It is twenty-two years ago this Autumn that I first started on the journey that would lead me into working as a minister of Religion. The process began with me attending an interview at a Church in Huddersfield, one of the tasks that I had been given to undertake, was to read a book and present to the panel of half a dozen people a presentation about the book. If my memory serves me correctly, we were given a choice of three books and I chose the title “An Evil Cradling” by Northern Irish writer Brian Keenan who was held as a hostage in Beirut from 11th April 1986 to 24th August 1990. I chose well, the book was an inspirational read, and I was gripped from the first few words, so much so that I spoke to the panel enthusiastically about the challenges Mr Keenan had faced during his time held in captivity, in a darkened cell, only knowing if it was day or night because of the light shining under the door. My book review obviously did the trick, because here I am now, working as a circuit minister in the Methodist Church. I have checked on line and the book is still available and well worth a read in my opinion.
I often wonder how people cope when they are re-introduced to society following long periods of incarceration and that thought has concerned me over recent months. We have just experienced a period of time in our own lives when our freedom has been stripped away from us. There was a time when I would have driven miles and never given it a moments thought. Over the years I have travelled extensively around England and Wales and would bat an eyelid at the thought of driving two to three hundred miles in a single day. There was a time when stopping at home felt to be a complete waste of my time and particularly on warm, sunny days, I longed to be out in the countryside, exploring the wonders of the world we inhabit.
This might sound like a strange admission from somebody who works in an environment where I am surrounded by people and frequently stand up and address large groups of people, but I have learned over the last few months that freedom brings risk. I have come to believe that I am safe tucked away in the house, beavering away at my computer and venturing out is suddenly an ordeal. There are times when I quite literally have to force myself to go to different event, and even as I’m driving there, I really want to turn back, I don’t know why, because I always enjoy whatever I attend and spend my life with some of the loveliest people I know, I feel so privileged as I travel through the beautiful Suffolk countryside, and this is work! Stripped of our freedom two years ago, all we wanted to do was get back to normal, yet at this point in our journey, I meet so many people who are finding that a huge ordeal. Freedom brings risk.
Jesus, when he talked to his disciples told them that they were free from the law of sin. Over centuries the Jewish authorities had built up a systematic approach to the work of pleasing God and avoiding his wrath, more and more rules were added in, some of them looking quite ridiculous to the twenty-first century reader. Jesus gave two simple rules, love God, and love one another, then he went a stage further and said “just as I have loved you, so you must love one another” in other words “follow my example” For what it is worth, I think that the world would be a much better place if we loved God and all the fruits of his creation. We wouldn’t need climate change policies, if only humankind had understood a long time ago that the world is not here just for our exploitation. We have been give freedom of choice and with that comes responsibility, we have seen in recent times what happens when one man wants to take ownership of others. Jesus says “love your neighbours” and by that, he doesn’t just mean the people we know, the people we like, he means those who threaten us, those who treat us badly and those we have never even met.
Brian Keenan and many others have truly understood what it means to have freedom stripped from them, we have experienced to a degree how that feels over the last two and a half years, freedom is a wonderful gift, but it brings with it risk and it brings responsibility, let us value our freedom and help others who struggle with it.