What Freedom Really Means: June 29

Year C, Pentecost 3                                   Galatians 5:1, 13-25                                                                    

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” We all recognize these words.  It comes from the prologue of our Declaration of Independence which we celebrate on July 4^th---which we will formally recognize next Sunday.  Normally when we think of July 4^th, we think of freedom.  That is what we are celebrating, right? Freedom? Interestingly, the word freedom never appears in the Declaration of Independence.  But there is liberty, which is just like freedom.  Its right there—listed as one of our unalienable rights.  
   

We hear the word “freedom” a lot when we talk about our nation.  But it’s astonishing how differently we all interpret that word.  The apostle Paul used that word frequently in his writings.  But he used it in much different ways than most of use it now.  Paul wrote, “For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another.” 

The dictionary defines freedom as: “the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint.”  That was definitely not what Paul was describing. Paul didn’t believe that our freedom meant we could live a life without restraint.  He believed that we are free, but only if we find freedom in Christ.  Living in the Spirit of Christ gives us freedom, but it also requires that we become servants to God and even servants to one another.  In being free, we are bound to serve God.  If you are a little confused right now, that is ok, Paul can often be a little confusing.

One of the fascinating things about the New Testament and Jesus’ message was that everything we once considered true was turned upside down. It wasn’t that things we considered true were suddenly untrue, it was just different. For instance, Jesus said that the first should be last and the last should be first. Jesus was a king, but his crown was made of thorns and his throne was the cross. Death was not a defeat for Jesus, because he was victorious over death.  It was a paradigm shift. Jesus taught, a completely different way of thinking and being. One of those things he taught was the importance of being a servant, no matter how important you may be. He said that the way we treat the least of these is the way we treat God.

For the Jewish people, being slaves was something that was very much a part of their story.  God had led them out of bondage in Egypt to the Promised Land.  That was and is a big part of their narrative. And the Gentiles would have known and understood slavery as well.  That practice was alive and well at the time. Therefore when Paul spoke about slavery--that was not a foreign concept to the people he was talking to. I discussed this a bit last week, how slavery in the ancient world was different than it was in our nation.

Yet, Paul was talking about a different kind of slavery entirely.  It is not forced submission.  One person or group does not forcefully take control of another. For Paul it means that we willingly submit to God, and to one another.  It was and is a completely different way of thinking.  

In talking about freedom, Paul reminded these new Christians of Galatia that freedom was not supposed to be license for self indulgence.  Freedom in Christ doesn’t mean that you can just do whatever you want.  It means that you are free from sin, free from laws that tell you how to be holy.  However there was one law that Paul and Jesus chose to emphasize: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." In accepting this freedom in Christ, we also accept responsibility for one another.  It is a communal freedom rather than an individual freedom. Individual freedom is what we normally emphasize when we talk about it in the context of our nation.

I believe that our nation would be living more authentically as a free nation if we were free for one another, rather than in spite of one another---if we felt some obligation to serve the common good rather than serve our own self interests.  You might say, well that is not what American freedom is supposed to be. That’s Christian freedom which is a totally different thing. I would have agreed with you before I wrote this sermon.  While preparing for this sermon, I read the Declaration of Independence, all of it, not just that first part that is always quoted. The last line reads: “And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.”

“We mutually pledge to each other…” Huh, sounds a bit like Paul, doesn’t it? Now, I am no scholar of the Declaration of Independence, but it seems to me that the founders of this country, understood what would make our country truly free, and that is pledging ourselves to one another.  We declared independence from Britain, not from one another.  And even if I am wrong about that, I think we can all agree that when we see greatness in our county, it is when we serve one another. 

There is a reason why the military, the police, and the firefighters are often associated with patriotism….it’s because they serve. It’s because they risk their lives to help other people.  One of my most vivid memories from the days after 9-11 was trying to give blood at the local blood bank. The line was around the block.  People wanted to give something, do something.  At the heart of this nation is not just patriotism, but the kind of freedom that Paul described.

            Paul wrote, “For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ If, however, you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another.” Right now in our nation, we are biting and devouring one another.  And you know what, Paul was right. It feels as though we are consumed by one another---despite our desperate attempts to distinguish ourselves and separate ourselves, we are consumed.  We are not free.  We think that the might of our nation depends on our ability to protect ourselves and separate ourselves, but our might is determined by our willingness to serve one another, or in the words of the great document we celebrate this week, to “mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.” 

It is indeed a sacred honor to serve God’s children.  But let us never forget that God’s children are all the children of the world.  Love your neighbor as yourself was never meant to be literal. Love every person as yourself.  That was what Jesus meant.  Let us be free for one another, not in spite of one another.

           

Fishing without bait: May 24, 2020

Year A, Easter 7                                                                     

1 Peter 4:12-14; 5:6-11                                                                                   

"Fishing troubles"

            One of the things we tried with Joshua early on in the quarantine was fishing.   Neither my husband nor I fish so we had no intention of actually using bait and there was no way we were giving him something with a sharp hook at the end.   But still, I thought that casting might be fun for him.  And it was for awhile.  He liked to try to get it as far as possible.  When we were in the backyard, his goal was the roof of the garage.  He also seemed to find particular joy when he could get it tangled in a tree.  When we went to the beach, he had fun, but became frustrated that he did not catch anything.  While I do not fish, I knew that the reason he was not catching anything was that there was no hook and no bait.  But even if he had a hook, I was pretty sure he would not catch anything because he didn’t leave the line in the water for long. He would cast the line and then immediately bring it back in. While his technique was certainly flawed, I admired his positive attitude and hope.  He thought if he could just get it as far as possible, something good would return. 

            I found myself drawn to this reading from 1^st Peter for a few reasons, but primarily because of this line, “Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you.”   This is a verse that would appeal to me at any time as I tend to be a worrier, but especially at this time in our country and world when anxiety seems to be ubiquitous---it’s even more appropriate.  The word “cast” caught my attention, perhaps because of my extensive fishing experience over the last 10 weeks.  It is not unusual to see fishing language in the Bible.  It was a metaphor often used by Jesus and presumably his disciples as well.  The Greek word translated to “cast” could also be translated to throw.  Throw your anxiety on God. Cast sounds more eloquent, but I think either works.  Because when we are desperately anxious, often we cast our anxieties like my son does his fishing line---we just try to get them as far away as possible. 

            Even when we are intending to do as the text tells us and cast our anxiety on God, it’s as though we kind of throw it at him and then expect something miraculous in return.  That is what fishing is.  You cast something out and expect something different when you bring the line back.  But real fishermen have patience and discipline. They don’t expect to get something immediately.

            Thus when the author of Peter instructs us to cast our anxieties, he also gives some advice.  First before you even cast, you humble yourself before God.  Then you discipline yourself.  Then you resist.  Peter is talking about resisting the devil, but I think we can apply this idea of resistance to all kinds of things. 

            Humility. Discipline. Resistance.  If we are talking fishing, this would mean the opposite of what my son does.  We don’t throw out a plastic fish and anticipate a giant catch.  We don’t pull in the line immediately.  And we definitely don’t throw down the pole in disgust when we don’t get the results we want.  Now we know what not to do. Let’s talk about what we should do.

            I think it is safe to say that people in our world are praying more than usual right now. It is tempting to fixate on quick results, if not a vaccine, then at least a lightening of the burden that each one of us is feeling.  We tend to pray in specifics.  We tell God what we want as opposed to humbling ourselves and asking for God’s direction.  So let’s try to start with humility.  Let’s try to admit that maybe, we don’t know what is best.  Maybe our best interests are not the same as the best interests of all the people of this world.  Humble ourselves.

            The next step is discipline. The way we have been asked to handle the pandemic is a perfect example.  When it started, most of us were doing pretty good at following directions.  But then 2 weeks turned into 10 and the discipline and fortitude we started with---the idea that we are all in this together, has started to slip through our fingers.  And I get it. I am right there with you.  It was one thing when this was during Lent.  We are supposed to suffer in Lent. But Easter…and now it’s Memorial Day and we can’t go to the beach?!?  Discipline is so hard when it last longer than two weeks. 

And Jesus and Peter…they were talking about a lifetime of discipline in our prayer and our actions.  For Peter, the stakes could not have been higher.  “Like a roaring lion your adversary the devil prowls around, looking for someone to devour.”  You might think that Peter was talking about persecution. He was, but not in the way that Christians were persecuted later.  At the time Peter wrote, the Christians were such a small group they were not a threat to the Romans.  They were more of an inconvenience.  They were not being thrown to the lions literally.  It was more of peer pressure and judgment.   People were trying to convince these new Christians to go back to their pagan ways.  It would make everyone’s life easier.  The threat wasn’t physical, but Peter acted like it was. That is how important, how critical it was for them to continue to practice and live as Christians.          

“Resist him, steadfast in your faith, for you know that your brothers and sisters in the world are undergoing the same kinds of suffering.”  Resistance is part of discipline.  It is resisting what is easy and convenient. Resisting the people who would tempt us away from the Christian path.  Peter reminds these new Christians that they are not the only ones suffering.  Their brothers and sisters all over the world were also suffering.  It is something that we have been reminded many times over the last few months.  We are all suffering.  We are all in this together.  But that is not quite true.  Some are suffering more than others.  So instead of resistance for the sake of the whole….many are resisting for the sake of themselves and their freedom.  What Peter knew and what most of the early Christians knew was that true freedom was found in suffering and sacrifice, not for the sake of oneself, but the sake of the larger community.

So yes, let us cast our anxieties on God, but let us be careful as we throw our anxieties off, that they not increase the anxiety of another.  We can do that if we act with humility and discipline.  Once we have done that, once we have been as faithful as our strength allows, let us cast those anxieties with the same hope and faith my son has when he fishes---that regardless of our skill or the bait we use, God can take whatever we give him and transform it into something miraculous.