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"Spirit, Flesh
and Freedom"
Galatians 5:1, 13-25.
A Sermon Preached by The Rev. Douglas M. Donley
First Congregational
Church
My very smart wife Kim told me last night, as we retreated to the air conditioning of our house, “Whatever you do, preach a short sermon tomorrow. It’s too hot.”
I was going to speak about Spirit
and flesh in addition to freedom, but we could be here for a while if I
did. I feel the Spirit when I listen to
the bells and hear the great singing of our congregations. I love watching the bells because it’s such
an embodied and aerobic form of worship.
It’s like liturgical dance. Who
says flesh and spirit aren’t joined intertwined?
But since
it’s the Sunday after the fourth of July, since both of our denominations held
their annual or biennial meetings this past week, since we are gathered here
together for such a time as this, I want to speak briefly about freedom. We celebrated freedom at both of our
respective denominational meetings this past week. Voices of inclusion and justice were the
dominant voices both in
So lot’s talk about freedom.
It is more than just a slogan.
It’s the stuff of the reformation—freedom to worship as we see fit,
freedom to govern as we see fit, freedom to interpret scripture as we see
fit. Freedom to
exercise the wisdom of conscience as we see fit. All of this is the great benefit and wisdom
of the gift of freedom. And yet not
unlike Orwellian doublespeak the word freedom seems to have lost its true
nature. These days, freedom seems to
mean freedom to do anything to anyone as long as it benefits us.
Freedom has to have a moral center. It is not anything goes. Its moral center has to be to preserve the
rights and integrity of all people. It’s
the church’s job to remind our country of its moral center.
The Apostle
Paul said in Galatians 5, "For freedom, Christ has set us free.”
Paul had been a Pharisee and as
such had watched over the stoning of young Stephen, the first of many Christian
martyrs. Jesus' message of love, peace
and equality was bound to shake up the fragile Jewish community.
We know that Paul had a conversion
experience on the road to
Paul
had a different viewpoint of his life now that he embraced the freedom he found
in Christ. He still loved his Hebrew Bible, but he interpreted it differently
because of his conversion experience. We are the same way. We look at the world
in a different way because we have been confounded and changed by the renewal
of our minds. We embrace the freedom to believe as we have been called to
believe.
Paul supported letting anyone into
the church as long as they sought to live a Christian lifestyle. He vehemently
fought against those who would require that the males be circumcised in order
to show salvation. Paul was not about to get into litmus-testing. You see, it
was also about racism. He challenged the
If Jesus’ message is to love God
and to love our neighbors as ourselves, then we must not let petty differences
divide us, especially when the dignity of fragile people is at stake. His main
thrust is summed up in Galatians 5:1: "For freedom Christ has set us free;
stand fast therefore, and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery."
The early Baptists and
Congregationalists saw church hierarchy and their complicity with empire as the
yoke of slavery. Like the early church they had to practice their freedom in
Christ in secret because that freedom threatened so many people in power. For
freedom Christ has set us free. We are to be free from religious and political
domination. Freedom in Christ is about
rising above fear, bigotry, piety and cowardice. Ken Sehested
once wrote: "What is sin, but fear? And what is grace but fearlessness?
Freedom is fearlessness; and fearlessness is the eternal enemy of every form of
fascism."
"For freedom, Christ has set
you free. Stand fast, therefore and do not submit again to the yoke of
slavery."
This week, the UBC Bell Choir is
going on a Baptist Heritage Tour. They
will be our ambassadors of freedom, of joy, and of friendship. The Bell Choir is going to visit many of our churches in our
new Regional home, the American Baptist Churches of the Rochester/Genesee
Region. We are part of that region’s
growing Diaspora. Our Baptist Heritage
Tour will remind us all of what we hold in common. We will find people like us across the upper
In the twilight this past week,
Jean Lubke and I walked amongst the memorials in
He listed four freedoms:
"Freedom of speech. Freedom of worship. Freedom from want. Freedom from
fear." (Address to the Annual
Dinner for White House Correspondents' Association, Washington, D.C., March 15,
1941) Sixty year later, we still wants these four freedoms.
As the Depression raged, he said "In these days of difficulty, we
Americans everywhere must and shall choose the path of social justice, the path
of faith, the path of hope and the path of love toward our fellow men." (Campaign Address, Detroit, Michigan, October 2, 1932)
In his Third term he said, "We must scrupulously guard the civil
rights and civil liberties of all our citizens, whatever their background. We
must remember that any oppression, any injustice, any hatred, is a wedge
designed to attack our civilization." (Greeting to the American Committee for the Protection of the Foreign
Born, Washington, D.C., January 9, 1940)
As our country launched into war, he said "They (who) seek to establish systems of
government based on the regimentation of all human beings by a handful of
individual rulers call this a new order. It is not new and it is not
order." (Address to the Annual
Dinner for White House Correspondents' Association, Washington, D.C., March 15,
1941)
In the midst of war he said, "We have
faith that future generations will know that here, in the middle of the
twentieth century, there came a time when men of good will found a way to
unite, and produce, and fight to destroy the forces of ignorance, and
intolerance, and slavery, and war….Unless the peace that follows recognizes
that the whole world is one neighborhood and does justice to the whole human
race, the germs of another world war will remain as a constant threat to
mankind." (Address to White
House Correspondents' Association, Washington, D.C., February 12, 1943)
I found myself inspired by the
ideals of inclusion, freedom and equality.
These words etched in stone were proud reminders of the high ideals and
responsibility that we have as a country.
Sadly, they are antithetical to the current philosophy of pre-emptive
war and market forces disguised as freedom.
Rush Limbaugh is fond of saying, “
“For Freedom Christ has set you
free. Stand fast, therefore, and do not submit again to the yoke of
slavery."
We believe in freedom, because we
were slaves once, and we know that freedom is life-giving. We were once:
Slaves to traditionalism,
slaves to
homophobia and compulsory heterosexuality,
slaves to
misogyny,
slaves to judgmentalism,
slaves to
family rules and the exhortation to "not rock the boat",
slaves to the agendas of the exclusivists trying to deny us a place at the regional or denominational tables,
slaves to
our checkbooks and our datebooks,
slaves to
our jobs,
slaves to this economy,
slaves to our mortgage,
slaves to our 401K,
slaves to
our “security”,
slaves to
the constant fear of terrorism.
slaves to
the belief that war ends war.
But Jesus has come and said, there is a bigger picture.
There is a grander scheme.
God's way is a way of freedom and
liberation.
If you focus on that, this world
will be a better place, and we will make a place for, grant salvation to, a
world in need.
If Jesus were around today,
creating new scripture, he might just say, "Be ye servants of God first
and foremost, lest you be servants of this sin-sick world."
So I say we are free if we embrace
it and if we defend it.
We are free from all that has bound
us.
We are free from all of the rules
which have held one over another.
We are free to interpret the
scriptures as we may and govern our church the way we must.
We are free to be the children of
God we are called to be.
But that freedom must be a freedom that makes others free and unbinds the bound. Otherwise it is not freedom but just another obsession.
We are free to criticize our leaders (this includes the preacher).
We are free to use our voices.
We are free to let our little light shine.
We are free to call each other to a higher ethical standard.
We are free to think outside the
box and if we are true to our calling, we are free to find ways to make all
people welcome at the table and be as free as we are.
For freedom Christ has set us free.
Thank God. Freedom is not based upon
denominational positions or governmental policies. Often our freedom requires is to go beyond
those structures to really make a difference.
Every time we break with that which
binds us, we are set free.
Every time we refuse to be locked
in the prisons of our narrow minds, we are set free.
Every time we witness to the best of us, the inclusion, the justice, the peacemaking, the transformation and renewal which we all need, we are set free.
That’s why we’re here. That’s why we worship together. That’s why we work together. May everything we do in spirit and in flesh be an example of hope and be done in order to celebrate and ensure the freedom of all people.
That’s why we’re here: For life-giving freedom, the great gift of Christ.
May we use it wisely.