Whiteboard: Freedom

When the Fourth of July falls so closely after a Sunday, I like to take it as an opportunity to preach about the theology of freedom.

I typically try to avoid using Sunday worship to talk about secular holidays, and building a worship service around the blessings of freedom seems a fair way to approach the subject from a faithful perspective. It is also a handy way to remind people that we'll still have worship on the holiday weekend!

God's gift of freedom is celebrated and shared (and occasionally criticized -- think of God's own protests about "This stiff necked people" in the book of Exodus!) all throughout scripture. The Genesis creation stories show us that from the very beginning God has imbued us with the freedomto choose...and that sometimes that gift of freedom leads us away from God's desired pathway for our lives. When Christ called his very first Disciples, he did the inviting but it was of their own free will that they chose to follow.

One of the strongest admonitions of the divine gift of freedom comes from Galatians 5:1. Thus the central place that passage takes on my whiteboard this week (surrounded by fireworks, naturally!)...

Galatians 5:1 tells us, "For freedom Christ has set you free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery."

Through the power, grace, forgiveness, mercy, and love that we know through Jesus we are set free from all things that would oppress us and pull us away from God's call in our lives. God does not force us into a life of worship and service (such would simply be another form of enslavement) but rather frees us from our bonds and invites us to find meaning and purpose in our lives through God. That is what it means to be truly free...and that is worth celebrating on Sunday morning!

See you in church this Sunday!