This sermon was preached at First Congregational Church of Tallmadge on July 29, 2007. I am indebted to Richard Wing and Tony Campolo for their work on this subject.
Luke 11:1-13
Dedicated to the members of the Adult Mission Tour, who are on their way to Kentucky this morning; and always to the glory of God.
I remember the movie “Oh God,” in which John Denver played an unassuming grocery manager who was unexpectedly visited by God in the form of George Burns, which is probably about what a lot of people thought God looked like anyway. It’s kind of an old movie now, but it had some good theology in it. God is asks John Denver’s character to be a sort of messenger, and in one scene God asks him to go to a church where there is one of these television evangelist types. The service he walks into is very slick, very glitzy. John Denver walks up to him right at the pulpit and says “I have a message for you from God.”
Well the preacher says real loud to everyone “this man has a message for God just for me! Go ahead son.”
And so he gives him the message: “Shut up! You are embarrassing God!”
Sometimes I think that God must cringe at some of the things that are said in God’s name. Even when we mean well, we can end up saying things that make God look pretty bad. Especially when it comes to prayer.
Tony Campolo wrote a book called Following Jesus Without Embarrassing God, which is partly the inspiration for this sermon. In it he talks about a woman who came to him once and said “my washing machine broke the other day, and I prayed for it, and God made it work again!” OK So she is saying that God heard her prayer and caused her washing machine to be fixed, and that this is apparently the same God who has not done anything for people like the woman who is dying of cancer with three young children, even though hundreds of people are praying for her. When we say that about God, it makes God look bad. If this were a parent who was fixing one child’s broken toy instead of taking a dying child to the hospital, we would find that parent negligent! And yet that’s what we seem to be saying about God.
What is prayer all about? There was a study some years ago involving a number of heart surgery patients who were divided into two groups. One group was prayed for by others without them knowing about it. The other group was not prayed for, and the results showed that the group who was prayed for did better. Wow! That was good news for those who want to talk about prayer getting results. So then there was the follow-up study. Using a much larger group of heart patients, and done over the course of ten years with two million dollars spent, they finally concluded that the prayed for group showed no significant difference in health. The headline in the New York Times read "Prayer Fails Major Medical Test."
That headline makes sense because of the image that most people have about prayer, which is that prayer consists of asking for the things that we want or hope for, whether for ourselves or someone else, and then either God grants us what we prayed for, or we call the prayer unanswered. Now sometimes we’ll get a little sophisticated and say that perhaps God answered our prayer in a different way, and we need to figure that out, but the image remains: we ask, God delivers. I think the headline should have read "Prayer-As-Supernatural-ATM-Machine Fails Medical Test."
Real prayer is our conversational connection with God. That’s what it is, and it is a gift beyond our understanding, which most of the time we don’t recognize, myself included.
I think if we can begin to clear away some of these misguided notions of prayer, then we will be on the way to recovering prayer as a sacred practice in our lives.
#1 Prayer is not magic. The anthropologist Bronislav Malinowski, who studied religious traditions across cultures, gave the classic definition.
“Magic, he wrote, is an attempt to control supernatural powers so that people get what they want. Prayer, on the other hand, is a process wherein people spiritually surrender so that they might become instruments through whom the supernatural powers do their work.”
Another way to think about it is that too often we pray like the man who goes to the doctor, spends five minutes talking about everything that hurts, and then leaves before the doctor can say a word. And we expect God to answer the prayer we have asked for without otherwise having to changer our lives at all. In truth, prayer is a place where we surrender ourselves that God might work through us, so that God might help us to give up our focus on what we want for ourselves, and look instead to what God’s will is for us and for others.
Prayer is not magic.
#2 Prayer is not something that works if you are extra good or spiritual. There are too many places, too many churches, where someone will come in tears about the prayer that has gone unanswered, and will be told “I’m sorry, buy you just didn’t pray enough.” Or, “you didn’t pray in the right way.” Or, worst of all, “you haven’t been faithful enough in your giving to the church. God will bless you when you give.” As if God is like the power company, shutting off the lights until getting paid. The book of Job should have cleared up this rotten theology a long time ago. God does not sit up above blessing the good and cursing the bad. Sometimes bad people enjoy health and wealth, and good people suffer greatly. Prayer doesn’t work by merit.
#3 Prayer is not to be understood. Tony Campolo writes, and see if this sounds like you: “I do it every morning, but I don’t have it figured out yet. The more I’m blessed by it, the less I understand just what it is. The more God fails to give me what I desperately beg for, the more assurance I have that God understands me, suffers with me, and will carry me through.”
The truth is that if prayer were just getting whatever we ask for, it would soon becomes very shallow, and we would ache and long for a bigger God.
So, we’ve cleared away some bad images for prayer. But how do we get started?
I believe that prayer begins with being truthful. When we pray, in is our conversational relationship with God, and so we tell God things about our lives, but of course these are things that God already knows. We don’t think that when we pray for our sister Mary who is in the hospital that God says “Whoa! When did this happen, which hospital?”
We do it because we need to be truthful. We need to speak the truth about our lives and the things we care about to someone who is listening.
And doesn’t it already begin to change us? Lifting names in worship calls our attention to specific acts, and it reminds us that everyone in this room carries burdens and when we remember that then we are more likely to meet everyone with kindness, to be slow to take offense, knowing how much each other person is going through already.
These prayers help us to reach out in comfort, support, and healing. We pray for those at war, and then we show our support in packages sent oversea, and a new ministry for veterans. We pray for peace and then we seek ways to understand our enemies and we take our prayers to the voting booth. We pray for those who are sick, and then we give blood, or join the Relay for Life to help with treatment and research. When we are truthful about ourselves, then we are well on our way to surrendering ourselves to God’s will for us, and God’s will for the world. “Your will be done on earth” is what Jesus taught us to pray.
Prayer also involves listening, and a willingness to change.
The movie Shadowlands tells the story of C.S. Lewis, author of the Narnia books, Oxford professor, and a great writer on the Christian faith. The movie focuses on his marriage to Joy Greshem at a later age, and the cancer that afflicts her and finally takes her life. At one point during her struggle, he comes to a colleague and tells him that the cancer has gone into remission. He says to him
“I know how hard you've been praying; and now God is answering your prayers.”
But Lewis tells him: “That's not why I pray, Harry. I pray because I can't help myself. I pray because I'm helpless. I pray because the need flows out of me all the time, waking and sleeping. It doesn't change God, it changes me.”
Finally, you don’t need to know how to pray to begin praying. Anne Lamott suggests that there are really only two kinds of prayers:
God, thank you.
And, God, help!
When Paul wrote to the Romans about prayer, he told them that “the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words.”
Even when we don’t know what to say, just begin by saying “My God,” and let God’s spirit do the rest.
“My God… a child is hurt.”
“My God…more of our children died in Iraq.”
“My God…my friend is very ill. She’s had a long life and suffers so. I don’t know whether to ask for another five years or for a peaceful death. Help.”
“My God…I don’t know what to do.”
“My God.” That’s all you need to get started. And then listen, for the grace of God which passes understanding. Listen to be made new, to know that God will see us through, to know that God has the last word, and that word is love.
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Doing the right thing
In this world there are many moral and ethical issues that are very complex, where it is difficult to discern the best choice, or best action to take. But most of the time, in most situations, we know how to do the right thing. We know how to show kindness, mercy, and even sacrificial love. It’s not too difficult to know.
There is a passage from the book of Deuteronomy (30:11-14) in which Moses is reminding the Hebrew people of God’s commandments. He says “Surely, this commandment that I am commanding you today is not too hard for you, nor is it too far away. It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will go up to heaven for us, and get it for us so that we may hear it and observe it?’ Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will cross to the other side of the sea for us, and get it for us so that we may hear it and observe it?’ No, the word is very near to you; it is in your mouth and in your heart for you to observe.”
Most of the time, we need only look inside ourselves for God to guide us toward showing loving kindness to others, even to those who do not love us back. That is not to say that it is easy to do. It can be a difficult journey from knowing something to acting on it, and we will surely take wrong turns along the way. But it is a journey worth making, because all the Biblical and theological knowledge in the world is worth nothing if we don’t act in love. All that we do as a church in worship, fellowship, and learning, we do in order to be moved by love to love. Without that transformation, without love, it’s not worth much.
There is a passage from the book of Deuteronomy (30:11-14) in which Moses is reminding the Hebrew people of God’s commandments. He says “Surely, this commandment that I am commanding you today is not too hard for you, nor is it too far away. It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will go up to heaven for us, and get it for us so that we may hear it and observe it?’ Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will cross to the other side of the sea for us, and get it for us so that we may hear it and observe it?’ No, the word is very near to you; it is in your mouth and in your heart for you to observe.”
Most of the time, we need only look inside ourselves for God to guide us toward showing loving kindness to others, even to those who do not love us back. That is not to say that it is easy to do. It can be a difficult journey from knowing something to acting on it, and we will surely take wrong turns along the way. But it is a journey worth making, because all the Biblical and theological knowledge in the world is worth nothing if we don’t act in love. All that we do as a church in worship, fellowship, and learning, we do in order to be moved by love to love. Without that transformation, without love, it’s not worth much.
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
Summer Reading
For me, reading is one of the best ways I’ve found to discover more about myself, my faith, and the world around me. Whether it is fiction or non-fiction, light reading or studious, the books I’ve read have allowed me in on someone else’s thinking and experience. I love those moments in a book when I think “I’ve had the same feeling, but never had words to express it before” or “so that’s what life is like for others.”
I also like to discuss the books I’m reading, and to hear about what other people are reading. I have discovered a number of great books by recommendation from this congregation. And so, to keep the conversation going, I’ll share my stack for summer reading this year.
Praying Like Jesus, by James Mulholland, is what we gave our high school graduates this year. It is an examination of the Lord’s Prayer by an insightful American Baptist minister.
The Highest Tide, by Jim Lynch, is a novel about a teenage boy who lives on the water of Puget Sound. I just finished this one, and I learned a lot about the fascinating sea life that lives in the ocean tides in this story about coming of age and responsibility.
Christianity For the Rest of Us, by Diana Butler Bass, is an examination of how old, mainline churches are thriving by exploring ancient Christian practices like hospitality and testimony.
The Emerging Christian Way is a collection of essays edited by Michael Schwartzentruber, in which a variety of writers describe and envision how the Christian church is moving into the third millennium.
Wicked, by Gregory Maguire, is a re-imagining of the land of Oz and the wicked witch of the west. I’ve heard great things about the musical and the novel.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows, by J.K. Rowling. Our entire family is awaiting the release of the final volume in this series. They are wonderful books to read and talk about with all ages.
Finally, Thirst is Mary Oliver’s relatively new book of poetry. She is one of my favorite writers.
I also like to discuss the books I’m reading, and to hear about what other people are reading. I have discovered a number of great books by recommendation from this congregation. And so, to keep the conversation going, I’ll share my stack for summer reading this year.
Praying Like Jesus, by James Mulholland, is what we gave our high school graduates this year. It is an examination of the Lord’s Prayer by an insightful American Baptist minister.
The Highest Tide, by Jim Lynch, is a novel about a teenage boy who lives on the water of Puget Sound. I just finished this one, and I learned a lot about the fascinating sea life that lives in the ocean tides in this story about coming of age and responsibility.
Christianity For the Rest of Us, by Diana Butler Bass, is an examination of how old, mainline churches are thriving by exploring ancient Christian practices like hospitality and testimony.
The Emerging Christian Way is a collection of essays edited by Michael Schwartzentruber, in which a variety of writers describe and envision how the Christian church is moving into the third millennium.
Wicked, by Gregory Maguire, is a re-imagining of the land of Oz and the wicked witch of the west. I’ve heard great things about the musical and the novel.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows, by J.K. Rowling. Our entire family is awaiting the release of the final volume in this series. They are wonderful books to read and talk about with all ages.
Finally, Thirst is Mary Oliver’s relatively new book of poetry. She is one of my favorite writers.
Monday, July 2, 2007
Sermon - Freedom
Sermon preached at First Congregational Church of Tallmadge on July 1, 2007
Galatians 5:1, 13-24
Luke 9:51-62
Dedicated to Isabella Christina Campi on the day of her baptism;
and always to the glory of God.
Freedom is what Paul proclaimed in the letter to the Galatians and freedom is what we are celebrating this week on our national holiday. Freedom is what this country is about. As Samuel Smith wrote in 1832: “My Country, ‘tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrims’ pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring!”
And as Thomas Jefferson wrote: “We…declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States.”
And seventeen centuries earlier, the apostle Paul wrote: “for freedom Christ has set us free, stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.” Freedom comes to us in two forms this week, and we rightfully celebrate both of them. The question that I want to put before us is this: “what does the freedom that we celebrate on the fourth of July have to do with the freedom that Paul proclaimed in Jesus Christ?” I think it’s worth our consideration.
The declaration of independence, signed on July 4, 1776, proclaims that all men are created equal and endowed by their creator with the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. This is a philosophical claim, and a theological point as well. To be human is to be at liberty to choose one’s own actions. Our freedom to do good or evil is witnessed to in the book of Genesis, when Adam and Eve, who stand for all of humanity, eat – not from an apple tree – but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This is often understood as the first sin and the fall of humanity, but many theologians interpret the tree as a way of describing what it means to be human. To be human is to know good and evil and to be able to choose, and the tree is a symbolic way of telling this basic truth. We are free to choose, and God will not force us one way or the other. God will not guide our lives like pulling strings on a puppet, or controlling a robot. God gives us freedom, “for freedom Christ has set you free.” But while God gives it to us as humans, sometimes humans will take it away, and it is up to us to stand up to Pharaoh, or to King George. It was up to our ancestors to form a new government to secure our freedom because being free is what it means to be human.
The freedom secured by this nation, the freedom we celebrate this week, is the freedom that God grants to all people. But, of course, the story is a bit more complex.
When our children are young we teach them about the declaration of independence and the writing of the Constitution in Philadelphia, and we celebrate Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin, and John Adams and all the wise and brave people who were there. And then, as they grow older and are able to think about complexity, we teach them that we have not always lived up the ideal that all men are created equal. We teach them, for instance that this didn’t apply to slaves, for whom there was no freedom, no right to liberty, the pursuit of happiness, or even life. In fact, the constitution considered them to equal 3/5ths a white man, which was a compromise intended to give their southern slave owners greater representation in congress.
Women had a higher status, but no more rights under the constitution. Women couldn’t even vote until 1920. There are some of you who remember that. Not all were equally free at the dawn of this nation, and this is not to criticize the founding fathers, for we are right to celebrate them. It is rather to give credit along the way to many others as well.[1] It is to give credit to those who spoke out in the name of freedom for all, those who received severe injuries and even died on the hallowed protest ground. Freedom has been an expanding project, building on the progress of those who have come before. Our closing hymn is an example of the ongoing project. “America, The Beautiful” is a greatly loved hymn, and rightly so, and as our understanding grows of freedom, and of freedom in Christ, people in recent years have added verses to recognize how we are growing. To compare the freedom celebrated on July 4th to the freedom in Christ, we find that our nation often looks to the ideal of freedom in Christ and finds that we are not yet there. God’s freedom calls us to change.
And there is more. Paul writes that for freedom Christ has set us free. But it’s important to keep reading, because we know that people must be free, but free for what? Paul continues: “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. For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”[2]
“Do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence.” I wonder about the dark side of freedom, when we push freedom to unhealthy extremes. Do we celebrate the freedom to say anything we want, no matter how crude, untrue, or damaging? Do we celebrate the freedom to amass more wealth than we could ever need while others are in want? Do we celebrate the freedom for corporations to do business without regard for their employees health or where their waste ends up as long as the bottom line is good? If we take seriously the freedom in Christ, then July 4th cannot be a day to celebrate just how far our freedom can go without any restriction or limit. It is not a question of what restrictions we are free from; it is a question of what we are free for.
Fred Craddock, who is one of the great preachers in this country, told the story about a little town in west Oklahoma where he pastored one of the four churches in town. Each church got about the same number in worship, but the most consistent attendance on Sunday mornings was the café, where many of the men set and talked about cattle and the weather, and would we get a good crop this year? The patron saint of this group was Frank, seventy-seven years old and set in his ways. He used to say “I work hard, I take care of my family, and I mind my own business. Far as I’m concerned, everything else is fluff.” He would say this to Fred when he saw him around town, and that was fine with Fred, he wasn’t trying to convert people in the post office line. Everyone in town and especially the guys at the café said that Frank would never step into a church. Well, it’s a free country, isn’t it?
Then one day, Frank showed up at Fred’s church, said that he wanted to be baptized. Well, the rumors started: “Frank must be sick, maybe it’s his heart, he must be scared to meet his maker.” But it wasn’t any of those. The day after his baptism, Fred said to him “Frank, you remember that little saying you used to give me so much: ‘I work hard, I take care of my family, and I mind my own business’?”
Frank said, “Yeah, I remember. I said it a lot.”
Fred asked “well, do you still say that?”
“Yeah”
“Then what’s the difference?”
Frank said, “I didn’t know then what my business was.” He had discovered his business: to serve human need.[3]
It’s a free country.
Jesus said it. Paul said it. Frank discovered it. The whole of God’s word can be summed up in one line: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” And we remember from what Jesus said and did that our neighbors are both friends and enemies, next door or around the world. Love them as yourself. That’s why you’ve been set free. That’s’ what freedom is about. We are free from acting out of fear or hate. We are free from having to return evil for evil, an eye for an eye. We are free from being enslaved to our own comfort because we are free to make ourselves uncomfortable in the service of others.
Celebrate this week. Celebrate this nation in which we are blessed to live. This is a land of incredible gifts and goodness. But celebrate also that different kind of freedom, the freedom for which Christ has set us free.
[1] Peter J. Gomes, from the sermon “Patriotism” in Sermons: Biblical Wisdom for Daily Living, 1998.
[2] Galatians 5:13-14
[3] Adapted from Fred B. Craddock, from Craddock Stories, ed. Graves & Ward, 2001, pg. 67.
Galatians 5:1, 13-24
Luke 9:51-62
Dedicated to Isabella Christina Campi on the day of her baptism;
and always to the glory of God.
Freedom is what Paul proclaimed in the letter to the Galatians and freedom is what we are celebrating this week on our national holiday. Freedom is what this country is about. As Samuel Smith wrote in 1832: “My Country, ‘tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrims’ pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring!”
And as Thomas Jefferson wrote: “We…declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States.”
And seventeen centuries earlier, the apostle Paul wrote: “for freedom Christ has set us free, stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.” Freedom comes to us in two forms this week, and we rightfully celebrate both of them. The question that I want to put before us is this: “what does the freedom that we celebrate on the fourth of July have to do with the freedom that Paul proclaimed in Jesus Christ?” I think it’s worth our consideration.
The declaration of independence, signed on July 4, 1776, proclaims that all men are created equal and endowed by their creator with the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. This is a philosophical claim, and a theological point as well. To be human is to be at liberty to choose one’s own actions. Our freedom to do good or evil is witnessed to in the book of Genesis, when Adam and Eve, who stand for all of humanity, eat – not from an apple tree – but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This is often understood as the first sin and the fall of humanity, but many theologians interpret the tree as a way of describing what it means to be human. To be human is to know good and evil and to be able to choose, and the tree is a symbolic way of telling this basic truth. We are free to choose, and God will not force us one way or the other. God will not guide our lives like pulling strings on a puppet, or controlling a robot. God gives us freedom, “for freedom Christ has set you free.” But while God gives it to us as humans, sometimes humans will take it away, and it is up to us to stand up to Pharaoh, or to King George. It was up to our ancestors to form a new government to secure our freedom because being free is what it means to be human.
The freedom secured by this nation, the freedom we celebrate this week, is the freedom that God grants to all people. But, of course, the story is a bit more complex.
When our children are young we teach them about the declaration of independence and the writing of the Constitution in Philadelphia, and we celebrate Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin, and John Adams and all the wise and brave people who were there. And then, as they grow older and are able to think about complexity, we teach them that we have not always lived up the ideal that all men are created equal. We teach them, for instance that this didn’t apply to slaves, for whom there was no freedom, no right to liberty, the pursuit of happiness, or even life. In fact, the constitution considered them to equal 3/5ths a white man, which was a compromise intended to give their southern slave owners greater representation in congress.
Women had a higher status, but no more rights under the constitution. Women couldn’t even vote until 1920. There are some of you who remember that. Not all were equally free at the dawn of this nation, and this is not to criticize the founding fathers, for we are right to celebrate them. It is rather to give credit along the way to many others as well.[1] It is to give credit to those who spoke out in the name of freedom for all, those who received severe injuries and even died on the hallowed protest ground. Freedom has been an expanding project, building on the progress of those who have come before. Our closing hymn is an example of the ongoing project. “America, The Beautiful” is a greatly loved hymn, and rightly so, and as our understanding grows of freedom, and of freedom in Christ, people in recent years have added verses to recognize how we are growing. To compare the freedom celebrated on July 4th to the freedom in Christ, we find that our nation often looks to the ideal of freedom in Christ and finds that we are not yet there. God’s freedom calls us to change.
And there is more. Paul writes that for freedom Christ has set us free. But it’s important to keep reading, because we know that people must be free, but free for what? Paul continues: “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. For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”[2]
“Do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence.” I wonder about the dark side of freedom, when we push freedom to unhealthy extremes. Do we celebrate the freedom to say anything we want, no matter how crude, untrue, or damaging? Do we celebrate the freedom to amass more wealth than we could ever need while others are in want? Do we celebrate the freedom for corporations to do business without regard for their employees health or where their waste ends up as long as the bottom line is good? If we take seriously the freedom in Christ, then July 4th cannot be a day to celebrate just how far our freedom can go without any restriction or limit. It is not a question of what restrictions we are free from; it is a question of what we are free for.
Fred Craddock, who is one of the great preachers in this country, told the story about a little town in west Oklahoma where he pastored one of the four churches in town. Each church got about the same number in worship, but the most consistent attendance on Sunday mornings was the café, where many of the men set and talked about cattle and the weather, and would we get a good crop this year? The patron saint of this group was Frank, seventy-seven years old and set in his ways. He used to say “I work hard, I take care of my family, and I mind my own business. Far as I’m concerned, everything else is fluff.” He would say this to Fred when he saw him around town, and that was fine with Fred, he wasn’t trying to convert people in the post office line. Everyone in town and especially the guys at the café said that Frank would never step into a church. Well, it’s a free country, isn’t it?
Then one day, Frank showed up at Fred’s church, said that he wanted to be baptized. Well, the rumors started: “Frank must be sick, maybe it’s his heart, he must be scared to meet his maker.” But it wasn’t any of those. The day after his baptism, Fred said to him “Frank, you remember that little saying you used to give me so much: ‘I work hard, I take care of my family, and I mind my own business’?”
Frank said, “Yeah, I remember. I said it a lot.”
Fred asked “well, do you still say that?”
“Yeah”
“Then what’s the difference?”
Frank said, “I didn’t know then what my business was.” He had discovered his business: to serve human need.[3]
It’s a free country.
Jesus said it. Paul said it. Frank discovered it. The whole of God’s word can be summed up in one line: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” And we remember from what Jesus said and did that our neighbors are both friends and enemies, next door or around the world. Love them as yourself. That’s why you’ve been set free. That’s’ what freedom is about. We are free from acting out of fear or hate. We are free from having to return evil for evil, an eye for an eye. We are free from being enslaved to our own comfort because we are free to make ourselves uncomfortable in the service of others.
Celebrate this week. Celebrate this nation in which we are blessed to live. This is a land of incredible gifts and goodness. But celebrate also that different kind of freedom, the freedom for which Christ has set us free.
[1] Peter J. Gomes, from the sermon “Patriotism” in Sermons: Biblical Wisdom for Daily Living, 1998.
[2] Galatians 5:13-14
[3] Adapted from Fred B. Craddock, from Craddock Stories, ed. Graves & Ward, 2001, pg. 67.
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