Free Theology

I can't help but note the two-fold vanity of creating a blog. Either I recognize that my blog will be like most of the 110 million other blogs out there and will be read by no one, which makes the act of writing it vain in the futile sense; or I think that my blog will somehow be different from tens of millions of other blogs, which makes it vain in the sense of self-conceit. Either way, it seems somewhat ridiculous, but hey, it's far from the most ridiculous thing I've ever done, so why not?

So just what is "Free Theology"? (And no, it's not a reference to the obvious point that no one would actually pay to read this.) It is a theology that starts from the foundation of our freedom in Christ. As Paul writes in Galatians 5, "For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery." (Galatians 5:1) We have been set free! Free from slavery to sin. Free from despair and the dominion of death. Free from selfishness and self-justification. Free from all the things that separate us from God. Moreover, our freedom is not just freedom from, it is also freedom for and freedom to. It is freedom for lives of love and service to God and neighbor. Freedom for mission and service and discipleship and ever-deepening communion with God. It is the freedom to be vulnerable, to admit our sins and our flaws and our failings, to trust God loves us anyway and is at work making us holy through the work of the Spirit. It is the freedom to love unconditionally, to serve passionately, to take risks and fall down and fail, knowing that God loves us and can use our frailties and failures just as surely as our triumphs. It is the freedom to hold fast to the treasures of two thousand years of the life of the church while at the same time being open to discovering what new thing the Holy Spirit is doing today. It is, above all, freedom from fear, born of a faith that nothing in all the universe can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

And, that, I suppose, is why I'm bothering to write a blog. As I look across the church today, I see an awful lot of fear. I see a lot of faithful pastors and laypeople, working their guts out and wondering why their churches are still shrinking and their kids are wandering away. I see congregations hunkering down, hoping they can survive, when God calls us to thrive. I see people who want to share their faith, but are afraid they don't have the right words or that someone will think they're a whacko or a religious nut. I see congregational leaders who honestly want to engage in mission but are afraid that doing things to share the gospel in their communities or welcome newcomers will upset too many of their members. I see congregations edging towards slow death, afraid to stay as they are but even more afraid to change. I see people afraid to let acquaintances or co-workers know that they are Christians because too often in our society Christianity has come to be associated with bigotry and intolerance and a rigid moralistic judgmentalism that looks more like the Pharisees than the Messiah. Fear is rampant in the church today, and we were destined for more than that.

To quote Paul again, "For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, “Abba! Father!” it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ—if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him." (Romans 8:15-17) We are God's beloved children and joint heirs with Christ! We have been given a spirit of adoption so that we may be free from fear! Through the cross of Jesus Christ, we have been named children of God, and it is Almighty God who holds us close, soothes our fears and give us the promise that, even though it might not be easy or comfortable or safe, it will be okay. We've been set free in Christ, and nothing will ever separate us from him. Whatever else happens, however badly we fail, however the sharing of our faith is received, whatever the results of the risks we take to engage in the mission Christ calls the church to, no matter what, it will be okay. That's free theology: theology built on the foundation of our freedom in Christ and our adoption as beloved children of God.