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What Makes Us Free?
by Judith E. Smith
One of the myths of our culture is that control of ourselves and others is what gives us freedom. If we are in control, then we can obviously make decisions and that makes us free. But that is a myth. The paradox is that, as we give up control to God, we actually live in a deeper freedom. The freedom of God may call us to turn all of our most precious definitions of faithfulness on their heads. It may be that the most difficult call for us to respond to is not a call that demands of us great sacrifices but a call that offers us great gifts. Just as he did time and time again in the parables, Jesus continues to announce to us a new reality and, just as the Pharisees did, we may sometimes allow our religious commitments to interfere with our hearing and seeing that reality.
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It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
—Galatians 5:1, NIV
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Obedience and Freedom
by Marjorie J. Thompson
We shun the word obedience nowadays. It has an archaic and formidable ring to modern ears....How, then, may we be expected to engage creatively with the unavoidable centrality of obedience in the Christian spiritual life? For as much as we hem and haw, obedience is at the heart of scriptural teaching, from Moses to Malachi and Jesus to John. Indeed, the troublesome ingredient of obedience is introduced as early as the creation account of Genesis. How odd that the notion of obedience which we so resist should be inseparable from the freedom we so wholeheartedly desire.
Authentic obedience has little to do with forced submission to a controlling and restrictive authority. It has much to do with attunment to the truth of one's source and end. To follow the deepest structure and potential of one's created being is obedience to truth and results not in a sense of imposed constriction but in joyful fulfillment.
Paul Tillich (Systematic Theology, Vol. III) once observed, "Obedience is not subjection to divine authority, but the act of keeping ourselves open to the Spiritual Presence which has already grasped and opened us. It is obedience by participation, not by submission."
What transformation of our notions of obedience might be effected if we simply saw God's will as the deepest yearning of God's love for us?...Can we trust that what God yearns for in this creation is abundantly good and that we are intended to be vital links in the intricate web of cosmic life? Can we pray for God's will to be done in and through us because we know it to be a light yoke with an achingly exquisite purpose with which we yearn to work in harmony?
It is in hearing and moving toward the truth of divine love that we find our freedom by fulfilling our created destiny. Christ is both the example we follow and the goal of our path in this process of regaining the freedom God intends for us to enjoy.
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Hope Beyond Your Tears by Trevor Hudson is an excellent resource for Lenten study, a grief support group, or anyone seeking a deeper understanding of Christ’s resurrection and how it relates to their life.
*This newsletter is brought to you as a free service of Weavings: A Journal of the Christian Spiritual Life and The Upper Room. It is not intended as a replacement of subscriptions to the print journal.
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