Sermon thoughts and other musings

As a kid, I loved ABC television's "Schoolhouse Rock." Do you remember songs like "Conjunction Junction" or "I'm Just A Bill"? One of my favorites was the Preamble to the Constitution. To this day, I know the words to the Preamble because of that song, which still plays in my head.

On this Independence Day weekend, let us remember that the American Revolution was not just about freedom from a monarchy, it was about freedom to create a just society. We didn't obtain freedom so that we would be free of all responsibility - freedom was about freedom from the allegiance to the king so we could have allegiance to one another.

When Jesus says in this passage: "my yoke is easy, my burden is light" - Jesus is telling us that we still have a yoke to wear. Life isn't a choice between a yoke or no yoke, it's between having a yoke put on us by the world, and having a yoke put on us by Christ.

And Christ's yoke ties us to the service of God and one another. But in that mindset, look at the Preamble again:

We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Look at how much of the Preamble is about forming relationships to one another. It's not about freedom from each other, but freedom to help one another. Let us remember that freedom means freedom to serve our sisters and brothers in our society.