Almighty God, gracious Lord, we thank you that your Holy Spirit renews the church in every age. Pour out your Holy Spirit on your faithful people. Keep them steadfast in your word, protect and comfort them in times of trial, defend them against all enemies of the gospel, and bestow on the church your saving peace, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
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31Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, "If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; 32and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free." 33They answered him, "We are descendants of Abraham and have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean by saying, 'You will be made free'?" 34Jesus answered them, "Very truly, I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. 35The slave does not have a permanent place in the household; the son has a place there forever. 36So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.
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REFLECTION
When I thank God for my blessings, there are many things I often take for granted, though I should not. Among these is the fact that I have never been an inmate, a slave, a hostage or a prisoner of war. I have never lived in a war zone, an occupied territory, a concentration camp, a totalitarian state or a violent home. I appreciate freedom, as I experience it, but in a certain sense, I don't really know the meaning of freedom in the same way as those do who have gained it after experiencing this kind of actual captivity. We who have never experienced physical captivity do know other kinds of bondage, though: we may experience regret, guilt or shame in our relationships or communities. This might be relieved by forgiveness received, amends made, or reconciliations accomplished - or perhaps by the knowledge that all of us are human, and we inevitably err and sometimes wound one another.
But not so with God. Our guilt before God is something we cannot escape or excuse. In this guilt we are captive. It can be a fearful thing to acknowledge this, unless we know there is a freedom offered to us that is absolute and absolutely trustworthy.
In our lives, we sometimes think or speak of the freedom we could experience if or when we graduate from school, leave home, gain financial security, retire, or whatever. We yearn to live life more fully and without restrictions - as if this is the most abundant life available to us. As we work, in Christ's name, for real freedom and justice for those who suffer under any sort of oppression, we know that Christ offers the deepest and most lasting - eternal - liberation. This is freedom in the ultimate sense, a release from the captivity of sin and guilt before God. This freedom, given by God, is more powerful than any kind of earthly bondage.
Kayla Mueller was a young humanitarian who was brutalized and killed as a hostage of Islamic State militants in Syria. She was a person of great faith, and in one of her letters to her family she wrote; "I remember Mom always telling me that all in all in the end the only one you really have is God. I have come to a place in experience where, in every sense of the word, I have surrendered myself to our creator [because] literally there was no [one] else... I have been shown in darkness, light [and] have learned that even in prison, one can be free."[1]
Thankfully, most of us will never know the kind of captivity she endured, but we have the witness of centuries of Christians, testifying that the freedom of life in Christ is freedom, indeed. On Reformation Sunday, we celebrate not an historical event or figure, but the saving power of God through Jesus Christ, God's Son and Word made flesh, to liberate us all from the power of sin. One of the joys of being a pastor is the holy privilege of hearing the faith stories of everyday Christians who have experienced the new life that comes when they realize they are freed in Christ from fear or guilt or whatever had kept them from the abundant life God wills for them. And, it is not just pastors who get to hear these stories! When you hear such stories, you know how powerful they can be. Each of us has a story to tell, and our testimony - your testimony - may be just what is needed to bring the life-giving, liberating truth of the Gospel to someone in your life.
[1] http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/02/10/world/middleeast/document-kayla-muellers-letter-from-captivity.html?_r=0
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