James Woody
Translation Canon Tony Dickinson
The absence of constraint is not the same as freedom. Whether we’re talking about the Hebrew people leaving Egypt – the House of Bondage – or about a people liberating itself from dictatorship or a young adult leaving the parental grasp, becoming free does not arise only from the fact that there are no more toxic connections, no more control, no more supervision, no more obligation. Cutting ourselves off from everything that hinders us allows us to make progress on our own journey, but if we have nowhere to go, what will become of us? We shall be like the Hebrews who preferred to turn back in order to find full cooking pots again, even if it meant rediscovering the heavy chains.
Freedom needs a horizon which gives direction to our story. Freedom needs our adherence to perspectives, life plans, convictions, everything that the gospels called the Kingdom of Heaven or of God. The preaching of Jesus invites us to orient our life in the direction of what encourages the welcome of the unknown, of what is unexpected, of what makes the most of talent, of what gives justice to individuals, what creates forgiveness, what displays unconditional love. To arrive at this adherence which the Bible calls faith, we have to go through an apprenticeship to what is necessary for us in order to discern what can serve us as a horizon. We have to learn equally to take our active place in the bosom of this kingdom. There is no freedom without an education which teaches us to locate threats and which equips us with treasures of emotional intelligence. This apprenticeship is undertaken in the family, during study, at Church, where we work. A happy return to school for some and a happy apprenticeship to freedom for everyone.
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