Loading...After years of alcohol and drug us and abuse, my uncle Richard finally got clean and sober.
Of course, it wasn’t like a light switch that he finally realized he should flip the other way!
The clean and sober came after several failed marriages – including losing all contact with his son, my cousin, for MANY years; and lost jobs, arrests for DUI, accidents, and hitting bottom.
He was, as he would put it, captive to all of that.
But he also knew freedom:
treatment that finally worked
maturity and time (plus the support of AA)
relationships, especially his mother (my sweet and ever faithful grandmother).
He knew freedom and he was empowered to help others in the same prison –
he was a drug and alcohol counselor for many years.
He admitted that his work not only helped others, but helped himself to stay healthy.
For what has God freed you to do?
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Melissa had been caught up in generational poverty.
It wasn’t just that there wasn’t enough money for rent AND food AND clothing AND utilities AND something fun once in awhile! (often times her mom would have to chose what to pay for between these things).
The poverty that Melissa experienced also meant
no energy or interest in doing things:
Why try to study for school? There were no opportunities for her!
Why work? There wasn’t enough income to pay the bills with the income from the jobs that she could get.
And volunteering in the community or connecting with others
didn’t EVEN cross anyone’s mind.
The one day, at the school assembly (she liked those because it meant no class!) there was a talk by a woman who had grown up in the same tiny town and had gone to the same school. This woman had even lived in the same trailer park as Melissa did!
This speaker was excited and she talked about possibilities and options in a way that made sense to Melissa. She began to wonder: is it possible to get out of this poverty? It is possible to be free from the weight she felt every day – the weight of nothingness?
That day, listening the speaker, something shifted in her.
It wasn’t much, but she had hope – something new.
Melissa could see a future.
She heard good news and she felt release and freedom for the first time ever.
Of course, life didn’t improve for her overnight.
It was still cold in the trailer, she still had Top Ramen every night for dinner;
she still wore shoes with holes and cracks in the soles.
But, she felt renewed for life and for possibility and for hope.
For what has God freed you to do?
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It’s pretty easy, I think, to feel overwhelmed by things right now.
The government shut-down is temporarily over, but what does THAT mean?
Violence in homes – knives, guns, even fires, is still very real, in Spokane and in the homes of people you may know.
Climate change is happening.
There’s at least one gigantic floating plastic “blob” in the Pacific ocean.
Plant and animal species are going extinct at a rate faster than can be explained by evolutionary natural selection.
Homeless – a very real reality for some – which was hope to have been eradicated in Spokane by this year has, instead, grown.
Refugees, racism, corruption, apathy, threats of school violence, mental illness, immigration, economy, the ever-widening gap between incomes.....!
Let’s all just crawl in a hole and hide!
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
Isaiah says these words—
but, more to the point, Jesus reads them and then offers a short, powerful sermon:
“TODAY this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
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Today, you hear good news.
Today, you are released from captivity.
Today, you regain vision.
Today, you are free from oppression.
Today, you also are empowered and called to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor
(even if it is, indeed, more that just one year!).
Like Uncle Rich freed from addiction.
Or, Melissa released from poverty.
Or, you and I set released from anxiety and fear,
we are all freed for something else.
What might that be?
For what has God freed you to do?
Serve Live in gratitude Try a new job/skill/hobby
Forgive someone Chose sobriety Live in joy
Take risks Love your enemy Meet your neighbor
For what has God freed you to do?
for what has God freed this community of St. David’s to do?
I invite you to find some folks nearby to you.
Share your thoughts about the readings and about these questions.
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For what has God freed you to do?
It can be hard to think of something, but here are some ideas:
To love with abandon
To live within the heart of God
To rest in the “good news of love which is stronger than death”
To be the foot, eye, ear, nose, and the whole body of Christ in the world.
Be the beloved of God for the sake of the whole world.
Amen
