Freedom & Service

Some more from Eugene Peterson's wonderful book: 'A Long Obedience in the Same Direction'

Psalm 123 - Service
'The basic conviction of a Christian is that God intends good for us and that he will get his way in us. He does not treat us according to our deserts, but according to his plan. He is not a police officer on patrol, watching over the universe, ready to club us if we get out of hand... He is a potter, working with the clay of our lives, forming and reforming...

The experience of servitude is recurrent through history. And the experience has never been happy... Masters get lazy and become scornful of those under them. The cry 'too long our soul has been sated with the scorn of those who are at ease, the contempt of the proud' is believable..

We live in a similar slavery. True, we have, in our country, abolished the institutionalised forms of slavery and all but elimanated a servant class, but the experience of servitude is still among us and is as oppressive as ever. Freedom is on everyone's lips. Freedom is announced and celebrated. But not many feel or act free. Evidence? We live in a nation of complainers and a society of addicts. Everywhere we turn we hear complaints: I can't spend my money the way I want; I can't spend my time the way I want; I can't be myself; I'm under the control of others all the time. And everywhere we met the addicts - addication to alcohol and drugs, to compulsive work habits and to obsessive consumption. We trade masters; we stay enslaved.

The Christian is a person who recognises that our real problem is not achieving freedom but in learning service under a better master.