What is freedom for?

Proper 8, Year C  -  Readings

God, to know you is eternal life and to serve you is perfect freedom. Amen

“It was for freedom that Christ has set us free.” We’re about to celebrate our Independence Day. Freedom is central to American cultural identity and one of the highest – if not the highest – value of our nation’s ideology. Freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom to assemble… free speech, free market economy – we say this is the “land of the free.”

But what is freedom for?

A popular conception of freedom is the idea I should be able to do whatever I want - sometimes with the qualifying idea ‘so long as it doesn’t violate others’ freedom.’
This sometimes degenerates into a bid for freedom from all responsibility…
nobody telling me what I can and can’t do,
nobody hounding me to take care of them,
nobody getting anything out of me
I do what I want and I keep what’s mine.
This is sometimes a major motivating factor for people who become homeless– It’s a form of freedom. This isn’t true so much for the people who become homeless because of crisis events – but it can definitely be true for some people who choose homelessness as a lifestyle.

Is that freedom? Sort of…

The desire to be free from responsibility and free to indulge yourself can lead to big trouble. When you keep indulging your appetites and desires – for food, alcohol, adrenaline rush, love… and you never tell them no, it’s kind of like always indulging your kids – they become more and more demanding and the dynamic of who’s in control starts to shift. At some point, you begin to realize you’re not in control of your appetites anymore; they’re in control of you. When they call, you answer, sometimes without even thinking. You become a slave to your own body, your own mind - and its sicknesses.

This is not freedom. This is not what freedom is for.

Paul says, “You were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence…”

This is an important verse for us. Self-indulgence may be about as central to the American ethos these days as freedom. According to Paul, that shows we’re missing the point. Freedom is a gift, and it’s a gift to be used for the benefit of others, not to indulge our own appetites. Currently, our culture is largely centered around consuming things. We eat more, we buy more junk, we do more drugs than anybody else in the world. We’ve sort of started to decide this is not how we want to live, but we’re discovering it’s hard to stop. The genre of sometimes heart-breaking reality TV shows like “The Biggest Loser,” “Hoarders,” and “Intervention” shows how difficult it is for people to start telling themselves ‘No.’

How do you do it? Paul says, “Live by the Spirit… and do not gratify the desires of the flesh…” Then he gives a whole list of things to stop doing and a whole other list of things to start cultivating in your life: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

One of the most effective ways to re-orient your exercise of freedom away from self-indulgence is to focus on others. Paul takes this to a pretty shocking level when he says, “do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another.” That’s pretty extreme-sounding. “become slaves to one another” Isn’t being a slave the opposite of being free?

It depends. Being enslaved against your will is one thing – an evil thing. But electing to serve is different. In the Old Testament, laws allowed for a Hebrew slave who earned his freedom to choose what he wanted to do with it. One option was to continue serving in the same household. If that’s what he decided, somebody would take an awl and pierce his ear against the doorpost. (Ex21:6) Then, he was identified as a slave who had the option to be free and chose, rather, to stay in service to that household. This is the kind of life Jesus chose for himself. He was free and elected to put himself in our service. He willingly sought the lowest position, becoming a servant to everyone, and he taught us we should do the same.

What is freedom for?

It’s so you can choose who you will serve.

You’re a free person. Free to serve anywhere and anyone you choose – BUT you’re not free not to serve... because even if you serve no one else, you’ll be serving yourself. My recommendation – turn right back around to the one who bought your freedom for you, and serve him. As our prayer book says, in his service is perfect freedom. (BCP p. 57 or 99, Morning Prayer... Collect for Peace)

Being a deacon is teaching me some surprising things about service and obedience. Obedience is a type of freedom. I’m free from a lot of responsibilities. Being a deacon is kind of like being a duke instead of being the king – you get a lot of the benefits without the heavy responsibility. It’s not my responsibility, for instance, to lead St. John’s or to decide things about funding or to answer to the Diocese for our parish’s activities. In a way, this limits my freedom, but in another way, it frees me up to be more effective in the responsibilities I do have.

Before I had accepted this specific role, I was free to worry about a wider range of things in the church – it seemed at the time like a conscientious thing to do. I worried about small local things at St. Mark’s and about things in the Episcopal Church as a whole and in the Anglican communion; I worried about things going on in other denominations and about trends in church attendance across all denominations – in the United States and in Europe. I was quite diligent and far-reaching in my concerns. At one point, I was very concerned to decide which church tradition was most correct, among the Episcopal, Catholic and Orthodox traditions – I was having a particularly tough time with that question and read some books and sought out various people to talk it over with. It seemed it might be impossible to determine conclusively. It was hard to know how to weigh different strong points and failings, and there were bound to be at least a few factors I was unaware of. At some point, though, it suddenly occurred to me… no one had asked me to make that decision. I was, in fact, completely unqualified to do so. It was such a helpful realization – it wasn’t my job! Wow, what a relief! That really freed up my time and mental energy to consider questions much more relevant to me – where am I called to serve?

This is always a good question – if you’ve not asked it, today is a good day. As fair warning, though, the most likely task he’ll set you to is serving others. You were called to freedom… don’t use your freedom as an opportunity for self indulgence but through love become slaves to one another… Love your neighbor as yourself

Our freedom is a gift from God; like all the gifts God has given this community, we shouldn’t just keep them to ourselves. Each of us should use our gifts, and our freedom as Henry Ward Beecher suggested (regarding the gift of one’s intellect) …

not as he uses a lamp in the study, only for his own seeing, but as the lighthouse uses its lamp, that those afar off on the sea may see the shining, and learn their way.

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Our father’s God, to thee, author of liberty, to thee we sing;

long may our land be bright with freedom’s holy light;

protect us by thy might, great God our king.


Amen.

The end of the world

Year C - Pentecost, Proper 28
Readings: Malachi 3:13-4:2a,5-62 Thessalonians 3:6-13 Luke 21:5-19 Psalm 98 or 98:5-10


Lord, thank you that your steadfast love never ends, and your mercy is new every morning. Amen.A main theme of today's lectionary readings is 'the end.'Often, people interpret these and similar passages as giving predictions for ‘The End of the World…’ But is it necessary to destroy the entire world for it to 'count' as the end of something significant?
From a historical perspective, this particular passage is talking about the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem, and later, the fall of Jerusalem itself, which took place in 70 AD. This did not constitute global annihilation, but it was enough to be 'the end' for them, and it's that aspect we can apply to today.
This passage isn't a prophecy of hidden clues to predict OUR future; it's a specific story of past devastation and destruction, through which we can learn to recognize the same kinds of endings in the present.
Around the world, there is plenty of upheaval bringing destruction to other communities and peoples. In some parts of Africa, the AIDS epidemic has brought about an end to the family structure of an entire generation by killing off the parents and infecting their children. I think for these kids, it's enough to count as the end of the world.
Genocide and civil war in Chechnya, Darfur, Rwanda and other places has brought an end to social order, destroyed entire communities and devastated people groups. I think it's enough to count as the end of the world to them.
The story after this gospel reading, after the destruction of the temple and the sacking of Jerusalem - the rest of the story after 'the end' - isn't recorded here, but we know that it has included restoration. After exile and dispersion, some of the story has included coming back and rebuilding; even after 'the end', the story continued and continues still. The end was also a beginning because of the people's hope and endurance.
To interpret this story for today, we need to look at lots of endings - not get caught up in the idea of one big final ending and spend energy worrying about it and trying to avoid it. This attitude leads to the situation Paul was addressing in 2 Thessalonians, where, instead of working and contributing to the community's life, some people were just waiting around for 'the day of the Lord.' They got so caught up in worrying about 'the end' that they were completely missing 'now'.
Instead, if we stay engaged in the story, we can recognize endings and work them toward new beginnings. One of the deacons in our diocese, for example, Linda Shelton, is involved in refugee resettlement. Some of these refugees, whose former lives have ended, are in the same situation as the 1st century Jews who were sent into exile.
People trying to begin again are all around us. A recent article in the Texas Episcopalian featured a parishioner from the church in Pflugerville, who fled Sudan to seek asylum here when his life was threatened because of reporting on the tragedies there. My mentor in the Iona school, Fr. Johannes George, fled Sierra Leone and devastation in that country and now serves the church in Alief.
What if this Gospel is not about predicting the end of the world so we can try and save ourselves, but instead is about recognizing and responding to the devastations of people around us - devastations which are smaller than global annihilation but are large enough to be the end of the world to those experiencing them?
This could mean a lot of work - but it makes our Epistle reading fit in very well - "do not be weary in doing what is right."
Who do you know whose world is ending - through divorce or a devastating illness, or the loss of a child? What has ended your world?
Let me tell you my experience of the end of the world. When I was 13, my mom suffered a ruptured brain aneurysm. I remember standing in a hallway during one of her surgeries, looking out an upper floor window of Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas. Traffic was going by on all the streets below, just as if this was any other day - as though the entire world was not falling apart. I was so angry at all of those people! Didn't they have any idea what was happening?!
Of course not, and I see it very differently now. But for several years, I stayed stuck in that ending. I couldn't imagine the world beginning again.
Interestingly, one of the things that enabled me to begin again was facing the same condition myself. In the process of getting it treated, I had to face some fears - including fears of 'the end' - and I discovered that God was with me there, and that true peace exists, and it is extremely solid.
I also realized that, because of a lot of people doing their work faithfully for years and years, my world was not going to end the way I feared. Some of these people may even have been the same ones driving to and from work the day I looked out that hospital window, mad at everyone whose world wasn't ending.
The collective efforts of biomechanical engineers, metallurgists, business people, ethicists, administrators, interventional radiologists, surgeons, nurses, and countless others I will never meet - all their work created a treatment option that hadn't existed before. So, while 50 years ago, my 2 aunts died of this condition, today, I'm fine.
Because of all those people, what could have been my end became a new beginning, and it has influenced my understanding of all kinds of work as service and vocation. It has also influenced my understanding of work as prayer - my prayers for healing, and those of my family and friends - were answered by God through the faithful use of talents given to numerous people, all doing different jobs well and working together.
I hope this encourages you in your work to view all of it as ministry and service to God - who through your faithfulness and obedience will answer the prayers of people you may never meet.
The point of discussing 'the end' is not to try and predict or avoid it, but rather to not become distracted or paralyzed by worrying about it. Our response when 'the end is near' - in any context - is to keep doing what's right - to be faithful and obedient - and to trust God to take care of the world and us.
After all, ‘He's got the whole world in his hands...’Julian of Norwich, writing in the middle ages, said this about a vision she saw concerning God's care for creation:

"And in this he showed me a little thing, the quantity of a hazel nut , lying in the palm of my hand, as it seemed. And it was as round as any ball. I looked upon it with the eye of my understanding, and thought, 'What may this be?' And it was answered generally thus, 'It is all that is made.' I marveled how it might last, for I thought it might suddenly have fallen to nought for littleness. And I was answered in my understanding: It lasts and ever shall, for God loves it. And so have all things their beginning by the love of God.
In this little thing I saw three properties. The first is that God made it. The second, that he loves it. And the third, that God keeps it. "

As the poet Gerard Manley Hopkins wrote:

And though the last lights off the black West went Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs -- Because the Holy Ghost over the bent World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.

and e.e. cummings continues...

i thank You God for most this amazing

day:for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes
(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun's birthday; this is the birth
day of life and of love and wings: and of the gay
great happening illimitably earth)
how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing any--lifted from the no
of all nothing--human merely being
doubt unimaginable You?
(now the ears of my ears awake and
now the eyes of my eyes are opened)

To this I would add - I thank you, God

for the end of the world,

because you make it into a new beginning.

Amen.

Lord God, almighty and everlasting Father, you have brought us in safety to this new day: Preserve us with your mighty power, that we may not fall into temptation, nor be overcome by adversity; and in all we do, direct us to the fulfilling of your purpose; through Jesus Christ our Lord. (BCP)