Freedom is a popular, powerful word and yet amorphous concept. Everybody wants it. Great stories and movies are made about it. It inspires movements that overthrow governments. Yet while we
commonly desire it, we can desire its use in radically different ways. Freedom from the intrusions of big government. Freedom from the intrusions of big business. Freedom to make it on my own. Freedom from oppressive systems. Freedom to wear next to nothing. Freedom to cover every inch of my body.
The things that bind us can be just as varied. When Jesus burst on the scene in Matthew chapter 4 soon to start with his famous sermon, he came to bring freedom. This work is pictured– the dawning light of a new day upon those sitting in darkness. That paralyzing darkness took a number of forms: demoralization at having been dominated by outside powers for years, living daily in a place whose identity was failure, silence from God that was met with earnest efforts by the pious few that felt impossible for most. Discouragement, confusion, boredom, exhaustion from an identity of failure all colluded to bind people into what felt like sitting through a night without end. And then Jesus came with the promise of a new day and the freedom of a new future.
The freedom that he would articulate in his famous sermon didn’t necessarily delight with easy easy answers and cheap fixes but it resonated with those who heard it as being what it real and true. If anything the simplicity with which he spoke could be frighteningly honest. He didn’t offer us formulas but invitations in the very heart of God.
The Lord’s Prayer is a beacon that draws us into the life of God in the midst of the storms of life.
Tonight we cut the words, listen to scripture, worship. Tonight is about freedom.
May we discover the simple, powerful and frighteningly honest freedom that God has for us this year.
Peace :: Jon
