Agree on facts. We may disagree on interpretation, but common truth is essential.
Order-of-Service-20210228THE TRUTH WILL SET YOU FREE
(Sermon presented by Rev. Dick Dutton at KUUF, Sunday Feb.28, 2021)
If you visit Durham New Hampshire and the campus of UNH and you check out the university library, you will see in large letters on the outside wall these words: “You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free”. A statement that reflects the guiding principles of the University, and a larger base for life itself.
This statement first appeared in the New Testament some 2000 years before in the first century. I imagine in this New Testament account it was a small, intimate group, mainly Jews, Jews who were convinced that this Jesus was their rabbi, their long-awaited Messiah. And they were having
a good time together just sitting on the ground and talking about their new, amazing life together, as this new community of followers.
The Scriptures record, “Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, if you continue in my word then you are m disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth and the truths shall make you free. Then Jesus answered him we are Abraham seed and were never in bondage to any man how sayest thou ye shall be made free. Jesus answer them verily I say unto you whoever does evil is the servant of evil.”
So Abrahams children were said to be servants of evil, those in bondage to evil. Many think we are in bondage to evil in our day in America.
The huge disparity between the rich and the poor, the incredible number of people without jobs, those with not enough money to put food on the table, earning such low wages they can’t pay rent. Those who are homeless those living on the street… And an incredible number of men and women who are hurting in the wealthiest nation in the world, and we look the other way. The crazy thing is that we have the money to solve these problems, either through private enterprise or the government, but we seem not to have the will.
But our scripture passage says, “you shall know the truth and the truth will set you free”.
Part of our problem is it there is a whole other world out there with different ideas about truth and particularly about facts. Imagine that first thing in the morning you turn on your radio and the newscaster tells you again that because of fraud and illegal voting, the election was stolen. And later in the morning you turn on the TV and the commentator repeats the same message… That the election was stolen. And then you pick up your newspaper and magazine that you read every day there’s an article indicating the election was stolen, and then on Sunday you go to church and the pastor preaches that the election was stolen, and the friends you spend time with are incensed that the election was stolen. If that’s all you hear and you’ve been hearing that for months, day after day, every weekend, and all through the weekends… The election was stolen, and you hear no counter messages, but the same lies of course, what are you going to believe?
Some of you can remember when we in the United States had three basic TV channels NBC, CBS, and ABC, and all of us got basically the same news the same facts. Unfortunately, some of our news channels and social networks and newspapers they are often either right wing or left-wing… We are hearing editorial commentary rather than News. As many have said though are facts… We can have different opinions and interpretations, but the facts are the basis for truth. We may argue about the laws of gravity but if you jump out of a second story window, 10 times out of 10 you’re going to go down… that’s a fact and that is truth, no arguing down that.
“You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.” what does it mean to be free?
Remember the four freedoms… spelled out by FDR and painted by Norman Rockwell… Freedom of speech, freedom to worship, freedom from want, freedom from fear. Do all Americans possess all these freedoms, or is-there a large segment of America that is not free from want or free from fear. And around the world we know of many countries where freedom of speech is denied, and freedom of worship is almost impossible.
No one understands how precious freedom of speech is in their lives, until it no longer exists, And we know that the first thing taken away when autocrat or dictator assumes power is free speech…to lock up those who criticize or demonstrate or counter his power. The press is taken over by the new government, personal speech is suspended, and thousands in opposition are put in jails and often beaten, sexually violated, and deprived of food and sleep.
One of the glories of democracy is our freedom of speech, and most of us are happy that will be a rebirth of the Republican party, with their principles that have long been at the forefront of their existence. We need two parties, and a remarkable discussion of differences and varied ideas that together are argued, and listen to, and then compromised to a final result ending in a more capable and functioning government and nation. That’s what democracy is all about, free-speech, when there is freedom of worship – respectful speech.
Some of you have been watching the classic series by Henry Louis Gates on the black Church. This is one story; this is our story. I never realized the extent to which the Baptist/Methodist Black church in the south during slavery and the reconstruction played such a healing, calming role, and then as community, for the Black people; the Black church was their home, and their mother, and their family, and their healer and their strength, and their joy… Expressed through hugs, and preaching, and singing, and even dancing. It saved their lives, or at least made their lives bearable. And the basic message was, God had not left them, that God was going to see them through. There was joy, there was hope, there was there was love, there was even freedom. Blacks in the south created Black churches and were sustained by them… And that’s where they found their freedom.
What about freedom from want. During the pandemic there have been more than people who have lost their employee-based healthcare, adding to the 87 million who already had have non-adequate or non-existing healthcare. There were 12 million renters behind in the rent payment, and could face eviction” in the next few months. 26 million people reported not having enough to eat. “Freedom from want”…There is no doubt about the facts here…so let’s get busy.
The fourth freedom is freedom from fear, maybe the most frightening and debilitating of all, the freedom from fear. The Bible has a surprising insight here, the apostle John writes…”There is no fear in love, perfect love casts out fear.” In other words, the opposite of fear is not courage but Love. When some politicians run for office they talk about the serious dangers, their opponents’ failures, or fatal policies. In other words, they try to win votes by fear. Or advertisers suggest that unless we buy this product now, we will have dangerous consequences. Or this policy or that, this choice or that, this road or that, if we don’t change, something terrible is going to befall us…
There is no fear in love. That’s worth contemplating isn’t it? That’s worth giving it a try… No fear in love, wow.
Courage is not the opposite of fear,
Love is…love for myself, love for my
friends, love for my enemies, and that leads to freedom from fear.
“You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free”
Freedom of speech
Freedom of worship
Freedom from want
Freedom from fear