Ukrainian Orthodoxy		Orthodoxie ukrainienne

Free to Serve Love!

Very Reverend Ihor Kutash kutash@unicorne.org

(Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost)

In today`s Epistle (Galatians 2:16-20) our teacher in the faith of Christ`s Church, the Apostle Paul, speakd of things that are hard to understand: how do we obey law (i. e. follow the call of duty) and yet remain in the freedom that Christ has brought us.

This has been a thorny issue for Christians throughout the centuries. In Galatia the problem Paul faced took the form of a movement that called for obedience to the laws of Moses in addition to the new duties commanded by Jesus - love of God and of one`s neighbour. Today the problem shows itself in the division that exists between Christians who emphasize (taking their cue from Paul - especially from his letter to the Romans) that in our walk with God we are made right by faith alone, and those who insist that besides faith there must be deeds.

Faith would seem to be that which makes us free while obedience to laws - necessary in order for there to be good deeds which manifest the faith one has - seems to bring us back into slavery. Is there no resolution to this dilemma? Are we to be free and slaves at one and the same time?

In fact there is a way to resolve the paradox (a paradox consists of two things which oppose each other yet both of these things are true). First of all we illuminate it - we enlighten ourselves about it, by considering that our faith puts us into a relationship with God. And it is a relationship of love! First of all, faith shows us the WE are loved! It declares to us that God loves us - that He loved us and chose us long before we appeared upon the earth. It was for this that He created us. We are here because of this profound and JOYOUS MYSTERY of His love.

Then we find that He invites us gently and patiently to love Him back. Now, when we LOVE someone - or to put it in a way we can understand better - when we are in love with someone, we do not find it difficult to do things that are pleasing to the one we love. On the contrary, the more difficult, the more challenging the task the happier we are to do it, the more joy and energy we find in doing it. And in such a situation we do not consider ourselves to be slaves of the beloved (or if we do say so in a poetic way, we look upon it as sweet slavery). We feel ourselves to be wonderfully FREE. The energy of this marvelous love makes us superbly free and full of joy!

And yet at the same time we are being obedient - we are doing what pleases the one we love. The paradox of freedom and obedience remain but it finds its resolution in the relationship of love!

This is how Paul looks at His relationship with God - and how we are invited to look upon it. Think of the immense, profound, undying love shown us by Jesus, the One who came into the world for that very reason - to love us and save us. Let us draw near to Him in the silence of loving silence of prayer and the joyous singing of praise. Let us build our relationship of love with God with the mysterious help of the Holy Spirit, Who comes to dwell within us and awaken Love.

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