Community Church Sermons

The Seventh Sunday of Easter, Year C – May 27, 2001

"True Freedom”

Acts 16:16-34

On Memorial Day, 1884 – less than twenty years after the Civil War that spawned the holiday - Oliver Wendell Holmes delivered a speech in Keene, NH. It was entitled, “In Our Youth, Our Hearts Were Touched By Fire.”

Holmes was responding to the fact that, in his day as in ours, people easily forgot the experiences that bring forth holidays like Memorial Day. With the passage of time, people lose sight of the events themselves, and seem to be unable to gain a sense of personal ownership. “What does Memorial Day have to do with ME?” we may ask. And that is okay, Holmes asserts. Great holidays are kept not for their details, but for their meanings. Thus, Holmes writes:

“So to the indifferent inquirer who asks why Memorial Day is still kept up we may answer, it celebrates and solemnly reaffirms from year to year a national act of enthusiasm and faith. It embodies in the most impressive form our belief that to act with enthusiasm and faith is the condition of acting greatly. To fight out a war, you must believe something and want something with all your might. So must you do to carry anything else to an end worth reaching. More than that, you must be willing to commit yourself to a course, perhaps a long and hard one, without being able to foresee exactly where you will come out. All that is required of you is that you should go somewhither as hard as ever you can. The rest belongs to fate. One may fall-at the beginning of the charge or at the top of the earthworks; but in no other way can he reach the rewards of victory.”

And then Oliver Wendell Holmes concludes with a description of a vision of a ghostly column of soldiers marching in the mist. Perhaps, if you set your heart to it, you can see them, too. Holmes writes,

“I see beyond the forest the moving banners of a hidden column. Our dead brothers still live for us, and bid us think of life, not death--of life to which in their youth they lent the passion and joy of the spring. As I listen, the great chorus of life and joy begins again, and amid the awful orchestra of seen and unseen powers and destinies of good and evil our trumpets sound once more a note of daring, hope, and will.”

What powerful words to lead us into the Memorial Day holiday when we remember those who gave their lives in service to our nation. And these are words of deep wisdom, for they call us to look beyond the memory of smoke and battle to be able to see the triumph of the human spirit. To build a better world, you must be willing to give everything you have to accomplish it!

And when we – proud Americans that we are, living in a beautiful land of hope and freedom - look upon the headstone rows of countless men and women who have laid down their lives in our nation’s service, we are confronted with the truth of the passion, courage and commitment of others. As one of our national hymns describes these heroes:

“Who more than self their country loved,

And mercy more than life!”

To build a better world, you must be willing to give everything you have to accomplish it.

For this is exactly what God is doing in the world!

The story of the Gospel is that, in Christ, God left behind his divine kingly powers, and came among us in the form of one who serves. And taking upon himself our nature, and our human pain, and all the wounds of humanity, God stood up to the powers of evil, and laid down his life for us.

As Jesus said, “No greater love has anyone than this: that a person lay down his life for his friends.”

And not only did God confront the powers of evil, but the power of death itself. And, giving it his all, God conquered death in the resurrection of Jesus, and now offers resurrection as a gift to all.

To build a better world – to inaugurate the kingdom of heaven – God gave everything he had to accomplish it.

And so must we. Our calling is to an enthusiastic, passionate faith that is willing to pay the price to give rise to God’s new world.

To be a Christian is to bring total personal commitment to the achieving of God’s greater good. Unswerving devotion to creating God’s better end. Unbridled passion for reaching God’s highest goals of life.

This is the commitment we see at work in our Scripture reading this morning. Here in Acts 16, Paul and Silas are in Philippi. And they are in jail.

Now you might ask, “What are two God-loving, born-again, Jesus-believing disciples doing in jail, of all places?”

Well, they’ve been arrested by the police department of the city of Philippi for – are you ready for this? –disturbing the peace!

In one of the towns we lived in a few years ago, there was a free weekly newspaper – the kind supported by advertising, and distributed in the supermarkets. And as is often the case with papers like this, the word “news” was sort of broadly defined. “Scandals” might have been a better term, for this newspaper had no qualms about hanging peoples’ dirty laundry right out there in full public view. The longest column in every edition of the paper was called “Police Log”. Now this was not a “Court Docket” kind of column where you read about actual cases brought in a court of law, but a feature that listed every single one of the police calls that came in over the last week – no matter how spurious or scandalous – and no matter whether the call resulted in an arrest. Want to know who’s having marital problems? Read Police Log. Whose dog is barking all night? Read Police Log. Whose kids were caught drinking up behind the high school? Read Police Log. What local politician got stopped for speeding, and was found to be wearing women’s clothes? Well, pick up your copy of Police Log, and you’ll find out!

And although all decent citizens of our fine town thought this was just awful, and we bemoaned the fact that these scandalous things were tossed about so freely, when Thursday came and the paper hit the streets, we were all standing in line to get it! And the first thing we turned to was you guessed it - “Police Log”.

I, of course, read these things not out of any prurient interest, but simply for the sake of ministry. I never knew when one of my parishioners might need me, and surely Police Log would let me know. That’s why I was always the first one in line.

So you can imagine my shock one day when I opened up Police Log and MY address was printed there! “Police responded to a complaint about a disturbance at 112 Laurel Hill Lane,” it read. My house? Disturbance? Complaint? Police?

And was it my imagination, or was everybody in the grocery store suddenly looking at me, and whispering?

Well, it turned out to be just a misunderstanding. A simple oversight. Not by the paper, but by our daughter. As busy as she was, Bethany had SIMPLY FORGOTTEN TO TELL US ABOUT THE NIGHT THE POLICE CAME!

“Oh, that!” she said later on when I confronted her. “Didn’t I tell you guys about that?” That’s what’s so challenging about kids. They’re like icebergs. They only let you see the visible tip of their lives, and don’t let you in on the humungous piece of jagged ice below the surface until they’ve safely arrived in adulthood and you can’t punish them anymore.

Seems Bethany had a few friends over one night when Sandy and I were out. They put some music on, and – like kids are prone to do – turned it up all the way! They were having a grand old time, dancing, singing and carrying on. Until the doorbell rang. And the police were standing there because neighbors had complained about the noise.

Enthusiasm will do that. Passion will get you into trouble if you don’t watch out.

So Paul and Silas are in jail. For disturbing the peace of the people of Philippi. Their preaching of the Gospel has led to the healing of a slave girl exploited for profit by her owners. This sets the girl free from the evil spirit that possesses her, and the owners lose their income stream. They get mad, and file a complaint against Paul and Silas. Lots of people, it turns out, are ticked off at the two of them because of the Gospel they enthusiastically preach and passionately practice. You see, when you set free the oppressed, the people who oppress them don’t like it one bit. When you empower women, many men don’t appreciate it. When you liberate the poor, those who impoverish them become upset. When you lift peoples’ eyes to God, those who imagine themselves, or their economic system, or their government as gods to be worshipped get their feathers ruffled.

Paul and Silas are in jail because of their commitment to helping God build a better world, and they are giving everything they have to accomplish it.

Now comes my favorite part of the story.

Its midnight in the local slammer. What are Paul and Silas doing? Are they calling their lawyer to get them out? Are they filing an appeal? Are they mad as heck and plotting to do bad things to the people of Philippi when they get out? No, Paul and Silas are doing none of those things. Instead, they’re singing hymns!

“Victory in Jesus, our Savior forever, He sought me and bought me with his redeeming blood…”

And not only Paul and Silas! They’ve got the whole darn cellblock singing away at the top of their lungs, too.

“What a fellowship, what a joy divine, leanin’ on the everlasting arms…What have I to dread, what have I to fear, leanin’ on the everlastin’ arms…”

Now the warden – who is only trying to do his job – is pretty irritated. Why can’t they just shut up? Why do they always have to be so enthusiastic about their God? Why are they always telling people about Jesus? Why are they telling these jailbirds that Jesus came to set the prisoners free and stuff like that? Why can’t they just leave well enough alone, and not make the warden’s job any harder than it already is? So – out of frustration - the jailer puts his headphones over his ears to block out the noise, turns up his CD of “Don Ho’s Greatest Hits”, and goes to sleep.

But if the noise level isn’t bad enough with all the singing, it gets even worse when a sudden earthquake jolts the city! It rumbles through the streets, and crumbles the foundation of the jail! The chains of all the prisoners are broken, and the prison doors are thrown wide open.

The warden awakes with a start, throws off his headphones, and stares in horror at the broken chains, and the open doors. You see, in those days, if you let a prisoner escape from your care, you could be executed for dereliction of duty. It was terribly dishonorable to let those under your guard escape. So the warden surveys the awful mess. And, feeling like a miserable failure, he takes out his sword…to do what he thinks is the honorable thing.

And just as he is about to end his own life, a voice shouts from the bowels of the jail, “Don’t do that! We’re still here!”

A candle illuminates a face. It is Paul! And there is Silas with this little impish grin on his face. And there are all the other prisoners to whom Paul and Silas had been testifying about the love of Jesus Christ and who have evidently given their lives to the Lord. They are all right where they’re supposed to be!

And when the jailer begins to comprehend the gift of love they’ve offered in his behalf –staying imprisoned out of love for him when they could’ve been miles away - he begins to tremble. And he falls to his knees. And begins to weep. And he cries, “What must I do to be saved?”

Let me ask you some important questions. What kind of person is it that would do good to a slave girl even though it will cost them time in jail? What kind of person is it that would face the darkness of a cold, dank dungeon by singing hymns of joy and confidence? And what kind of person is it that would place a jailer’s well-being above their own opportunity to be free?

I daresay, the kind of person that would do these things is a person who believes so much in a cause higher than themselves, that they would be willing to lay down everything to accomplish it.

We live in a world today where people live for themselves. In business, in politics, in families, in marriages, in churches, and even in retirement many people shy away from making any commitment that will compromise their ability to be free. Free from sacrifice. Free from responsibility. Free from the demands of others. Free from anything that gets in the way of fulfilling our own dreams and aspirations.

And yet history measures such freedom as an illusion, and those who chase it as fools.

For true freedom is found only among and through those who, to put it in patriotic terms, “more than self, their country love, and mercy more than life.” Or, to put it in religious terms, true freedom is found only when love for God, and love for others rises up above self.

This is a kind of faith, and a kind of freedom that you can only get when you commit yourself to God, and the building of his better world, his greater good, his dream that is higher than individuals alone can either imagine or achieve.

And I would say, as far as freedom goes, to become enslaved to God’s cause is to find true freedom – freedom that lets you love even when it costs, freedom that lets you sing even when the darkness comes, freedom that let’s you imprison yourself so that another may be set free!!

And on this day when we remember those whose hearts were touched by fire as Oliver Wendell Holmes described them, and when we remember the likes of Paul and Silas whose enthusiastic faith led them to monumental commitments that changed the world, we might ask the most important question of all:

“What kind of person am I?”