“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” The good news doesn’t get much better than this. Living in relationship with God, through Jesus, isn’t a burden or somber sentence, but a joyful process of becoming the people God created us to be.
Taken out of context, however, or without a clear sense of the responsibility that goes with that freedom, our freedom becomes a double-edged sword, hurting us and the name of the One we say we follow.
The disciple Paul, writing to the troubled church at Corinth yet again in today’s second reading, needed to provide some context for life together. Because of Jesus, Christians no longer were bound by the law, the rules that led to death, because no one could be without sin. Instead, they were set free to live in relationship with God through Christ, a new covenant, a promise that leads to life everlasting for followers of Jesus.
Like those early Christians in Corinth, we are set free to live lives that demonstrate that new relationship. We are freed from death, freed for transformation, and freed for lives that bear the fruit of our life in the family of God. Let me touch on each of these area briefly, starting with being freed from death.
“Why are so many Christians such unhappy people?” a Christian friend asked rhetorically. She had run afoul of one such Christian, a man with a perpetual scowl and gloomy disposition, forever finding fault.
We’ve all known people like him, people who have turned this new life in Christ into death once more. In many ways, we American Christians come from a long line of Death Preservers, going back to the Puritans, who came to America for religious freedom, but covered freedom in Christ with new laws and taboos. It’s almost as if these believers see freedom in Christ as a gift to hide away, not something they should open and enjoy in the here and now. “This is the way we’ve always done it” is their watch word. They suck the air out of the room wherever creative ideas and hopeful energy arise.
Encouragement to “lighten up” brings renewed zeal for control. They rarely leave but become the minority votes on councils and congregation meetings. They are the first ones to gleefully shout “I told you so,” when a new initiative fails. Set free? It’s hard to see the Spirit behind that frowning façade, but occasionally, a ray of light escapes when they find a ministry that matches their passion. Recognizing when it happens and building on it sets them free.
So, we are freed from death by our new life in Christ, but as part of that new life, we are freed for transformation. Paul explains to the believers at Corinth that those in Christ “are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another, for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.”
This is particularly challenging for cradle Lutherans, the people who have known from the time they were old enough to run up for a children’s sermon, that the answer always was JESUS, and everything they might face in life is covered in a Bible story or Luther’s Small Catechism. They’ve heard it all before: “this is most certainly true.”
Sometimes, people are hungry for knowledge, eager to have their questions answered. They turn their faces to let the glory of the Lord work on them. Others see little reason for transformation, because they think they’ve seen it all, heard it all, and done it all.
I remember a couple of long-time members of my congregation, recruited as Confirmation mentors, adults paired with a young person through the two-year program. Thinking they were there to help Johnny or Suzie memorize Bible passages and the Creed, they jumped in wholeheartedly, and became the ones transformed by today’s teens and their challenging questions about how faith applies to their lives in the 21st Century. The teens gave them no passes on pat answers for why God allows tragedy or whether God has a plan for their lives. And in writing a faith story with their teen, they turned to the Lord, and found their minds opened and softened to hear the Word speak to them anew. Once we stop asking questions and growing, our faith is bound. Transformation is the key that sets God’s people free.
Paired with this transformation, our lives should shine with the glory of our changing image. All of us are moving toward that same perfect image, mirrored differently in each one of us through our own abilities and spiritual gifts. The transformation of a servant heart happens equally to the person who sings in the choir, as the person who teaches Sunday School, as the person who helps fix up the church landscaping.
The trouble starts when an overexuberant volunteer coordinator, church staff member, (or forbid it, Lord,) a PASTOR, tries too hard to force someone to run toward this changing image, when the person is only ready to gaze at the possibilities or take baby steps. The church needs to recognize those who are sitting on the back wall, as a friend of mine did when she came back to church after leaving church for two decades, and not push them back out the door. We need to let people discover their own gifts and passions in the body of Christ, and not force them to be a mouth, when they are suited to be a heart.
After several invitations, a friend of mine visited our church and became a regular. She is a former fundie, attending non-denominational and Baptist churches at various points in her life. Lutheran liturgy and rites were mysteries to her. She knew a handful of people, but had come to a couple of Bible studies, and was gently being transformed by grace, a pretty foreign construct for her. Introverted and shy, prayer and social-justice work were two of her loves. She started attending our contemporary service, as she preferred the music to the traditional hymns that spoke to my heart. Months later, she joined the church. Eager to understand Lutheran history and theology, she committed to the two-year Diakonia program. That blew me away.
However, as if sensing fresh meat, our interim pastor cornered her one day and talked her into taking over the altar guild coordinator vacancy. This is perfect, the pastor claimed, as it would allow her to meet many new members and learn why we set up things the way we did.
If ever there was a mismatch for a church role, this was it. Gentle and private, she hated calling people and talking them into scheduling their altar guild service. She had no idea about colors and seasons of the church year, but she was expected to teach others. Shy, she was supposed to recruit new members for the team. She was a heart being asked to be a mouth, and it wasn’t working. She managed for four months, then broke down. I had to talk her into resigning that role for her own peace of mind.
She originally gave them a month’s notice, but that stretched out to two, then three months, as the church did not fill the vacancy. Finally, she said “I’m done!” Her gifts for prayer and social justice are just not cultivated in my congregation. Frustrated, during the pandemic, she started viewing the local UCC’s worship, and went to talk to that pastor. It was a bittersweet parting, as I hated to see her leave, but knew she would be a better fit there. We are freed, in Christ, to be part of the body of Christ with our own special image of God, and the gifts God prepared us to use.
My friends, called as future leaders in the church, we have some powerful and weighty responsibilities in the Body of Christ. We are to build up the body, lead by word and example, preach and teach the Word of God, and discern and prepare other leaders for service in the Church.
As you move forward in MIC, internships and first calls, take with you these instructions from Paul to a first-century group of believers in Corinth, words that echo truth for the Church today. Don’t add more Law to Christ’s Church than is necessary. Stay free. The way of the Law leads to death, but we are set free by the new covenant, the new relationship with God in Christ. This IS the good news that leads to life: for ourselves, our ministries, and the whole people of God. Amen.
My friends, called as future leaders in the church, we have some powerful and weighty responsibilities in the Body of Christ. We are to build up the body, lead by word and example, preach and teach the Word of God, and discern and prepare other leaders for service in the Church.
As you move forward in MIC, internships and first calls, take with you these instructions from Paul to a first-century group of believers in Corinth, words that echo truth for the Church today. Don’t add more Law to Christ’s Church than is necessary. Stay free. The way of the Law leads to death, but we are set free by the new covenant, the new relationship with God in Christ. This IS the good news that leads to life: for ourselves, our ministries, and the whole people of God. Amen.
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