Freedom

“…There lives in every man [person]

an unwritten memorial of deeds

of heroic valor, in his heart

rather than in pillars of stone

–Monuments to their heroism.”

(Thucydides 460-395 BC)

All around the world people dream of freedom. During the Second World War we heard often that we were fighting for the “four” freedoms. In the sixties we heard shouts for freedom, “NOW!” Even the gospel of John records that Jesus said, “You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” (John 8:32) Alas, how the quest for freedom has so often done little more than cut the bonds of restraints and bondage of one kind so that new tyrants could re-capture and ensnare people into new and more cumbersome serfdom. Freedom alone can lead to excess and hubris, to unbridled egos, self-deception and greed.

We used to say that the freedom of your fist ended where my nose began, clumsy, but clear enough. Free speech is not without inevitable accountability. The laws of physics do not relax if I feel free to take the curve at 65 rather than 15 mile per hour. It is obvious, but often ignored, that being free to make choices does not also guarantee the desired outcome of those choices. This month our nation voted for our President, celebrating a moment in which a group of human beings in a wild and spectacular way put into action how they understand freedom. Of all the things that happen in the twenty-first century of the Christian era, very few have such a vast effect as the action that gives freedom legs, so to speak, in terms of government and public policy. It is far from perfect, but the spare and uncomplicated action has become, as Thucydides wrote, written more in hearts than any monument.

Martin Luther translated the Psalmists prayer (51:12) as: “…uphold me with a free spirit.” A modern translation reads: “…make me want to obey.” God rejoices in setting people free, with no strings attached. That’s the climate in which the true quality of life has its greatest expression; at the same time, it is also true that the exuberance of real freedom is not just the fireworks of liberation, but also the capacity to take the full measure of what that freedom means for those around us.

Thucydides tells us that while architectural monuments were usually built by tyrants, the glory of freedom had its “monument” in the human heart. So this election year, let us rejoice in the freedoms that are ours and also the blessings those freedoms can work for everyone around us.

Go with God,

Pastor Jansen