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Liberation is Costly -- Reverend Dr. Linda Anderson

South African bishop Desmond Tutu said: “Liberation is costly.  Even after the Lord had delivered the Israelites from Egypt, they had to travel through the desert.  They had to bear the responsibilities and difficulties of freedom.  There was starvation and thirst and they kept complaining.  They complained that their diet was monotonous.  Many of them preferred the days of bondage and the fleshpots of Egypt.  We must remember that liberation is costly.”  
Liberation is costly.  A rebirth into freedom requires courage and it requires sacrifice. Think about your own lives. Are you in the midst of breaking free from something? Breaking free from the circumstances, the situations, the conditions, the patterns, the work, the people that keep you enslaved?  Are you in the midst of experiencing new growth, in the midst of your own particular exodus?  For some of us rebirth into freedom is major.  We are liberating ourselves into different work states, different relationship states, different states of health and physical ability, different homes.  Think about what this costs in terms of time and energy: physical, mental and emotional.  Sometimes it hurts to be reborn, to gain our freedom, even when the new life holds much promise.  Sometimes it hurts to be reborn, especially when getting there requires sacrifice. 
Liberation is costly.  It’s hard to leave the security of what we know, even when what we know is not so good.  It’s hard to move through that parted Red Sea into the unknown, even when we have chosen to do it.  When we become new, when we experience changes they often are accompanied by loss.  Gaining one thing sometimes means leaving something else.  It is sacrifice to leave the confines of slavery, even when it’s time to move into a new life.  It is sacrifice to leave the protective darkness of the earth and break through the soil, even to bud and bloom in glory.
Liberation is costly and the cost of not living free is something we pay over and over. It is something we pay, not only for ourselves, but for those who will come after us. Freedom is carving out our place at the welcome table of humanity, and setting a place for future generations. For it is a form of slavery when we do not allow people to be who they are. When we disregard and/or disrespect them or force them to hide important parts of their identities or forbid them to practice their customs, their religion, their way of life. Taking into account the common good, of course. Throughout human history people have consistently risen up against such suppression when they could. Liberation is costly.

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