“The Call to Freedom”

A Sermon by Rev. Patrice Ficken

Psalm 139:1-6,13-18

Luke 14:25-33

Sanbornton Congregational Church, UCC

September 9, 2007

(Please do not re-print or re-use without permission of the author) 

Here we are in September.  I hope all of you had some time this summer for some get- away time, vacation time.   I hope you feel refreshed from your time away. 

Vacation, time away is important.  It is a time to experience freedom:  Freedom from every day responsibilities, freedom from our usual routines, freedom from the usual things that push and pull on us; freedom to experience different places, meet new people, and wonder what else is out there.  It is a time to dream about how we might long to change our lives, to live in a different way.

Our most recent time away took us out to a family wedding in Arizona.  It was fascinating to experience the desert, to feel the triple-digit heat.  Wherever we went the most frequently asked question was – where are you from?  Our answer would produce raised eyebrows, or a nod of the head – as if to say – yes – you are far away from home, yes, this is very different from what you’re used to.  I sensed compassion even – a recognition that the hot, searing temperatures would be a big adjustment for us.

To ask – “where are you from?” is another way of asking – or getting a sense of – where do you belong?  Or more basically - what tribe are you from?  The person is really asking are you more or less like me?  Are you someone I have anything in common with, are you a person I’d like to get to know better?

Where ARE we from and to whom do we belong? 

This is the heart of the question Jesus presents to us this morning in our Gospel lesson.  His admonition to let go of family ties – is really a question about with whom or what do we identify?  How do we understand ourselves?  How do we see ourselves and make sense of our lives?  What are our priorities?  Where do our loyalties truly lie?  To family?  To country?  To work?  To community?  To God?

Certainly in the first century – your tribe, your family was everything.  It defined you.  It defined where you live, the God or gods you worshipped.  In most places of the world this is still true.

Iraq, for example.

The civil war in Iraq is all about loyalty to tribe, to family, to religion.  These ties are so powerful and strong – they outweigh all else.

A recent article in the New York Times brought to light the deepening rift between the Shiite and Sunni peoples of Iraq.  (“Shiite’s Tale:  How Gulf with Sunnis Widened” by Damien Cave; Diana Oliva Cae, Wisam A. Habeeb and Khalid Al-Ansary, The New York Times, August 31, 2007”)

What I remember about the article, is its focus on a Shiite woman who had suffered terribly under Saddam Hussein.  Her father was murdered by Sunnis when she was 13 years old.  She and her family were imprisoned.  When the Americans came, she was hopeful that the harsh treatment her family suffered under Sunni leadership would come to end.  She hoped that the sectarian violence would soften and disappear in the light of freedom and democracy.

But the lack of security has allowed long-standing feuds to break out into open warfare.  Sunnis, formerly in power are not so eager to work alongside Shiite people.  Tribal loyalties, tribal memory runs deep. 

As the woman is quoted in the article….”We were shocked, really…We used to have friends, neighbors.  In every moment, when you met a person, you didn’t think:  Is he Shia or Sunni?  Of course you’d notice, but it didn’t matter.”  (see citation above)

The article continues, “Then at some point, she said, it switched; sect became the defining characteristic for Iraqis.”

Freedom will be illusive for Iraq for a long time – unless somehow the tribal differences can be mediated and security provided.   Many believe that the US presence is simply the presence of another tribe and that until we leave, until a true international coalition and effort is organized, chaos will continue in Iraq.

Jesus knew the power of family, of tribe on our consciousness.   His words- are presented in even harsher form than what I read a moment ago.  The New Revised Standard Version presents Jesus as saying, 

^“26‘Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple. ²⁷Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.”  (Luke 14:26-27)

What he is saying here – in harsh terms to wake us up and get our attention – is for us to realize that if we want the true freedom of the spiritual life, we need to examine and let go of our attachments. 

The image that came to me as I read this passage was of Jesus, taking scissors and cutting  loose the web of entanglements that keep us bound up and enslaved.  Or, in more gentle terms, the web of attachments that keep us comfortable, keep us feeling a false sense of security; that help us feel that the ground under our feet is secure and solid.

Then a loved one dies.  Or we lose our job.  Or we lose our house.  Our spouse leaves us.  A health crisis visits us.

We realize that what we thought defined us, what we thought was secure – isn’t at all.  We feel disoriented, desolate, lost.

Jesus is saying – don’t wait for the crisis to strike.  Recognize the impermanence of the attachments we hold most dear – RIGHT NOW – and be willing to let them go.  Practice letting them go.  Embrace the love – spoken of in our psalm reading this morning – the love of God that searches and knows us; the love that formed us, the love that knew us even before we came into being, the love that is eternal and true, solid and strong.

When we know that love, when we reach for that first love in our lives and make it our highest priority and aim – then we are answering the call to freedom.

Amen.