November 7

“Because oppression, or the lack of universal justice, is so insidious, we must labor constantly to bring about our great hope, the commonwealth of God.  We do this not only because oppression limits the ability of the disinherited to use their talents but also because it can easily make them doubt the goodness, if not the very existence of God.  Finally, in due time oppression will almost invariably lead the victims to resort to violence and many of the superficial to blame the victims because they could no longer bear a pain not experienced by their critics....” Dwight Spann Wilson, 1981, Daily Readings from Quaker Writings, 10/16

This is why Christ’s message of freedom is universal and therefore for everyone.  I really don’t understand what the resistance is to receiving this message.  If we strip away all false pretenses we are left with a basic human need to be loved.  If you are being oppressed you are experiencing the antithesis of love.  Love is the ultimate freedom of expression.  To be freed to love and to be loved is what life is suppose to be all about.  Along the way we have to take care of business--like food and shelter--and this is where we get into trouble.  Our ego wants more than its share or wants something someone else has and justice becomes distorted.  We begin to define it by our own desires and not by the common good.  To get what we want we oppress.  This can be done quite subtly within our own families and move outward to friends, places of business, the community, and ultimately between nations.  Christ leveled the playing field, freed us from all that greediness, and elevated us to children belonging to God.

“So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.”  John 8:36

July 29

“The tragedy now is not the Cross of Christ.  That has become victory.  The tragedy now is that those of us who receive this peace He made there, walk away from the Cross and forget it.  We forget we have no right to resent...to be bitter...to be afraid.  We have no rights if we follow Christ.  This is the freedom.”  Eugenia Price, S.P.S., 7/29

I’ve always known that we have no rights if we follow Christ, but I’d never thought of it in terms of “no right to resent...to be bitter...to be afraid.”  Put that way it sounds as though they are things I should want!  But now that I take a step back and look at it I can understand what Eugenia is saying.  How often do I demand “my right” to be respected and cared for.  And how often when I don’t receive that “right” do I feel justified in being resentful and bitter?  And when I take a risk of any kind, whether it be financially or in personal relationships, do I feel it’s my "right" to have things go my way and when they don’t I become afraid I’m going to lose something?  Am I not demanding my “right” to be afraid?  To be free in Christ means, in a sense, I have no expectations other than to be loved by God.  God’s love gives me everything I need--I have no need of “rights” anymore.  When we have “rights” we must protect them.  By having no “rights” we are set free from this impossible task. 

“So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.”  John 8:36

March 17

“We can choose to be kept from yielding to any temptation which plagues us.  But, if we choose to yield to the temptation, one thing inevitably results--we become rebellious!.....I see now I have no more alibis left.  He has already led my ‘captivity captive.’  I need not yield to the temptation.”  Eugenia Price, S.P.S., 3/17

Eugenia said she would yield to temptation because she feared she’d be smothered if she did not give in to it.  I’ve never given much thought to why I give into temptations when they come.  Sometimes it happens so quickly I’m not at all aware of my thought process.  But there must be some thoughts going on that I’m not aware of that allows me to say yes when I know I should say no.  I’ve never been happy with my decision to say yes to temptation afterwards, which would in turn lead me further into temptations to rebel as I tried to dig myself out of my pit.  Now that I understand I’m a new creature and that it’s Christ’s life in me that I am now living, I’m getting better at understanding the power of sin.  The only way I can now sin is to obey my flesh.  Recently I was on the phone with someone I love.  I was confronting this person with something they did not want to hear and they retaliated.  Tears came to my eyes, but I noticed my voice did not change.  It remained steady and sure of what it was saying to this person that they needed to hear.  I realized at that point their remark had punctured my flesh, but not my heart.  It was God’s voice speaking through me, and God cannot be injured.  My flesh wound did not deter me from continuing to speak the Truth in Love. 

“So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.”  John 8:36