5/28/17 “Gospel Freedom” by Nancy Petty

Text: Galatians 4:31-5:1

I woke up this morning with my mind, stayed on freedom.

I woke up this morning with my mind, stayed on freedom.

I woke up this morning with my mind, stayed on freedom.

Hallelu, hallelu, hallelujah.

As a child, I longed for freedom. Freedom from the noise of the fights between my mother and sister. Freedom from the silence that pursued my mother and father’s disagreements. Freedom from the expectations that others placed on me—how I dressed, what I ate, and who I chose as friends. I chased the freedom to be me—fully me. I longed for the freedom to speak my truth, to say how I experienced life, the freedom to proclaim what and who was important to me. But in my childhood years, freedom—the kind of freedom every person longs for on the inside—eluded me. That is except for one place. From the time I was a very young child, and throughout my adolescence, there was that one place where I felt free. No matter how locked up I felt on the inside or how shut down my young soul and spirit felt, I could get on my motorcycle head across the field with the wind in my face and I felt free—free as a bird. Free to feel what my heart felt. Free to think my thoughts without fear that someone might be able look into my eyes and read my mind. Free to imagine, to dream, to hope for the life trapped inside me.

It was Harvey Milk, the first openly gay person to be elected to public office, that said “It takes no compromise to give people their rights…it takes no money to respect the individual. It takes no political deal to give people freedom.” Harvey Milk spoke these words in 1977 only to be assassinated some 12 months after speaking them. As a gay man he risked everything including his very life for his personal freedom. I knew nothing of Harvey Milk as a child, but I sensed that for me, in that place, in that time, claiming my personal freedom would have meant risking my life.

The lack of freedom I felt growing up was a heavy burden to bear. The church, that place where we are all suppose to feel free to be the creature God created us to be, was just another cage. There was no freedom from the secrets that I carried on the inside. Just loneliness and an aching feeling that I would never taste the personal freedom I so desired and longed for. Sometimes now, I wonder if I would have felt any hope for that freedom had known how to sing, even silently:

There ain’t no harm in keepin your mind, stayed on freedom.

There ain’t no harm in keepin your mind, stayed on freedom.

There ain’t no harm in keepin your mind, stayed on freedom.

Hallelu, Hallelu, Hallelujah.

As I grew older, I learned about another kind of freedom—the privilege to live in a country that values freedom. As a college student, I studied the four freedoms that President Franklin D. Roosevelt outlined in that famous speech he delivered on January 6, 1941, the eve of World War II. In his address that would become known as the Four Freedoms speech (technically the 1941 State of the Union address), he proposed four fundamental freedoms that people “everywhere in the world” ought to enjoy: freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear—essential human rights that should be universally protected.

Inspired by Roosevelt’s four freedoms, Norman Rockwell created four paintings depicting simple family scenes, illustrating these freedoms that Americans take for granted. In 1943, Rockwell’s freedom paintings were published in a series in the Saturday Evening Post. That year, the U.S. government issued posters of Rockwell’s paintings in a highly successful war bond campaign that raised more than $132 million for the war effort.

As it is with most things in life, not everyone was completely in tune with the ideas elaborated in Roosevelt’s speech. There was great debate at the time about the meaning of the freedoms, a debate that still has relevance today. But nonetheless, in my early adult life, I became obsessed with collecting the four original posters that appeared in the Saturday Evening Post. Maybe, I thought, if I couldn’t imagine the personal freedom I longed for, I could experience a kind of national freedom in its place. The kind of freedom we talk about here in America but sadly we still haven’t achieved for so many of our citizens. Just last week there was an article in the News & Observer exposing how thousands of low-income children who get “superior” marks on end-of-grade tests aren’t getting an equal shot at advanced classes designed to challenge gifted students. The headline read: “Why have thousands of smart, low-income NC Students been excluded from advanced classes?”  The headline could have read, “Freedom Denied to Thousands of smart, low-income Studenst Here in America.” Yes, even here in the land of the free, freedom isn’t guaranteed if your skin is dark or if you live on the wrong side of the tracks.

It was Coretta Scott King who said of freedom, “Freedom and justice cannot be parceled out in pieces to suit political convenience. I don’t believe you can stand for freedom for one group of people and deny it to others.”

Still, for some living here in America, personal freedom is denied. For others, those labeled “illegal” or “undocumented” or “refugee” political freedom and that national freedom that we espouse as one of the great American values is still being denied. We are not the land of the free as we like to think we are. For certain, living in this country, we enjoy many more freedoms that people living in other countries. But we have to be honest today. Our freedoms are still often parceled out in pieces to suit political convenience.

And so I, we, keep singing:

I’m walking and talking with my mind, stayed on freedom.

I’m walking and talking with my mind, stayed on freedom.

I’m walking and talking with my mind, stayed on freedom.

Hallelu, Hallelu, Hallelujah.

But there is another freedom—a third freedom—that takes us even further down the freedom path: I call it Gospel Freedom. It is this freedom that has been stayed on my mind this week. “For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit to a yoke of slavery.” What is this gospel freedom?

It is the freedom to live without fear. Not because we are promised physical safety, we are not. But we are free to live without fear because we know that we belong to God. Nothing changes our beloved status, our visa to the kingdom can not be revoked. Just as small children who are well loved and well cared for can play and explore with a sense of confidence, so can we, knowing that the Creator holds us all. We belong to love. We belong to all that is, and all that will be. Inside that belonging, there is nothing to fear. Gospel freedom.

Gospel freedom is the freedom to love without limit. Our God is big. Bigger than any conception we have. God does not have limits. God’s love does not have limits. Every time we bump up against what feels like a limit to love, we realize it is only our own definitions and fears and limits. The Gospel assures us of this, as over and over, when Jesus finds himself faced with those outside the traditional tribe, he rejects the idea of excluding them and instead draws the circle wider. Yes, as followers of Jesus, we know we are not only free but called to love without limit. Gospel freedom.

Gospel freedom is the freedom to forgive. We live in a time when we are constantly tempted to get righteous about the law, and what it requires of us. We find ourselves in great debates about what is allowed in the Bible, what is allowed in the Constitution, what is acceptable as a Christian, what is conscionable as an American, what is the Gospel. These debates focus our energy mostly on judgment, not on forgiveness. Even those who of us who generously say, “I don’t agree with them but I forgive them,” imply that judgment has been reached, and we are right, and we are big enough Christians to let those others be wrong. I don’t think that is Gospel freedom. I think that is Pharisee righteousness. I think the gospel freedom of forgiveness has more to do with knowing that forgiveness is a way of being. The point in 7 times 70 is that we will never be done with forgiving. And the point we miss so often in that, is that we will never be done needing forgiveness. Forgiveness is the path, not the exception. The Gospel points us down that path in the strongest possible terms. Forgive them, for they know not what they do. Forgive them, for they know not. Forgive them. Forgive. In this forgiveness we find freedom. Gospel freedom.

Finally, it is freedom to live compassionately without being in competition. We do not need to prove that we have the biggest God on the playground. We do not need to be loved more by our God than are others. We do not need to win at the being children of God! When we have enough – enough safety in our God, enough love in our God, enough forgiveness in our God – we are free to offer that safety, that love, that forgiveness to others. Whether they know our God or not! From our salvation, from our freedom, we can live in the world with open hands, reflections of the one true love, with no need for names or labels or rules or judgments. And when we can unclench our fists, and offer freedom to others, we find yet another depth to our own freedom. Gospel freedom.

Nelson Mandela said, “For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.” That is gospel freedom.

Barack Obama said, “…that a freedom which only asks what’s in it for me, a freedom without a commitment to others, a freedom without love or charity or duty or patriotism, is unworthy of our founding ideals, and those who died in their defense.” That is gospel freedom.

Harvey Milk said, “It takes no compromise to give people their rights…it takes no money to respect the individual. It takes no political deal to give people freedom.” That is gospel freedom.

Coretta Scott King said, “Freedom and justice cannot be parceled out in pieces to suit political convenience. I don’t believe you can stand for freedom for one group of people and deny it to others.” That is gospel freedom.

And so, for the sake of the gospel, and as people of faith, we must keep on waking up and singing:

I woke up this morning with my mind, stayed on freedom.

I woke up this morning with my mind, stayed on freedom.

I woke up this morning with my mind, stayed on freedom.

Hallelu, hallelu, hallelujah.