LifeTIMES
A monthly ministry of Lord of Life Lutheran Church of Maple Grove, Minnesota
The Function of Freedom by Thom Olson, Executive Director, FreedomWorks
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ost of what I’ve learned about Christian community came from hanging around a bunch of incarcerated addicts. For seven years, I worked as an addiction counselor with Prison Fellowship as part of the InnerChange Freedom Initiative at the Lino Lakes Prison. The job came with an unexpected perk: I had front row seats to God’s ongoing act of redemption in the lives of men society had discarded and thrown away. I still remember my first week when I walked into a classroom and the participants were praying. Some had their head bowed and hands folded, others stood with outstretched arms while a few knelt down with their foreheads fervently pressed to the floor. What struck me was not the posture of their prayers but their content: they were praying for the protection of the police in North Minneapolis. As one inmate explained, “I had to go to prison to find my freedom.” (I don’t remember learning that at seminary.) I came to the realization that if you haven’t witnessed firsthand the “upside-downness” of the Kingdom of God where the first are last and the last are first, you can’t begin to comprehend the Good News of the gospel. In the words of Toni Morrison, “The function of freedom is to free someone else.” Our freedom serves a purpose beyond ourselves. We get free to help somebody else get free. The Apostle Paul gives a similar sentiment in II Corinthians 1:3 where he talks about the ripple effects—and equipping effects—of being comforted by God. “Thanks be to God, the father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in our trials so that we may comfort others with the comfort we have received from God.” That’s how Christian community is designed to work. —continues on Page 10
July 2013 “For me to live is Christ” Philippians 1:21a
July 2013