What is True Freedom?

(First published as a column for Trinity Uniting Church Wellington Point's weekly pew sheet "The Messenger" 9th August 2015)

Have you ever wondered about Freedom? What does freedom truly mean? All around us we have freedom. We are free to worship where and when we please, we are free to vote for whomever we please, we are even free to come and go as we please no matter the time of day or night.

On Sunday August 2nd, I visited Logan Uniting Church to hear and be challenged by the former head

of the Evangelical Alliance in the UK and Micah Challenge International, Rev Dr Joel Edwards. Joel came to England from Jamaica when he was 8 and for 13 years of his adult life was a probation officer within the UK justice system. He was also formerly a Commissioner on the Equality and Human Rights Commission for the UK. So he has a unique understanding of what freedom means.

But what is freedom for us? You can be challenged by a speaker of the calibre of Joel Edwards, but unless you actually take something away from that challenge and put it into action then you’ve perhaps missed the point. So what challenged me?

Joel commented that during his time as a probation officer, he would be working with young offenders whose situation was similar to his…black, single parent homes, lack of privileges and opportunities, poverty… and then halfway through the week he would leave that behind and head off to a church bible study.
Sooner or later, he said, the 2 worlds had to collide. If they don’t and you’re a bored Christian, then you have obviously compartmentalised. You can’t pretend that one doesn’t affect the other. 

Sometimes our worship space can be a distraction. We’re so busy worshipping God that we forget that God also calls us to be a presence in the world. That’s why at the end of every worship service we are “sent out” or “commissioned” to show God in the way we live our daily lives. This is probably why Matthew West’s song “Do Something” struck a chord with me when I first heard it. In it he challenges us that when we ask of God “why don’t you do something” about poverty etc in the world…God replies “I did..I created you”. 

How is God mobilising God’s church and mobilising people in a quest for freedom. Freedom means we don’t just show up and do mundane Christianity. Joel quoted Bill Hybells – the driving force behind Willow Creek’s global leadership summit: “What makes you angry? What upsets you? It’s very likely that the thing that makes you angry, moves you to tears, may be the thing that God is calling you to do”. 

So get angry, get praying and find out what it is that God created YOU to DO SOMETHING about.

https://youtu.be/b_RjndG0IX8 (Matthew West - Do Something)

https://vimeo.com/135314998 (Joel Edwards sermon at LUC 2/8/15)