We all want to be free. The desire to be free motivated the founding fathers of the United States of America to write the Declaration of Independence declaring citizens of this country to be free from British control. Eventually a national holiday was instituted, and a national anthem was created coining America “the land of the free and the home of the brave” for some, but not all. While the document signed in 1776 states that “all men are created equal,” eighty-nine years would pass before people of African descent would experience freedom from the confines and control of slavery. On June 19, 1865, residents of Galveston, Texas finally learned that slavery had been abolished two years earlier. Upon hearing the news, former slaves immediately began to celebrate with prayer, feasting, song, and dance. As it was then, so it is now, June 19th, also known as Juneteenth and Freedom Day, is a day of celebration and commemoration of the emancipation of enslaved African-Americans.
We all want to be free. There are youth who desire to be free from their parents’ control; employees who desire to be free from controlling employers; people who desire to be free from nagging thoughts that just won’t leave them alone. People of Color desire to be free from the realities of racism. Women desire to be free from the effects of sexism. Same gender loving people want to be free from the discrimination as a result of homophobia. Every day, citizens want to be free from the violence we’ve witnessed through recent mass shootings at the medical center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and the school in Uvalde, Texas, and the Taiwanese Church nested at Geneva Presbyterian Church in Southern, CA, and the grocery store in Buffalo, NY; incidents that will no doubt happen again and again and again, until measures are put in place and laws are passed to help ensure the safety of those who live in this land.
We all want to be free. Free to go to church, the grocery store, the movies, the doctor’s office, to school, without the fear of losing our lives. Free to enjoy our lives, our families and the gifts God so graciously gives us in peace. In his speech, “I Have a Dream,” the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke of the desire for freedom. He said, “when we let freedom ring, we will be able to cry, “Free at last, free at last; thank God Almighty, we are free at last.”
Jesus lived and died to set us free. He came that we might be freed from the bondage and the consequences of sin. In John 8, Jesus said to those who believed in Him, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free (John 8:31-32).” Learning, accepting and embracing the truth is an important step towards freedom. The word ‘truth’ has become complicated. In this time of “fake news” and “alternative facts,” truth appears to lie in the eye of the beholder. Yet, when we follow the One who is the Truth, we are set free to love unconditionally, to serve with abandon, to be a light that shines through all the darkness of the world.
The truth about our common humanity will make us free to treat people – those like us and those different from us – like they are human beings, created in the image of God. The truth about our identity as children of God will make us free to show love, give grace and extend mercy to others as a result of the love we’ve been freely given through Jesus Christ. The truth about our individual and collective history will make us free to build on what is good and to work to rectify what has caused harm.
The truth about our call to be faithful followers of Christ will make us free to do our part to eradicate systemic poverty, to dismantle structural racism and to be and become vital and viable witnesses in our congregations and in our personal lives. Jesus fed the hungry and provided for the needs of the poor. Jesus welcomed those who were disenfranchised and excluded from the resources and gifts of God. Jesus gave light, spoke life and restored hope in the lives of ordinary people. When we live in the truth, we are compelled to do the same.
Followers of Jesus Christ understand that true freedom is found through faith in Jesus Christ. Our freedom is divinely and inextricably connected. May we learn, accept and embrace God’s truth, that we may all be free.
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