The 4th of July, America’s independence day, was this week. Many have had hotdogs and fireworks this weekend. Freedom is a biblical concept as well.

In the nation, America celebrates independence from England. I saw a bumper sticker that stayed with me, “I love my country, but I think we should see other people.”

In the church, Jesus was clear that we can be set free. He reminded us that the truth sets us free. I did prison ministry in Lancaster and visited with those incarcerated who requested a ministry visit. I often tried to find a scripture I thought might be helpful. So, I read from the gospel of John the truth shall set you free. One woman did not find that encouraging at all. She said, “Does that mean? I have to admit everything I did? Who do I have to tell?” I am not talking about the laws of the land. I am no judge and jury. I am speaking on a different plain. The spiritual realm.

We may be on the other side of the prison bars, but still in chains. Something else may control us.

When Jesus said, The truth shall set you free. The religious folks said, we’ve never been in bondage to anyone. This sounds like it could have been said by American’s. But as you know not all American’s. Some were bought and sold like cattle. This week we celebrate freedom. We remember even if we have never been a slave, we have been in proverbial chains. Admitting we are not free is sometimes a hard pill to swallow. Especially if it means we are not yet embracing truth. The truth sets us free, but it sure hurts first.

There is an interesting verse in Psalm 51.
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and put a new and right spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me away from your presence,
and do not take your holy spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and sustain in me a willing spirit. (or generous, or free)

Free and willing, free and generous.

My chains fell off, my heart of was free, I rose went forth and followed thee — a lyric from “And Can it be” a majestic hymn by Charles Wesley coming from the book of Acts where Peter was imprisoned and miraculously an angel came to him and his chains fell off and he followed the angel out of the prison.

The Epistle to the Galatian church is all about freedom. To be circumcised or not was the conflict du jour. Today we have different uncompromising lines we draw around what we feel is permissible and what is not. We are free the Apostle Paul reminds us. Not to do as we please and cause harm. But free to love and be loved. That is the law in one commandment.
1 For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.
13 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 enslaved to one another. 14 For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 15 If, however, you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another. Galatians 5
Lord Jesus, thou who art the way, the truth, and the life; hear us as we pray for the truth that shall make all free. Teach us that liberty is not only to be loved but also to be lived. Liberty is too precious a thing to be buried in books. It costs too much to be hoarded. Help us see that our liberty is not the right to do as we please, but the opportunity to please to do what is right.
Peter Marshall, Before the U.S. Senate.
Jesus was not referring to some external hold that may be on us. The Hebrew people were no strangers to slavery. Moses led the people to freedom. The Romans had developed an oppressive empire. Yet, Jesus knew something we often forget. Some chains are invisible. What can lock us in? Chemical dependence can control us. A prisoner once said to me as we talked about her life, “You mean I don’t have to do what I want to do?” Restore unto me the joy of my salvation, and sustain me, renew me with a free, willing, generous spirit. We can say, but I can do this … yes, we are free and yet, in addictions after a while, it controls us and we are not free. Power = the means to act. The ability to say yes or no. If chemical dependence is not our Achille’s heel, so many things can keep us from loving and being loved. So many things rob our joy. I watched a conversation on PBS in 2006 where Bill Moyers interviewed Jeannette Winterson. Jeannette is a British poet and author who studied Greek mythology. She rewrote the ending of the story of Atlas. Hercules tricked Atlas into trading places so Atlas could go about and do the job assigned to Hercules. Then when Atlas returned Hercules tricked him into taking the world again on his shoulders. She rewrote the ending where Atlas decided to put it down. Bill Moyers said he thought Jeannette’s Achilles heel was she can’t put the weight of the world down.
You don’t know me. This is my first Sunday at Lima United Methodist church. I am so glad to be here. This first Sunday in July when we celebrate freedom. I will tell you but one story about me as we grow together and learn from one another. When I was about 16 years old, I went to talk to my pastor. I was very close to him. Our conversation went something like this:
I said, “I don’t know if I believe in God.”
“What triggered this thought?”
“I don’t know.”
“Let’s take a look at John chapter 3. What did Nicodemus come to ask Jesus?”
After reading it, I said, “He didn’t come to ask Jesus anything. He came to compliment him.”
“Isn’t that interesting. Nicodemus, a very religious man didn’t know everything. The bad news is, Nicodemus could not know it all or do it all. The good news is, he wasn’t expected to.”
Then he looked me in the eye and said, “Jo, you are not responsible for the whole world.”
You see, it wasn’t that I didn’t believe in God. It was that I thought I had to be God and I was failing miserably. I was free. Free to be human. There are 2 things we should never forget, there is a God and you are not him. The truth shall set us free. And we shall be free indeed.
Remember John chapter 3 contains the born again passage. It reminds me of the words of John Denver:
He was born in the summer of his 27th year
Coming home to a place he’d never been before
He left yesterday behind him, you might say he was born again
You might say he found a key for every door
I have lots of keys I have been given. And I feel I have come home to a place I have never been before. Your hospitality is exceptional. Full disclosure, I did tell my last church I felt I had come home to a place I’d never been before but that does not make it any less true. God is present here as there. And I feel a part of God’s family here, already. I left yesterday behind, And this is a new day in which we will walk together.
We are free to worship or not. We move from servitude to son, daughter – or from “have to” to “want to”. We are not saved by works, but we are saved for works. As Peter Marshall said, freedom, liberty is not just to be loved, but to be lived. The movie “On the Basis of Sex” was about Ruth Bader Ginsburg, based on her early life when she defended a man in a discriminatory tax law case in 1971. During her arguments a justice said, “The word woman is not in the constitution.” She replied, “Neither is the word freedom.” This is true. In the original constitution freedom is not mentioned. Liberty is. Yet not everyone picks up on synonyms.
Freedom, the word we celebrate today, this national holiday season. We look to God who truly sets us free. Make me a captive Lord, and then I shall be free. Sustain me with a free, willing, generous spirit. May it be so. AMEN.