“For freedom Christ has set us free.”

–Galatians 5:1a

“Freedom isn’t free.  Freedom isn’t free. You’ve got to pay a price. You’ve got to sacrifice for your liberty.”  One day in 6th Grade, my class sang those words as part of a school assembly.  I don’t remember the theme of that program, but do recall how the song went on to offer an example from American history “There was a gen’ral by the name of George, with a small band of men at Valley Forge. Left the comfort of home for the cold and ice, they won independence ‘cause they paid the price.” After singing those words, our class of 12 year olds again proclaimed  “Freedom isn’t free…” 

That choral number was composed six decades ago by a group called Up With People.  Some of you will remember their theme song of “Up! Up with people! You meet ’em wherever you go…”  I suspect our performance at Clubview Elementary School included that composition, too. The group’s website speaks of how they seek to tap into the energy of youth promoting a message of peace, dignity, and equality for everyone. In reading a recent biography about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I learned that the founder of Up With People, John Blanton Belk, had met Dr. King as a young man and was inspired by his tireless efforts to achieve civil rights. That work, too, clearly demonstrated that “freedom isn’t free,” but always involves sacrifice. 

As a nation, we honor again this week those individuals who paid the ultimate price for our freedoms. The first Memorial Day observance occurred in 1866 in Waterloo, New York. It wasn’t formalized as happening annually on the last Monday of May until 1971. Still this nation has long recognized the sacrifice of women and men who died for the cause of freedom. The song I sang as a boy and the parades around our country this week honor their ultimate gift in regards to our freedom. As Christians, we do the same thing everyday as disciples of Jesus Christ. 

In Paul’s letter to the Galatians, he talks at length about that gift. His focus isn’t on freedom from outside threats, but from a life of faith shaped by adherence to religious law. For the first century Jew, there were over 600 laws that people of the covenant were to maintain. When one or more were broken, animal or grain sacrifices had to be offered to restore the bond with God. In his correspondence, Paul spoke to former Jews about that existence as a kind of enslavement and contrasts it to the life of grace in Jesus.  “For freedom,” he writes “Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery”

In those words Paul wasn’t suggesting that Jesus’ sacrifice leaves us free to do whatever we want. The freedoms we enjoy as citizens of this country do not allow us to act without regard to the impact upon others either. Rather, the gift of Jesus’ sacrifice is meant to assure us that we are saved by grace and thus inspired to live differently. Jesus’ death set us free from a life of fear or keeping track of good deeds. Yet that sacrifice also set free for a kind of existence that builds up.

For in response to his sacrifice, we are to lead lives of gratitude and service, compassion and generosity. We are to care for those who are at risk, to overcome human-built prejudices, and to work for justice in a world where it is sorely needed. In sum, we are to love God with all that we can offer and love neighbor as ourselves.

It is true that freedom never comes without a cost. Thus on this Memorial Day and everyday, we thank God for the One who paid that price and sacrificed for our liberty.

Source of all life, we thank you for those who paid the price for the freedoms that enrich life in this country. Even more, we thank you for your Son who brought freedom for all the world and all humankind. Amen.