14^th Sunday in Ordinary Time | 4^th Sunday after Pentecost | Proper 9

The Revised Common Lectionary passages for the Lord’s Day are:

First Reading: 2 Kings 5:1-14
Psalm 30
Second Reading: Galatians 6:(1-6) 7-16
Gospel Reading: Luke 10:1-11, 16-20

The liturgical color for the day is: Green

Freedom from and freedom to.  The July 4, 1776, Declaration of Independence is a statement of radical freedom from the powers of tyranny.  It is freedom from Britain.  But it is also freedom to…it is freedom to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

Naaman’s story is a story about freedom from and freedom to.  Yes, he was freed of his leprosy, but such was not the freedom of the story.

Once Naaman lets go of his sense of entitlement he’s free to see who God really is.  The God who restores his life.

It says in Luke that Jesus sent the seventy ahead to the places he intended to go.  Where you go…God sends you there ahead.  You go ahead of Christ with the love of God in you: “Peace be to this place.”  “The presence of God has come near you.”

In the cross of Christ, we are the sent ones.  Our freedom is not merely a freedom from but a freedom to.  We are freed to be the people of God.  We are freed to be the presence of Christ.  We are freed to inhabit the world with love.

We are even free, in the words we hold dear, to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

We are, in Christ, free form our sense of entitlement and free to be in this relationship with God.  Such freedom is seen real when share it with others and realize all are invited.

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Rev. Dr. Daris Bultena
Chief Imagination Officer
General Presbyter and Stated Clerk