Thursday, October 23, 2008

Today’s text

John 8:31-36

To the Jews who believed in him Jesus said: If you make my word your home you will indeed be my disciples; you will come to know the truth, and the truth will set you free. They answered, 'We are descended from Abraham and we have never been the slaves of anyone; what do you mean, "You will be set free.’ Jesus replied: In all truth I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave. Now a slave has no permanent standing in the household, but a son belongs to it for ever. So if the Son sets you free, you will indeed be free.

Reflection

Freedom is about space, isn’t it Jesus? We want space in which to move without restriction, space in which to think and feel and gain our bearings, space where we might find and be who we are.

The pressure of time and demands to do what needs doing fill every space some days. There is no time to stop, to look, to listen--and hence, to choose one’s way from depth of heart, instead of from the heat of the moment.

The urgency of the moment leaves no room for anything else, no room to breathe, so we live on the surface of life, not from our depths.

This is not freedom. It is the bondage of necessity. It reduces us to what we do, so that we are no longer human beings.

I long for freedom from the urgent. But is this the bondage and freedom of which you speak, my Friend?

You would free me from bondage to sin. And sin? Sin is living without awareness of love, the love that you are.

Some days, sin is living so fast that I lose touch with the center of my being where I know you, where I know you are love, where I know I am loved, where I feel the texture of the beauty I bear within as it hungers for expression.

Living too fast is a kind of sin, Jesus. It is sin because I live out of touch with the center of my soul where I most know you.

It is in knowing you, making my home in you, that freedom comes. Sometimes it comes all at once. Other times I struggle to return to the center of my soul, and I must wait for your appearance, for the bursting forth of the fountain of love you are in this soul.

But my language betrays me. For you are already there, waiting within, inviting me to return home to center of my soul. You are there, waiting to open a wide space in my soul that I may breathe the fresh air of freedom from all that oppresses the soul.

So I here I am again, dear Friend. Let your love surround and fill me. Then I’ll be free.

Pr. David L. Miller