Liberty and Justice for All
And those whom God predestined God also called, and those whom God called God also justified, and those whom God justified God also glorified.
--Romans 8:30
We often claim as Americans that we are a nation of destiny, even in uncertain times such as the current moment, and despite a political season that has been divisive, full of vitriol, and seems grounded in fear above all else. We tenaciously cling to the ideal that we are blessed and that our way is one that can be a way to freedom for all with justice woven into the fabric of our being.
If you read our national documents of note, there is a religious air to them. Charles Schulz, creator of Peanuts, illuminated this note twice when once Sally and later Peppermint Patty recited the Pledge of Allegiance, sat down, then rose again to intone, "Amen." That tone is there in the Preamble to the Constitution and in the Declaration of Independence. Ideals are lifted to the level of the sacred.
The human tendency is to turn the sacred inward. As with so much in our culture, we make our national ideals individualistic. We think of freedom in terms of personal liberty. We think of liberty as an expression of the freedom to be oneself.
But if we pay close attention to the documents celebrated on the Fourth of July, we discover they lift up the ideals of communal freedom. Freedom is rooted in that which benefits everyone, not just someone. The Pledge of Allegiance ends with that line--...with liberty and justice for all.
That thinking falls in line with the New Testament beautifully.
As Paul penned his theological manifesto in the letter to the Romans, he writes overtly of the liberation that comes through Christ, reaching a crescendo in Ch. 8 wherein he declares that through Christ, we are freed from all fear, for there is nothing, absolutely nothing, in all creation that is more powerful than God--i.e., there is nothing more powerful than grace--if God is for us, then nothing can harm us.
How counter that thinking is to much of the political pandering we are pummeled with every day. Brexit was fueled by the thought that there are very real, very powerful forces that can and will overwhelm us. We hear that again and again in the Trump campaign. We need walls, deportations, closed entry, and so on because the world is teeming with powers that can and will overwhelm us.
On this day, we need to recall and to focus on true liberty. Freedom is being in the world without fear. Liberty is the freedom to be self-emptying without any fear of losing ourselves.
Indeed, Christ preached that self-emptying is actually the road to the truest and fullest self-fulfillment.
Consider that deeply. Take it in. Ponder the transformation and transcendence held in such thinking. In such thinking is the means by which we can bring liberty and justice for all into complete fruition. It gives us the base from which to face even the greatest of our societal challenges--ending terrorism, alleviating homelessness once for all, etc.--without fear of failure. We can work with confidence. Change can come. We can be that change.
Liberty and justice for all.
None of us can be truly and completely free until all of us are truly and completely free.
With God's help, promised and given to us, that day can come.
--Romans 8:30
We often claim as Americans that we are a nation of destiny, even in uncertain times such as the current moment, and despite a political season that has been divisive, full of vitriol, and seems grounded in fear above all else. We tenaciously cling to the ideal that we are blessed and that our way is one that can be a way to freedom for all with justice woven into the fabric of our being.
If you read our national documents of note, there is a religious air to them. Charles Schulz, creator of Peanuts, illuminated this note twice when once Sally and later Peppermint Patty recited the Pledge of Allegiance, sat down, then rose again to intone, "Amen." That tone is there in the Preamble to the Constitution and in the Declaration of Independence. Ideals are lifted to the level of the sacred.
The human tendency is to turn the sacred inward. As with so much in our culture, we make our national ideals individualistic. We think of freedom in terms of personal liberty. We think of liberty as an expression of the freedom to be oneself.
But if we pay close attention to the documents celebrated on the Fourth of July, we discover they lift up the ideals of communal freedom. Freedom is rooted in that which benefits everyone, not just someone. The Pledge of Allegiance ends with that line--...with liberty and justice for all.
That thinking falls in line with the New Testament beautifully.
As Paul penned his theological manifesto in the letter to the Romans, he writes overtly of the liberation that comes through Christ, reaching a crescendo in Ch. 8 wherein he declares that through Christ, we are freed from all fear, for there is nothing, absolutely nothing, in all creation that is more powerful than God--i.e., there is nothing more powerful than grace--if God is for us, then nothing can harm us.
How counter that thinking is to much of the political pandering we are pummeled with every day. Brexit was fueled by the thought that there are very real, very powerful forces that can and will overwhelm us. We hear that again and again in the Trump campaign. We need walls, deportations, closed entry, and so on because the world is teeming with powers that can and will overwhelm us.
On this day, we need to recall and to focus on true liberty. Freedom is being in the world without fear. Liberty is the freedom to be self-emptying without any fear of losing ourselves.
Indeed, Christ preached that self-emptying is actually the road to the truest and fullest self-fulfillment.
Consider that deeply. Take it in. Ponder the transformation and transcendence held in such thinking. In such thinking is the means by which we can bring liberty and justice for all into complete fruition. It gives us the base from which to face even the greatest of our societal challenges--ending terrorism, alleviating homelessness once for all, etc.--without fear of failure. We can work with confidence. Change can come. We can be that change.
Liberty and justice for all.
None of us can be truly and completely free until all of us are truly and completely free.
With God's help, promised and given to us, that day can come.
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