Christian Freedom

To make a long story short, I was scheduled to fly to South Africa on Sunday from Minneapolis-St. Paul airport. Anybody who has turned on the weather this week knows that the Twin Cities got 15 inches of snow, which happened to be worsening right about the time my plane was scheduled to go out. So rather than losing 5 vacation days, I waited until the roads were clear enough and headed back to my internship site (about a 3 hour drive--took me 4.5!). As I was driving through open fields blanketed in fluffy, white snow, I was listening to a compilation CD I created using music from a few of my favorite Christmas albums, including several from St. Olaf's Christmasfest a few years ago. One song, which I have always loved, is based on Psalm 100. Here are some of the lyrics:

"Make a joyful noise unto God
Sing and dance, be merry!
Celebrate the birth of our Savior!
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

Alleluia, alleluia,
Alleluia, alleluia,
Jesus the Lord is born
And he died to save us
Alleluia, to set us free. Alleluia!
We are the sheep meaning God is our shepherd
Alleluia, alleluia, and we are free!"

The first time I heard this piece, I was seated in the big recreation center where Fest is always held, and remember gaping openmouthed with tears streaming down my face at that last line. It's really the fundamental statement of our faith as Christians. No longer are we enslaved, in Egypt, to Babylon, to Rome, to sin, to death--we are free because of the Incarnation of our Lord.

There's a lot of misconception about what freedom looks like. We think of freedom as the ability to do whatever we want, and any rules imposed on us from the outside qualify as tyranny. But of course, rules are imposed on us all the time. We can't go around beating people up or stealing, because it may be an exercise of our 'freedom' to do so, but it also violates the freedom of another person. I think often religion, especially Christianity, gets a bad rap because of the rules. We start off with 10 commandments, and it just gets more complicated from there. There are certainly legalists out there who do their part in scaring people away from this approach to faith.

We were created for relationship. That's one of my fundamental presuppositions of my faith. We were created by God, for God and for one another, to be in relationship, and to love one another and nurture one another and creation. Sin is a force which by its nature destroys relationships. Because of that, we may think that what we are doing is exercising our freedom, but what we are actually doing is demonstrating how enslaved we really are. Sins are sins because they harm; us, each other, or creation. If our freedom inclines us to hurt others, we are not free to do what we were intended to do, but enslaved to that which harms.

I love this song because it hits directly on that point. We are free not despite the Shepherd but because of the Shepherd. Because of that guidance, we recognize the danger of following a different path, which leads us to hurt and kill and die. Because of that guidance, we know we are loved and protected, ultimately and infinitely. We, in our most perfect state, as we were created to be, can be known, because of God watching us, shaping us, and cleansing us. I never want to preach about the rules, because you can become enslaved to rules too; but it seems to me that an important question to ask about all our actions is 'who is this serving?' True freedom comes in serving that which is love embodied.