Freedom

“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” Galatians 5:1 It’s that time of year when we celebrate the freedom of our country’s governance. This past week we celebrated the centuries of freedom that we’ve enjoyed in our country without a king, and with a government that is decided on by the people. It is a remarkable fixture in our world and it calls other countries to match it. Still, our freedom is a tricky thing because we have to work with others to achieve mutual liberty, one in which all people are safe and allowed to live their lives, mostly, as they please. We limit our own freedom so it doesn’t impinge on others’ freedom. In light of this, it is interesting to note that we just passed the anniversary of a very significant undertaking by Christians in regard to freedom. Back at the end of May 1934, a group of Christians in Germany signed a declaration that stated that the state was not in charge of the church. They crafted a statement that proclaimed that Jesus Christ alone is the head of the church. In my article last week, I mentioned the theologian Karl Barth. He was the primary author of this document that we now call the Barmen Confession, because it was signed in Barmen, Germany. The National Socialist Party (the Nazis) had tried to co-opt the leadership of the Protestant church to use it for its own purposes of control. Their chief purpose was to make the people see the church as aligned with the government in all things. An interesting part of that was to create youth sports leagues that played on Sunday mornings so that kids would be pulled out of church communities. They wanted to devolve the presence of true, free belief and make people believe that God was in support of the government, particularly themselves. They wanted all trust and authority to be given over to them. As Presbyterians in the PCUSA, we have adopted the Barmen Confession as one of our treasured guides. We take the experience of standing against authoritarianism and totalitarianism seriously because they undermine the reality of Jesus being above all. They also claim to teach truth by telling us who to be against, rather than how to love all. That’s not how the people of God live. Blessings Geoff