Freedom in a Time of Fear
Why would
anyone trade their freedom for slavery?
Although we’d like to think we’d never do such a thing, fear can be a
compelling reason to choose slavery over freedom. Fear isn’t rational and it can overwhelm our
best instincts. Freedom involves a
degree of uncertainty and insecurity, making it a bit unsettling to our
spirits. Slavery, on the other hand, while abhorrent to us does involve its own
sense of security, the security of not having to take responsibility for one’s
self.
Fear is rampant in the land and we
give inordinate amounts of time, money and energy to achieving security, even
if it’s only for a moment in time.
Considering the “threats” at hand, it’s easy to see why we’re tempted to
exchange freedom for security. What are
the threats? They range from terrorism
to global warming, uncontrolled immigration to economic
down turns, loss of jobs to family dissolution –
just to name a few. Trading freedom of
speech, religion, and gathering together in public; for safety, seems strangely
appropriate when confronted with such threats.
Politicians and preachers alike
have learned to capitalize on our fears.
They spin yarns about a golden age that never was and make promises of
safety that quickly lead to legalism and institutionalism. As we become consumed by fear, our focus
turns inward and we become be slaves to self and turn cynical.
In his letter to the Galatian
churches, Paul confronts a community that had enthusiastically embraced the gospel
of freedom in Jesus Christ that he’d earlier shared with them. Now they seem willing to give up that freedom
in exchange for a culturally defined legalism that promised them safety, but
which Paul believes will enslave them. The
central symbol in this change of heart is circumcision, which is, for us, a
medical procedure, but for Paul it’s symbolic
of a lack of trust in God and thus a sign of slavery.
Through Baptism the last vestiges
of the old ways have been washed away, meaning that the categories we use to
control rather than serve others no longer
exist – that is, there’s no longer “Jew or Greek, slave or free, male and female” (Galatians 3:28). Paul reminds them that the demagogues who
use the fear of not toeing the line, no longer
have power over us. They’re free and
this freedom, as Jürgen Moltman suggests, lets the creative possibilities of
the future have their day, “for God’s future is the limitless kingdom of
creative possibilities” (Spirit of Life).
Freedom from fear-induced slavery isn’t a license to
indulge our passions but is instead is the fount of spiritual empowerment for service. The sign of this freedom is the fruit of the
Spirit, against which there’s no law: love,
joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and
self-control. When this fruit is present
in our lives, we’ll be ready to freely embrace our future without fear, even
when we face extreme threats, and begin to creatively serve one another in the
power of the Spirit.
Originally published in Disciples World, a journal no longer available. But it seems to fit our present situation well.
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