Thought for the week from Roots for Churches: Liberating ourselves to free others
Few of us are likely to have experienced being physically imprisoned or held against our will, but we can imagine how distressing this might be. In the Acts reading there are examples of people in that situation, such as the slave-girl exploited as a fortune-teller and Paul and Silas imprisoned by the authorities.
The jailer is also in a state of captivity, bound by his fears of what might happen when it is discovered that his captives had been given the opportunity to escape.
Today there may be people, possibly living quite close to us, who are in some kind of captivity. This may be actual enslavement to those who exploit them or those in a nearby prison. There may be some who are restrained by unhelpful attitudes from their past or fears about their future. Some of us may be feeling like that today.
In this passage, we see Paul on a steep learning curve in his approach to freedom. Initially, he is irritated by the slave-girl but later realises that here is a human being in distress that he must help.
Paul might have taken advantage of the prison’s open doors to escape. Instead, he had compassion for the jailer and probably spoke out to defend him. They all met later at his home.
Perhaps some of us have experienced being helped to free ourselves of inhibitions that have hindered our faith in God and the Church. Maybe we have been liberated through the agency of counsellors, spiritual directors, a wise pastor or a listening friend. Someone who is now a minister speaks of a time when a pastor encouraged him to plant some flowers on a Sunday. This clashed with ideas from his strict upbringing but enabled him to see that rejoicing in creation isn’t a sin!
How do we use our experience and our freedom to help release others from the things that hold them back? This is a mission to be embraced, as Paul and Silas did.
Today’s Gospel reading also points us towards the motivation for that mission. God wants us to show his love to those we meet so that they can be free to become the people he wants them to be.
How can we fulfil that mission today?
Some people may already be actively involved in supporting those involved in modern slavery or in prison, or in supporting agencies that do this. Some of us may be trained to help those suffering from psychological or mental health limitations. At the very least, we can all become better listeners to those in need around us.
The life, death and resurrection of Jesus assures us that we are loved and free. Our challenge is to use our freedom to engage with God’s mission of setting others free too. We do this when we let God’s love shine through us, so that his glory is revealed to those around.