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| A member congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America | ||
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June A number of years ago; I drove a busload of teenagers from Memphis to Lutheridge in Arden, North Carolina. It is a truly magnificent place surrounded by mountains and beautiful forest, offering breathtaking views and wide open spaces. We spent the week there and had a marvelous time of it. During the day we did programs, hiked through the woods, climbed the mountains and swam. In the evening, however, we would gather outside our cabins to talk and just gaze at the stars and take in the refreshing, cool night air. Adult advisors accompanied the group and I think the advisors and I had more fun than the kids. For a week, we were absolutely free from the confines and congestion of city life and traffic, and free too from the constraints of work and its demands. For seven days we were free to roam the beautiful countryside, enjoy the views and the wonderful spaciousness of it all. I remember one evening in particular. We were all sitting out under the night sky with the stars so close it seemed you could reach out and touch them, and we all had the same thought: “This is the way life ought to be!” And perhaps you have also had such an experience - or will have if you have the chance to get away to the mountains or the beach. Perhaps you too, have said, “This is the way life ought to be!,” and what you need to know is that you are right. An author has commented that the experience of spaciousness and freedom in a large, open space is exactly what the experience of salvation is meant to be. He points out that the root word for salvation means “to be wide” or “spacious.” Thus salvation “is a vast roominess under God.” Religion, he says, should not restrict us, but release us. Our faith should not confine us within petty self-righteousness or narrow doctrines but set us free from constricting fears and open us to fresh possibilities, new thoughts, and abundant life. True biblical faith is not a matter of being hemmed in on every side by “thou-shalt-nots” or confined by fears of new and different thoughts or living so cautiously that a risk is never taken. There is a spaciousness to true biblical faith -- it is open to what is possible in the power of the Spirit, it explores new ideas, it is free to take risks, even to be wrong, but willing to try again. So, if you find yourself out under the stars or gazing at the beauty of the mountains or walking along a beach, take some time and ask yourself some questions…
Does your faith lead you out into life? Does it set you free from crippling fears? Does it lead you to love others without the narrow judgment? Does it open your mind and fill you with a new vision of life?
More than anything, does your faith lead you to say some days, “This is the way life ought to be!”?
God be with you, Jeff
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