who told us about their experiences nearly dying in the desert of thirst as they tried to make it to the United States. We heard from others who nearly drowned with their children attempting to cross the river. Immigrants have drowned crossing the river in the very same place the 10 governors spewed their lies. We met a woman who fell from the wall and broke her pelvis, and we were just feet away when a man broke his legs from a fall off the wall in El Paso.

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Why do these immigrants take such risks? Because they are left with no better options.

Since 2018, the United States has shut off nearly all asylum claims for people from Central America and more recent COVID-19 restrictions have frozen the asylum process for everyone else. What’s more, the roughly 200,000 farm worker visas that are offered each year are nowhere near sufficient to meet the needs of employers in the US or migrants seeking to work.

Meanwhile, the crisis in parts of Mexico and Central American countries is intensifying. We spoke with Indigenous women from Guatemala who needed to flee their villages because gangs were recruiting and threatening their children’s lives. We talked with a man from Honduras, who lived on a small island off the mainland that caters exclusively to cruise ships, and who was economically devastated by the impacts of the pandemic. His town had been thrust into poverty. His daughter needed surgery to correct the effects of scoliosis, so he knew that he needed to do all he could to get to the United States and earn enough money to pay for the surgery.

There used to be a way for people in this situation to enter the United States. But due to the “Remain in Mexico” policy – a Trump-era policy that is continuing under President Biden that requires nearly all asylum seekers to await their adjudication in Mexico – tens of thousands of asylum-seekers are living in makeshift camps in Mexico. This makes them vulnerable to Mexican drug cartels. All of the people we spoke with told us they not only had to pay to make their journey to the United States, but they went into debt to criminal cartels along the journey. Now they face an even more dire financial situation than when they started. The “Remain in Mexico” policy has strengthened cartels and created more human suffering.

Much of this could be solved with changes to US policy. The US must drastically increase the number of farm worker visas available from 200,000 per year to at least 1 million per year. The shortage of workers in the US demands it. The Biden administration must also immediately put an end to the Trump-era ban on asylum seekers. Once this is done, the asylum adjudication process will need to be overhauled; the US should engage thousands of former judges and magistrates to serve as asylum judges and create a system capable of processing more cases per week. The Biden administration’s plan to raise the refugee cap to 125,000 is better than the disastrous 15,000 under the Trump administration, but it does not go far enough. We need to further increase the number of refugees allowed to enter the country.

There is a crisis at the border. It’s not a threat to Americans or borderland communities, but it is a desperate gauntlet of life or death for thousands looking to escape violence and build a better life. Immigrants are not the ones to be feared – they need our help.

Read the original article on Business Insider