July 7, 2022
You’re free to go.
Most of the time when we hear those words, we automatically surround them with a context of argument and fill them with a connotation of dismissiveness, hurt, and frustration.
But I’d like to reframe these words for you in this week that held our nation’s Independence Day and where we have heard so much about freedom.
You are free to go.
First, notice that your freedom has purpose. Freedom is not the end goal itself, but it is what allows you to pursue the goal. God’s grace sets us free, and that is the beginning of our call not the end. We then go where Jesus sends us (like he sends the 70 in last Sunday’s Gospel reading Luke 10:1-11, 16-20), to the places Jesus himself visits, not alone but with others, not carrying what we need but trusting God will provide it like manna in the wilderness and the hospitality Abraham shows to the three travelers bearing God’s message and presence (Genesis 18:1-10 our first reading for July 10).
Our freedom from sin, deaath, and the forces of evil that rebel against God is what gives us the opportunity for living God’s love right here and right now and joining in what God is already up to in Jesus – liberating the oppressed, feeding the hungry, binding up the broken, standing alongside the people we’ve pushed to the margins, serving all people, loving neighbor as self.
This freedom is already yours, thanks be to God!
You are free not for any old reason or to do what you want any old time, not for self-indulgence (Galatians 5:1, 13) but free to truly be who God has created you in Christ to be – a bearer of God’s own image and a witness to the good news of abundant and everlasting life in Christ now and forever serving your neighbor (more on who is included in neighbor and what it means to be neighborly this Sunday).
And also, hear this part of Sunday’s good news, if the love of God you share in word and deed is not received and the peace you share is not returned, you do not have to stay and slog it out and dig in your heals because the gospel is always on the move, God’s love is for all people. So you proclaim the nearness of God’s kingdom with words and with the way you live, and you are free to keep on going. To keep moving and learning and growing and increasing in life abundant, in claiming your belovedness, and in being love for those around you.
You are free to go.
Thanks be to God.
Grace & Peace,
Pastor Drew