Practicing Freedom
Growing the Fruits of the Spirit
Freedom will do what freedom does—
invite you to touch the source of the universe,
replace, for this moment, your fear with awe.
Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer
Even in our smallest acts of true freedom, we become a part of God’s life breaking into the world.
Dear Friends. Just to say…
I choose to frame my reflections in a liturgical format because I believe that words alone cannot change us. We have more than enough of those. We need to do the work. Never more-so than now.
And so, I offer you a gentle nudge this week, inviting you to make a bit of space to practice and to pray with whatever challenges or draws you.
Also, a day early this week because mostly off-line (freedom!) for a long weekend.
May you be blessed. Julie
Opening Meditation
For you were called to freedom…
Take three slow, deep breaths.
Connect to what freedom might feel like or look like for you at this moment…
1st Readings
Galatians 5.1, 13-25
For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.
For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters;* only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence,* but through love become slaves to one another. For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ If, however, you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another.
Live by the Spirit, I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh. For what the flesh desires is opposed to the Spirit, and what the Spirit desires is opposed to the flesh; for these are opposed to each other, to prevent you from doing what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not subject to the law.
Now the works of the flesh are obvious: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy,* drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. I am warning you, as I warned you before: those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
There is no law against such things. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit.
REFLECTION
Let’s begin by being clear: Paul is not attacking the flesh in itself. He does not condemn the body. Untold damage has been done through poor translations of this word.
Richard Rohr has written:
To easily get beyond this confusion, just substitute the word ego every time you hear Paul use the word flesh. It will get you out of this dead-end, false, and dualistic ping-pong game between body and spirit. The problem is not that you have a body; the problem is that you think you are separate from others—and from God. And you are not!
When Paul refers to the flesh, he seems to mean those impulses–of body, mind or heart–that seek only self-gratification; those defensive, thoughtless, self-serving instincts. We can find compassion for the ego-flesh but it’s not wise to give it much authority! He might also refer to social systems that foster and encourage those instincts.
Freedom, on the other hand belongs to the Spirit-body, if you will. It is loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, generous, faithful, gentle, and self-controlled. True freedom is not about independence to do or be whatever we like. Paradoxically, Paul tells us, the freedom in Christ binds us to one another in ways that serve the common good.
So this week, let’s not over-think it.
And let’s not let ourselves get away with keeping it abstract.
By now you know I’m convinced that our practices may be the only real chance we have of moving our world towards values and ways of life that can transform the reality–not just for us, but for those in Iran or Gaza or Ukraine or America… anywhere that ego does violence to others.
What would practicing Freedom look like?
Maybe it’s three fold: letting go, receiving and sharing.
And it is circular.
Freedom means noticing where we are caught and letting go.
For freedom Christ has set us free.
And don’t be tempted–as I’ve been–to skim over that list of sins thinking they don’t apply: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, sorcery, drunkenness carousing–okay, maybe not. Or maybe. But what about idiolatry, enmity, conflict, jealousy anger, quarrels, dissensions, envy.
There’s something here for all of us! Even if you’re fairly even-tempered and sanguine, try ‘idolatry’ on for size. Everyone of us is tempted to give something more power to shape us than we give the Spirit to transform us.
So I wonder:
What impulses of body or mind are gripping you right now and robbing you of freedom? What emotions guide you more powerfully than the Spirit? What habits are draining you of life? Are there social influences you need to let go of to be free?
Don’t approach this critically. Instead, come with compassion. With curiosity.
Name something now that grips you–and put a loving hand on it. Head, heart, gut… You might say: I see you. I get it. But you’re not the final word. You’re not the best word. There’s more.
Breathe.
Freedom means receiving and bearing true Life.
For the fruits of the Spirit are…
Allow yourself to open to the freedom the Spirit invites us into. Connect as deeply as you can to something that gives you joy, peace, love…recall a times of kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self control–your own or someone else’s. Anything that feels truly life-giving.
Imagine that instead of being caught, you are rooted in love and bearing fruit that will last.
Freedom means taking another’s hand.
You shall love your neighbour as yourself.
As you open your hands to receive that freedom, imagine at the same time that you are also reaching out with both hands:
With your left hand, take the hand of someone who encourages the Spirit in your life. With the right, take the hand of someone who challenges you, someone to whom–by the Spirit of Christ–you’d like to make a greater commitment of love.
We are the body of Christ on earth. We need each other to fulfil that calling.
Letting go what robs us of freedom.
Receiving what gives us life.
Sharing with others.
Even in our smallest acts of true freedom, we become a part of God’s life breaking into the world.
If we live by the Spirit let us also be guided by the Spirit.
Ponder. Practice. Pray
Freedom is a daily practice.
Ask for the grace and wisdom of the Spirit to guide you.
Continue to ponder some or all of the questions above. Journal and pray with what arises.
In what ways are you being nudged or called to freedom in your life?
Freedom from what? Freedom for what? Freedom to what?
Widening the Circle
Giving thanks for the invitation and the gift of freedom, let’s extend prayers for freedom in and through and beyond us, especially to those on our hearts now.
The Lord’s Prayer
Eternal Spirit, Earth-maker, Pain-bearer, Life-giver,
Source of all that is and that shall be,
Father and Mother of us all,
Loving God, in whom is heaven:
The hallowing of your name echo through the universe!
The way of your justice be followed by the peoples of the world!
Your heavenly will be done by all created beings!
Your commonwealth of peace and freedom sustain our hope and come on earth.
With the bread we need for today, feed us.
In the hurts we absorb from one another, forgive us.
In times of temptation and test, strengthen us.
From trials too great to endure, spare us.
From the grip of all that is evil, free us.
For you reign in the glory of the power that is love, now and for ever.
Amen.
2nd Readings
This
Sit with the freedom in your heart.
Feel it expanding into your palms—
in this moment whole galaxies
seem to fit inside your fingertips. How?
When did you become this vast?
Was this spaciousness always here?
Could you have felt this way yesterday
if only you had gotten out of your own way?
Sit with the freedom in your heart—
more beautiful than any story—
feel it surge through you
until your body forgets any limits
and knows itself as infinite.
Freedom will do what freedom does—
invite you to touch the source of the universe,
replace, for this moment, your fear with awe.by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer
There’s a worm addicted to eating
grape leaves.
Suddenly, he wakes up,
call it grace, whatever, something
wakes him, and he’s no longer
a worm.
He’s the entire vineyard,
and the orchard too,
the fruit, the trunks,
a growing wisdom and joy
that doesn’t need
to devour.Rumi
And so, may we wake up and know ourselves not ego worms but growing in full-bodied Spirit and bearing fruit. May we touch the freedom in our hearts, the more beautiful story. May we let go, receive and share. May we find true freedom.
And the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all now and evermore. Amen.
Music: