Freedom: The Ring, The Mole, and Joined Hands

At church on Sunday, we thought about freedom. Definitions of freedom were suggested: ‘The absence of barriers’, ‘Not being a slave to anything’, ‘Lightening your load’.

Reflecting… Basic human freedoms – freedom of choice, religion or speech… freedom from oppression, violence, prejudice… God brought His people from slavery in Egypt to freedom in their Promised Land… Jesus brought ‘freedom to the captives’ and ‘truth that will set you free’.

Recently I heard about the myth of Gyges – that Plato discussed…  Gyges, a shepherd, finds a gold ring in a cave. He discovers that if he wears the ring he becomes invisible. He puts the ring on, goes to the king’s palace, seduces the queen, kills the king, and takes control of the palace…

Plato’s asks, if we are free to do what we want, will we do good or bad? Does freedom make us better or worse people?

Yesterday my friend Tim reminded me of ‘I am a mole and I live in a hole’ – a song from my childhood. Mr Google says ‘The Southlanders’ recorded it in 1958:

I’m not a bat or a rat or a cat,
I’m not a gnu or a kangaroo,
I’m not a goose or a moose on the loose,
I am a mole and I live in a hole.

It’s about accepting who I am, being free to be myself.

Martin Luther King reminds us that true freedom is bigger than just personal freedom. It’s about being free together:

‘When we allow freedom ring… all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!’

An old prayer reminds us that freedom is about serving God:

‘O God, the author of peace and lover of concord, to know you is eternal life, and to serve you is perfect freedom…’