“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”
-2 Timothy 1:7
March 26, 2022
Giving Up Fear, For God is My Haberdashery
My 2016 Lenten Meditation cited my father’s near-death experience from heart failure. As my brothers and I prayed for God to “bring him back,” we abandoned our schedules; sacrificed our judgments and grievances toward each other about his care. We just got on our knees and prayed. God gave him back to us and almost exactly six years later, God came back for him.
After his heart incident, Daddy used a walker, but he did not let it stop him. We saw a change in him; he walked without fear, and his primary goal was to please God. He was on a mission of love, forgiveness, reconciliation, lovingkindness, and generosity. He blessed everyone he met. He fed the birds and the dogs. He wrote letters of love and forgiveness. And he prayed, constantly. Not only did he “never meet a stranger,” he gave away two of his walkers to strangers at bus stops because someone seemed to need a walker even more. We worried about him being a frail old man using his walker all over Detroit, but he often told us, “Why should I fear, I’m walking with God. God is my haberdashery, why should I be afraid.”
Prayer
Father, as we enter this season of preparation, help us let go of fear, anxiety, judgment, and grievances, as we learn to walk with you. Help us to choose love instead of fear. Soften hearts that have hardened; remove the fear of personal, physical, and financial distress. Help us to open our hearts and let love dissolve the fear. Amen.
Maurita Coley Flippin
Steward Emeritus
Daniel Alexander Payne CDC
WIN
Lent 2022
We invite you to join us on a 40-day journey of prayer, financial sacrifice, physical activity, and spiritual connection.
Each day a new reflection with a scripture and prayer will be posted on the Metropolitan AME Church website and social media to encourage you as we prepare for Resurrection join us as we are reminded, awakened to the great power of God within us, and connect to our role in building with God a world of justice.
Read along with us each day or download the book to read and write along with us offline.