Piloting Faith: What freedom really is...
A Word for the Day...
What do you want to be free from?
That is the driving question of the season of Lent. We talk about what we might give up - chocolate, shopping or binge-watching Netflix. What lies beneath the surface of those small sacrifices is a larger longing. We want to be free from something in order to create the space to be free to move toward something else. In other words, "What is holding me back, and what do I want more of in my life."
There is a big difference between “freedom from” and “freedom to.” Author Harriet Rubin puts it this way: “Freedom is actually a bigger game than power. Power is about what you can control. Freedom is about what you can unleash.”
A mature spirituality knows that life isn't about controlling people or institutions for our own gain. We are diminished when we diminish others. We might feel powerful in the moment, but we pay a terrible price in the end. We undermine our own integrity.
This season of Lent, as we consider our next political leaders, is inviting us to consider what we are seeking "freedom from" and "freedom to." We are battling that out. My prayer is that we seek...
Freedom from racism so that we are freed to honor the gift of all races;
Freedom from patriarchy so that we are freed to recognize the value of women and men;
Freedom from white nationalism so that we are freed to celebrate that almost all of us are immigrants to this nation;
Freedom from elitism so that we are freed to design a politic that works for the common good.
The Season of Lent is a season of preparation, of living between what was and what will be. My great prayer is that we are between a season defined by selfish agendas and moving toward a more just and generous world for all.
Rev. Cameron Trimble
Author of Piloting Church: Helping Your Congregation Take Flight
Prayer for the Week
Loving God,
Make me an instrument of your love,
that I might be
patient
kind
generous
compassionate
in all things,
toward all people,
for all my days.
Amen.
