Cry Freedom!

“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” (Galatians 5:13)

Saint Paul had a sense of humour: ‘Use your freedom to become enslaved to one another’. It’s a contradiction in terms, isn’t it – being free to be a slave? Even so, within this paradoxical formula, I believe, is the key, not only to happy families but to world peace!

I am a great believe in freedom – freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom of religion, etc – and Paul was also a great believer in freedom, as we can see from this verse from his letter to the Galatians. Even so, Paul was also a great believer in equality.

“Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality” (2 Corinthians 8:13)

These two fundamental ideals – freedom and equality – we love them both, and yet they are natural antagonists, and they are the basis of the political divide between left and right. The left pushes for greater equality by trying to distribute communal wealth more equitably, while the right pushes back against any and all forms of government control.

Freedom and equality are the poles between which our politicians play out their dialectic. At their extremes, both tend to be disastrous. Absolute freedom means the rule of the jungle. The fit survive and the weak are enslaved. Complete equality, on the other hand, is unnatural and has to be rigidly enforced. Hence, the path to politically engineered equality (as history attests) can be as bloody and oppressive as the system it replaces.

All this is true of countries and cultures and, as Saint Paul reminds us, it applies equally to small communities of faith. Freedom was at the heart of the Gospel Paul preached. God is not trying to control us through any abstract set of rules and regulations. Even so, freedom, from Saint Paul’s perspective, was not license. It wasn’t about God removing all restraints from our lusts and desires. It was freedom for us to become the persons God created us to be.

This is a difficult thing to get your head around, and Paul spells it out in terms of the battle between ‘sarx’ and ‘pneuma’, which we normally translate as ‘flesh’ and ‘spirit’. I think it’s better, in some ways, to stick with ‘sarx’ and ‘pneuma’, as contrasting ‘flesh’ and ‘spirit’ sounds a lot like philosophical dualism where the physical part of ourselves is at war with our rational side. That was very much a part of the Gnostic ideology of Paul’s day, and dualism has had a long and corrupting influence on Christian thinking. The issue for Saint Paul though was not any battle between our bodies and our minds but between our better natures and our basic instincts.

We need to reign in our basic instincts. No one debates that, but Paul believed that the best way to do that was not by trying to muzzle our natural desires with lots of rules, but rather by focusing on love.

“For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.”” (Galatians 5:14)

Love is the solution as it resolves the tension between freedom and equality. Christ has set us free, but He has set us free to love, and when we are ruled by love, there will be both freedom and equality! There will also be joy and health and peace, and a whole variety of other good things!

I’m reminded of our Anglican father, Thomas Cranmer’s, prayer for peace:

“O God, the author of peace and lover of concord, to know you is eternal life and to serve you is perfect freedom: Defend us, your humble servants, in all assaults of our enemies; that we, surely trusting in your defense, may not fear the power of any adversaries; through the might of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”

It was a memorable trip, and it will be a reunion of sorts on Sunday. With your help, we’ll make it a great session of sharing, wisdom and worship. I look forward to having you with us – Sunday from noon (Sydney time) @ TheSundayEucharist.com, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Faithia or Streamyard.

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What’s On?

• Sunday, June 29 – Our Eucharist from noon @ thesundayeucharist.com, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Faithia or Streamyard)
• Tuesday, July 1^st – Boxing at the Mundine Gym in Redfern from 7 pm
• Wednesday, July 2^nd – Online Bible Study from midday via Faithia
• Thursday, July 3^rd – Boxing at the Mundine Gym in Redfern from 7 pm
• Saturday, July 5^th – Boxing at Legends Gym in Kensington from 3 pm.