235 years ago tomorrow, 56 men representing thirteen British colonies in North American signed a declaration of independence, which proclaimed that those colonies were free and independent states. They took a stand for freedom; and, in order to protect that freedom, those 56 men pledged their honor and their lives to its defense.
33 years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Campbell wrote a document called the Declaration and Address, on behalf of the 22 members of the Christian Association of Washington, Pennsylvania. This document gave birth to the Restoration Movement, of which Bixby Knolls Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) is a part.
With our beginnings in America not many years after the founding of our nation, it is no surprise that freedom is a defining characteristic of our movement. Our members are free to interpret scripture as the Spirit guides them. Our congregations are free to conduct their worship and administration as seems best. And if anyone tries to tell us otherwise, we protest against the infringement on our freedom.
Next week my family and I will gather with a couple thousand close friends at the General Assembly in Nashville. Every two years the General Assembly of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) meets; the next one will be in Orlando, in case you are interested.
One of the things the General Assembly does is vote on various resolutions concerning a variety of topics and issues. Those resolutions carry the power of encouragement and persuasion, but unlike the governing bodies of other denominations, the General Assembly cannot dictate to congregations how they are to behave. Why? Because we value our freedom. For us as Americans and as members of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), freedom is one of our core values.
2,000 years ago, the Jewish people longed for freedom. Just like the Israelites who were slaves in Egypt many centuries before that, the Jewish people longed to be free from oppression. In their case it was freedom from the Roman Empire for which they longed.
Roman governors taxed the Jewish people heavily – oppressively – in order to support massive military spending, as well as a few extravagant building projects. (I’ll leave it to you to draw the modern parallels.) Roman soldiers were everywhere, intimidating the people, and forcing them to do special favors for them … like forcing them to carry their gear for up to a mile.
The Jewish people prayed that God would intervene, that God would send them a messiah who would deliver them from their Roman oppressors much like David delivered Israel from their Philistine oppressors; a messiah who would replace the kingdom of Rome with a kingdom of God.
We still pray today for God’s kingdom to come on earth.
2,000 years ago, John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming, “Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand! God’s intervention is about to arrive. Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees!” In other words: get ready, for a God-led revolution is about to take place.
Well, there was one thing John didn’t quite understand. God, it turns out, did not intervene by getting rid of the Roman oppressors. In fact, the Romans eventually locked John up in prison, where he remained until he was executed. By Romans.
Jesus, who was baptized by John – and who saw what happened to John – took John’s message and tweaked it. You can tell that Jesus’ message was a little different from John’s in today’s scripture, where it says that John came neither eating nor drinking, while Jesus came eating and drinking. That’s a difference.
Jesus did say that the kingdom of God was at hand, just as John had said; but the difference is that Jesus said that the kingdom wasn’t coming with things that could be seen; in the 17th chapter of Luke, Jesus said that.
Now, think about that for a moment. What would it have meant if someone said, 235 years ago, that American independence was coming, but not in a way that could be seen? What would it mean to say that the birth of a new nation was at hand, but not in a way that could be observed?
Jesus said, in fact, that God’s kingdom was already present, among the faithful followers of God. The kingdom was present among them, in their hearts and minds.
That’s a modification of John’s kingdom proclamations.
Jesus said that God’s kingdom is a peaceful kingdom. A violent overthrow of Rome would just replace one violent regime with another violent regime. And with violence in your hearts, you still would not be free. You would still be captive to a culture of violence. But God’s kingdom, according to Jesus, is a kingdom of peace.
Now, you can be free – right now – as long as you refuse to accommodate yourself to the oppressive, violent culture around you. Caesar may take your money, but he can’t take your faith. Soldiers may force you to walk a mile, but they can’t take your dignity. Not unless you let them.
What Jesus said is to not give in to the culture of violence and oppression. Don’t let the ways of the oppressor become your ways. Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also. If anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile.
Even in the midst of oppression, the kingdom of God can still shine forth in your heart and in your soul. Don’t wait for God to intervene in your life to set you free, because God is already present in you. The kingdom is alive in you.
In the case of the ancient Israelites held as slaves in Egypt, God did intervene. God sent all those plagues – the frogs, the flies, the locusts, the diseases, the darkness, the death of the firstborn – until Pharaoh released the Israelites from their captivity and set them free.
But they weren’t really free after all that. Once they departed Egypt, once they passed through the Red Sea, they found that even though their bodies were free, their hearts and their minds were still captive. They had got out of Egypt, but they hadn’t been able to get Egypt out of them.
The plan was to go and establish a new nation, a free nation, a kingdom of God in a promised land. But God said, “You know what? You’re not ready. I brought you out of Egypt, but true freedom, the freedom you long for, does not come with things that can be observed. True freedom comes from among you. True freedom comes from within you. Until you figure that out, you are not ready to enter the promised land.”
And so they wandered in the wilderness for 40 years, figuring that out.
235 years ago, the United States of America declared its freedom and independence. Eleven years after that, our constitution was ratified, and then the Bill of Rights, granting us constitutional freedom. Twenty-one years after that, the Restoration Movement, with its emphasis on freedom, was born.
We’ve been living with freedom for a long time. And we think we know what it means. But then someone introduces the newest version of the latest electronic gizmo, and we become all anxious because our version is the old version, and we worry that we won’t be able to keep up with society.
That’s not freedom.
And then someone says, “I can say and do whatever I want, it’s a free country,” and we respond by saying, “I can say and do whatever I want, it’s a free country,” and we begin a battle of defending our turf and defending our ideas and putting down anyone who disagrees with us.
That’s not freedom.
And then we take that promotion even though it means more time away from the family, because we’ve been told how important it is to provide, to have a nice home, a nice car or two, with all the latest technology. We sacrifice family and relationships for money and possessions, until money and possessions are all we have left.
That’s not freedom.
And we feel so trapped by it all that we reach for a cigarette, or a bottle, or a drug, or a habit; and such habits make us feel free, but we become dependent, and in being dependent, find that we are not free after all.
And we’re so happy to live in a nation where we’re free to worship as we choose, and many exercise that freedom by choosing not to worship; or, to say it more accurately, they choose to worship at the altar of consumerism and hedonism rather than at the altar of peace and love. They spend more time, more money, and more of their life-energy on pursuits other than God.
Which is ironic, because it is here, in God, where true freedom is found. All those other pursuits, those other “freedoms,” leave a person tied and captive, tired and worn out, anxious and depressed. We’re weary from it all.
But then we hear the invitation to leave all that behind, to break free from that oppression, and be truly free. We hear the invitation to release our hearts and minds from the captivity into which we have allowed them to fall. We hear the invitation to be free, and it sounds like this:
“Come to me, all you that are weary and carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.”
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