Freedom

Exodus 6: 6-8

Galatians 5: 1, 13-15

John 8: 31-36

               

Freedom

Atop the hill in Washington, D.C. stands the Capitol Building of the United States of America. The cornerstone was laid in 1793, but the crowning touch, is the statue on top of the rotunda known as the “Freedom Lady” that was placed there in 1863. The Freedom Lady, stands nearly 20 feet tall (that’s some lady), and stands proudly atop the dome. A crest of stars frames her face. A shield of Stars and Stripes is in her left hand.

Sculpted in Rome, “the Lady” was brought to America aboard a sailing ship. During the trip across the Atlantic Ocean, a fierce storm developed. The Captain ordered cargo thrown overboard to lighten the load. The sailors wanted to throw the heavy statue overboard, but the captain refused, shouting over the wind, “No! Never! We’ll flounder before we throw ‘Freedom’ away.” And so, “Freedom” was saved, and the statue stands above the dome today, because one man stood for “Freedom.”

For me, one word sums up America, freedom. America prides itself on her freedom. Yet freedom in the history of our nation has gone through  phases since our inception.

The first phase has been the phase that I call Freedom From. This began with the Revolutionary War and the Declaration of Independence, seeking freedom from tyranny, oppression, and the war we fought for that freedom.  This was something that the Israelites sought over and over from the time of Moses to the time of Jesus, and beyond.

The second phase has been Freedom For.  This is how we have defined our nation, beginning first with  the Constitution, and finally the Bill of Rights. In 1787, our constitution was written, and sent for ratification to the states. As the ratification process went along, people want the guarantee of specific freedoms, and within a few years, the Bill of Rights were added as the first 10 amendments to our constitution. Freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of people to peaceably assemble, and many of the other freedoms we enjoy. Paul reminds us in Romans 13:4, "The government is God’s servant working for your good."

Then we had another phase of Freedom From. We fought the Civil War. The South fought for freedom from a strong central government, for states’ rights, so that each state could choose to do its own thing, and each could choose to continue to hold slaves. The North fought for unity and a strong central government, and for freedom from slavery.

 Over the years, and especially over the last 50 or so years, we have seen a change in freedom. We have entered still another phase of Freedom From--- a mistaken freedom from responsibility.  For too many Americans today freedom means to be free from any type of restraints. Freedom that is similar to what one finds in the Old Testament in the book of Judges 21:25, "At that time there was no king in Israel. People did whatever they felt like doing."   It is a selfish freedom, an irresponsible exercise of free will.

 Bill Maher observed, “We have the Bill of Rights. What we need is a Bill of Responsibilities.” A recent survey indicates only 13 percent of Americans still believe in all 10 Commandments. 9 out of 10 citizens admit they lie regularly. For 10 million dollars, 7% of our people say they would kill a stranger.

However, most Americans are also seeking a freedom that they have yet to understand. Even though, as Pew Foundation research polls show, they may say that their faith is not important in their lives, or that going to church is not important, and they lack any understanding of the bible, they still say they believe in God and are spiritual. That is, they are still seeking something beyond themselves, and their current lifestyles.  We call it prevenient grace-- God’s pull on their lives, their realization that despite all their human freedoms and exercise of their free wills to their own pleasure, they have an emptiness in their lives.

We need to enter a new phase of Freedom For. That is where Christ, you, and I come in. Christ offers a different kind of freedom.  The freedom Paul is preaches calls us beyond independence to interdependence, beyond autonomy to community, beyond self-indulgence to service. We have been set free by Christ so that we can move beyond selfish freedom and become servants to one another, as Christ served. It is the freedom that comes from learning to love others as God loves us. We are called to be his servants.

Christian love is a particular kind of love. It is born out of a freedom of strength, not weakness. It emerges out of a sense of fullness rather than emptiness. It's goal is to affirm and serve rather be affirmed and served. It is true unconditional love. Nobel Laureate Joseph Brodsky understood this when he wrote, "If equal affection cannot be, let the more loving one be me."  

The alternative, any kind of love born of a desire to have one's own needs met, is a destructive kind of love. Friendships, marriages, church communities built on this kind of love are as dangerous. There are many of things that keep us from living in the freedom of God's love and power. They keep us from experiencing the reign of God in our lives. Little can destroy a person, or a church,  more than enmity, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, and factions.

No matter how noble our intentions, no matter how lofty our aspirations, no matter how virtuous our goals, as Christ has taught us without the Spirit of God, none of us can live in real freedom.   In Jesus we have the power to be truly free so you and I might love one another as Christ loves us. Christ gave us the gift of himself and with it power to put away the things that would divide us. In his love he gives us power to move into life-giving servant-hood, servants to one another, and most of all, devotion and obedience to the One whose service is perfect freedom.

Another thing that Christ has taught us is, life is not worth living until you have found something worth dying for. But it is also true, life is not worth living until you have found something truly worth living for. If something is worth our lives, it is worth everything. But we also want meaning to life. People want to live lives that matter. Paul understood this and affirmed it with his entire life. Christ died because we are worth his dying for. And through the resurrection God gives us a promise worth living for.

We need encourage our friends and families to celebrate Memorial Day tomorrow. We need to stop and remember those who laid down their lives for our country to protect our freedoms. And, most of all, we need to celebrate the ONE, Jesus Christ, who laid down his life so we might be truly free to live.  

If men and women are willing to volunteer to join our Armed Forces and go into harms way, if they are willing to die in uniform for us, because they have found something worth dying for, how can we not honor them by finding something truly worth living for?  And what is more worthy of living than living our faith in such a way that others will come to know Christ and God’s love?

Perhaps if we live reaching out to others, as Christ did, to love them as God does, then men and women would not have to take up arms and die.

Amen