Twenty years ago, we went for our first family holiday to the Lake District. We had always gone to the seaside before, but a change was needed, and we were anxious that the idea might backfire on us. In hindsight it was a huge success; this year we are all going to Cumbria together, accompanied by the next generation.
However, one memory from 2003 has remained imprinted on my memory. We had enjoyed a picnic lunch on the bank of the Stickle Tarn above Great Langdale and were heading up onto Pavey Ark. I needed a moment to work out which was the right path to take, and that moment caused one of the younger members of the party also to ‘have a moment.’ We were in a big open space and without certainty, it was frightening.
In the Gospel, Jesus said, ‘if the Son sets you free, you are free indeed.’ [John 8:31]. Critics were making a play of being the descendants of Abraham and therefore of having nothing to learn about freedom. Jesus’s argument was that if it were the case that they believed their liberty to be real, then why try to kill him. Why cut off a path to greater freedom by refusing tom listen to his new, and enabling teaching that was a development of the Old Covenant truths.
I have been interested to read many accounts of public reaction to the COVID restrictions that were so much a part of life three years ago. While many of us hated them, it emerges that there were other people who relished the restrictions and the rules. Rules and constraints made folk feel safe. Whether that feeling of safety was justified is anyone’s guess and beside the point.
Freedom and spaces may trigger irrational fears just as being a leader in new and developing circumstances can be daunting. The freedom we have in Christ is not the same though, it is release from the past that locks us into failure and fear while providing a way of thinking that makes paths clearer, not less so.
I cannot wait to see again the views of ‘freedom’s open space.’ (If anyone is interested, I took the picture in 2011 while walking the route from Coniston Old Man to Wetherlam, if that means anything to you!)
A Prayer
Guide and God of all, help us to have a healthy respect for freedom and to revel in that liberation from guilt that is ours because you gave us your Son to teach us and to give us his life for us. We thank you, Lord. Amen.