Easter 7 – May 20, 2007
Acts 16:16-34
Bengali Nobel Prize winning poet, Sir Rabindranath Tagore once told the
following story.
The idea, the search for and the gift of freedom is an important aspect of our humanity. Men and women throughout the course of history have fought and died for their nation and people to have it. Immigrants from every nationality come to the United States in droves, sometimes even illegally, to seek it. Movies are made to celebrate it and remind us sometimes of its cost.
The movie, Braveheart, comes to mind. Mel Gibson plays William Wallace, a Scottish commoner in the 13th century who fights for his country’s freedom from English rule. If you’ve seen it, you will not have forgotten the final scene with Wallace crying out, “Freeeeeeeeeeedom!! Freeeeeeeeeeeedom!!!” as he is tortured and killed.
Freedom is an important aspect of our humanity – of our physical and emotional life. It also seeps in to our spiritual and religious life as we see in the reading from Acts.
We can learn a lot about freedom from this story of Paul and Silas’s adventures in Philippi. What makes someone free? What are the signs of freedom? How do we grow in our search for and experience of freedom? To try to answer some of these questions, let’s look more closely at Paul and Silas.
I would argue that they, of all the people in this story, were the most free. Yes, they were physically bound – placed in the innermost cell, feet placed in stocks. But, in every other way they were free. In their case, it was their belief in Jesus that made them free – no matter what their physical reality was. Signs of their freedom were their prayers and songs and their willingness to stay in jail even after the earthquake freed them from their chains and locked cell doors.
Paul and Silas were not free from a lot of things: attacking crowds, beatings, jailtime. But, they were free for Christ. Free for casting out demons in His name. Free for witnessing through their prayers and songs. Free for bringing a whole household to believe in Jesus. They weren’t free from as much as they were free for. What a difference a little preposition can make!
Real freedom is not freedom from, but freedom for. That is the point of the opening story about the violin string. It’s something Paul and Silas realized during their Philippi adventures. It’s something that Jesus knew in his life as well. He was not free from criticism, betrayal, denial, persecution or even death. Yet, he was free. Free for extending the love of God to everyone he met. Free for unifying people from different traditions, cultures and beliefs. Free for saving the world from its sin – you and me from ours.
Real freedom is not freedom from, but freedom for. Even our own church sign out on the corner claims this truth. Have you noticed this? Have you noticed the words at the bottom of the sign that claim to everyone that walks or drives by that Elim is “An Oasis of Liberation for Christ”? What an amazing claim for a church to have!
It certainly doesn’t mean we don’t have our struggles or challenges. We’re not free from having to pay our bills. We’re not free from disagreements, conflict or opposing viewpoints within our community of faith. We’re not free from declining membership or changes in our neighborhood. But, we are free for Christ.
Like Paul and Silas, we are free for witnessing through prayer and song. We are free for helping lead people to Jesus. We are free for extending love to our neighbor.
Real freedom is not freedom from, but freedom for. It’s a proactive stance for Christ despite all the other things going on around us. So, how do we claim our freedom for Christ? First of all, we remember that our freedom is for Christ and not for ourselves. In a culture where many things seem to be all about “me, me, me” this is often the biggest hurdle.
Secondly, as individuals, we explore our God-given gifts and figure out how to use them for Christ. Each and every one of us is tremendously gifted by God, but we allow ourselves to be like that violin string on Tagore’s table. We’re free in that we’re unbound or uncommitted, but we’re not free to be all that God created us to be.
Part of our job as disciple of Jesus – part of our job as being free for Christ – is figuring out what we’re good at and then exploring how and where to plug in so our gifts can be used for Christ – His kingdom and his glory. Finally, we claim our freedom for Christ as a community. We make decisions that serve our mission as a community of faith even if it means we don’t get exactly what we want all the time. We ask questions and meditate and listen to where God is trying to lead us as we make big and little decisions regarding our ministry.
Thank you for being part of this congregation that claims to be “An Oasis of Liberation for Christ.” Blessings to you as you each seek your own ways to live into this claim. God be with all of us as we grow into and discover how to do this together. Amen.
Use battery. By itself, it can’t do much. It has all this power, but alone, it is not free to do anything. Maybe it could be a paperweight. When it’s plugged into a flashlight, it creates light.
I have on my table a violin string. It is free.
But it is not free to do what a violin string is supposed to do – to
produce music. So I take it, fix it in my violin and tighten it
until it is taught. Only then is it free to be a violin
string. By the same token we are free when our lives are
uncommitted, but not to be what we were intended to be. Real
freedom is not freedom from, but freedom for.
The idea, the search for and the gift of freedom is an important aspect of our humanity. Men and women throughout the course of history have fought and died for their nation and people to have it. Immigrants from every nationality come to the United States in droves, sometimes even illegally, to seek it. Movies are made to celebrate it and remind us sometimes of its cost.
The movie, Braveheart, comes to mind. Mel Gibson plays William Wallace, a Scottish commoner in the 13th century who fights for his country’s freedom from English rule. If you’ve seen it, you will not have forgotten the final scene with Wallace crying out, “Freeeeeeeeeeedom!! Freeeeeeeeeeeedom!!!” as he is tortured and killed.
Freedom is an important aspect of our humanity – of our physical and emotional life. It also seeps in to our spiritual and religious life as we see in the reading from Acts.
We can learn a lot about freedom from this story of Paul and Silas’s adventures in Philippi. What makes someone free? What are the signs of freedom? How do we grow in our search for and experience of freedom? To try to answer some of these questions, let’s look more closely at Paul and Silas.
I would argue that they, of all the people in this story, were the most free. Yes, they were physically bound – placed in the innermost cell, feet placed in stocks. But, in every other way they were free. In their case, it was their belief in Jesus that made them free – no matter what their physical reality was. Signs of their freedom were their prayers and songs and their willingness to stay in jail even after the earthquake freed them from their chains and locked cell doors.
Paul and Silas were not free from a lot of things: attacking crowds, beatings, jailtime. But, they were free for Christ. Free for casting out demons in His name. Free for witnessing through their prayers and songs. Free for bringing a whole household to believe in Jesus. They weren’t free from as much as they were free for. What a difference a little preposition can make!
Real freedom is not freedom from, but freedom for. That is the point of the opening story about the violin string. It’s something Paul and Silas realized during their Philippi adventures. It’s something that Jesus knew in his life as well. He was not free from criticism, betrayal, denial, persecution or even death. Yet, he was free. Free for extending the love of God to everyone he met. Free for unifying people from different traditions, cultures and beliefs. Free for saving the world from its sin – you and me from ours.
Real freedom is not freedom from, but freedom for. Even our own church sign out on the corner claims this truth. Have you noticed this? Have you noticed the words at the bottom of the sign that claim to everyone that walks or drives by that Elim is “An Oasis of Liberation for Christ”? What an amazing claim for a church to have!
It certainly doesn’t mean we don’t have our struggles or challenges. We’re not free from having to pay our bills. We’re not free from disagreements, conflict or opposing viewpoints within our community of faith. We’re not free from declining membership or changes in our neighborhood. But, we are free for Christ.
Like Paul and Silas, we are free for witnessing through prayer and song. We are free for helping lead people to Jesus. We are free for extending love to our neighbor.
Real freedom is not freedom from, but freedom for. It’s a proactive stance for Christ despite all the other things going on around us. So, how do we claim our freedom for Christ? First of all, we remember that our freedom is for Christ and not for ourselves. In a culture where many things seem to be all about “me, me, me” this is often the biggest hurdle.
Secondly, as individuals, we explore our God-given gifts and figure out how to use them for Christ. Each and every one of us is tremendously gifted by God, but we allow ourselves to be like that violin string on Tagore’s table. We’re free in that we’re unbound or uncommitted, but we’re not free to be all that God created us to be.
Part of our job as disciple of Jesus – part of our job as being free for Christ – is figuring out what we’re good at and then exploring how and where to plug in so our gifts can be used for Christ – His kingdom and his glory. Finally, we claim our freedom for Christ as a community. We make decisions that serve our mission as a community of faith even if it means we don’t get exactly what we want all the time. We ask questions and meditate and listen to where God is trying to lead us as we make big and little decisions regarding our ministry.
Thank you for being part of this congregation that claims to be “An Oasis of Liberation for Christ.” Blessings to you as you each seek your own ways to live into this claim. God be with all of us as we grow into and discover how to do this together. Amen.
Children's Sermon
Object lesson with kidsUse battery. By itself, it can’t do much. It has all this power, but alone, it is not free to do anything. Maybe it could be a paperweight. When it’s plugged into a flashlight, it creates light.