Monday 10 October 2022

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Today is Monday the 10th of October, in the 28th week of Ordinary Time.

Josh Garrels sings a version of ‘No Longer Slaves’. As you listen, notice which words you are drawn to, as you prepare to pray today.

You unravel me

With a melody

You surround me with a song

Of deliverance

From my enemies

'Til all my fears are gone

I'm no longer a slave to fear

I am a child of God

I'm no longer a slave to fear

I am a child of God

From my mother's womb

You have chosen me

Love has called my name

I've been born again

Into Your family

Your blood flows through my veins

I'm no longer a slave to fear

I am a child of God

I'm no longer a slave to fear

I am a child of God

I'm no longer a slave to fear

I am a child of God

I'm no longer a slave to fear

I am a child of God

I am surrounded

By the arms of the Father

I am surrounded

By songs of deliverance

We've been be liberated

From our bondage

We're the sons and the daughters

Let us sing our freedom

You split the sea

So I could walk right through it

My fears are drowned in perfect love

You rescued me

So I could stand and say

I am a child of God

You split the sea

So I could walk right through it

My fears are drowned in perfect love

You rescued me

So I could stand and say

I am a child of God

I am a child of God

Yes, I am a child of God

Today’s reading is from St Paul’s Letter to the Galatians.

Galatians 4:22-24, 26-27,31 5:1

For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and the other by a free woman. One, the child of the slave, was born according to the flesh; the other, the child of the free woman, was born through the promise. Now this is an allegory: these women are two covenants. One woman, in fact, is Hagar, from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery. But the other woman corresponds to the Jerusalem above; she is free, and she is our mother. For it is written,

‘Rejoice, you childless one, you who bear no children,

burst into song and shout, you who endure no birth pangs;

for the children of the desolate woman are more numerous

than the children of the one who is married.’ So then, friends, we are children, not of the slave but of the free woman. For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

Paul uses the painful life experiences of two women to explain a truth of the gospel, the freedom brought to us by Christ. You could say we have two women to thank for playing a key part in illustrating the message of freedom. Can you think of others whose stories, and perhaps suffering, have led to our freedom? Could your own story demonstrate this truth of the gospel?

Paul is urging the Galatians to choose Christ’s freedom over the legalism that they had allowed to creep in; legalism that was subtly undermining their faith. Do you notice this ever creeping in in your life?

“For freedom Christ has set us free.” As you hear the passage again, consider where you might long for this freedom, for yourself or someone you love. What would it be like, even in seemingly impossible life circumstances, to choose the free path that Christ offers?

In these closing moments, speak with God about that freedom, however elusive it might feel.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.