Freedom!

How did you spend the August Bank Holiday? I went to Marlow and walked in the Chilterns before heading down to the Thames path for a swim in the river. All along the bank we saw people sitting in the sun, eating picnics, paddle boarding and swimming. Others were in boats on the river. A sunny bank holiday is a perfect opportunity to find out how people like to spend their time when they have the freedom of a day off work or away from their usual routines.

In our morning service on Sunday we reflected on the freedom that the Christian faith gives us. Freedom to know we are God’s children - loved and forgiven. The Sabbath – a day of rest observed by Jewish people commemorates the freedom from slavery of the Israelites when they left Egypt and were led by Moses to the promised land. On Sundays we share in that commemoration of our freedom and the reminder that by God’s grace we are set free.

It’s easy to see freedom as something for ourselves – our ability to do whatever we would like on a sunny bank holiday. However Henri Nouwen reminds us that freedom in faith is much more than this.

‘Freedom belongs to the core of the spiritual life; not just the freedom that releases us from forces that want to oppress us, but the freedom also to forgive others, to serve them, and to form a new bond of fellowship with them. In short the freedom to love and work for a free world.

Henri Nouwen, Letters to Marc about Jesus

Almighty God,

in whose service lies perfect freedom:

teach us to obey you

with loving hearts and steadfast wills;

through Jesus Christ our Lord.