Getting ready to write Sunday’s sermon, I’m thinking about Slavery. What am I a slave to?
“You are slaves of the one you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of righteousness, which leads to life.” — Romans 6:16
Am I a slave to fashion? ?(no laughing, just because you’ve seen my wardrobe). ?Am I a slave to other people’s opinions of me? To food or drink? ?To my ability to produce? To make people laugh? ?The possibilities are limitless. . .
Maybe it’s true that the human condition is one of enslavement. ?I suppose masters are like parents. ?We should pick them wisely. ?But we feel like we have just about that amount of control, don’t we?
Now this is a bit spooky, since I was JUST thinking about this. I’m up in Maine at the moment, on what may be my last day with the internet. We’ll be camping after tomorrow, then going to a lake in the Adirondacks where there’s probably no internet. But while I have the chance I’ve been emailing two friends who are taking the ords with me in August. One of our professors (Hebrew bible and Hebrew language) is chiding me for studying while I’m on vacation, but I can’t imagine not! I’ll be gone for three weeks — I can’t just ignore the ords for that whole time! — anyway, we were talking about how focussed we all are on our grades, and on studying, and passing these exams. But I can’t imagine being any other way, as long as the Presbyterian system is what it is.
But we will try not to become slaves to it. Or make it an idol (which is where the original discussion started, because one of the past exam questions was about idolatry). 🙂