Sermon, by Pastor Joel
January 19, 2025
Isaiah 62:1-5
Psalm 36:5-10
1 Corinthians 12:1-11
John 2:1-11
The context of this sermon is
100% written by a human
Which is more valuable to you: freedom or equality? Depending on how people answer this question, they often find themselves on different sides of the political spectrum. Conservatives will say that for people to be free some inequality must exist. On the far left, ensuring equality justifies a certain level of restriction on freedom. Freedom and equality are two ideals of a just society. To feel both free and equal are marks of a happy human life. And yet they are often pitched against each other. Or societies try to find the right balance, with mixed results. Too much freedom in the market place, and the gap between rich and poor grows. Alexandria Ruble wrote “Entangled Emancipation”: a book about East Germany exploring how during the socialism of the cold war, women, in many ways, enjoyed more equality – at home, at university, and at work – than their western counterparts. And yet they had to worry about a police state, about keeping silent in the public square, about shortages in essential supplies. So, force control upon people, even if it increases equality, and freedom suffers painfully. But must they always be in conflict?
My first-year university son Samson introduced me to an American philosopher named Elizabeth Anderson, who says “No.” A society can aim for both freedom and equality by thinking about that goal in a different way – and thus bring together increasingly polarized political views. First, she says, look at the roots of a tolerant society. It began, she argues, with the peaceful settling of religious differences. As a result, space was made in the public sphere for different approaches to faith. This progressive notion of equality before God then led to freedom for individuals who could express different identities in different parts of their lives: work, home, church. “Is that not what it means to be free?” Anderson asked? Not to be caught by a single identity in every step you take, but to have the ability to adopt identities that work to the best of your ability. For women, we see what this has meant – the freedom to be both a talented engineer, a nurturing mother, an empowered romantic partner. But we also see how without efforts by society to strive for equality – without good childcare for one example, and true access to traditional male professions for another -- that freedom is hindered. A society that seeks to be both free and equal, Elizabeth Anderson argues, creates systems and policies that provide equal opportunity for the exercise of one’s talents.
This is the point that Elizabeth Anderson is making – and it is the point that our second lesson makes this morning, as clear an argument for both equality and freedom as we might find in Sacred Text. We are told there is a variety of gifts, which we might in our modern time, translate to skills or abilities or talents. Some might have the gift of wisdom, or the ability to impart knowledge. Others might have faith, the ability to communicate with people, the ability to heal. What else is the gospel describing then but teachers, and lawyers and philosophers and caregivers and mediators, and tradespeople, and nurturers. And the second lesson goes on to make clear that all of these are activated by the one and the same Holy Spirit. There are varieties of gifts by one Spirit. And varieties of services, but one God. No one gift is above the other. To each is given, for the common good.
What, then, does this mean for us, as individuals and as a society, if we truly accept this idea in scripture – that all talents are created equal? First, we must reject the inherent status, imposed by free market societies, that some jobs are higher status, and these are usually the ones – in finance, law, entertainment, and politics – that are most rewarded.
It is nonsensical from a community point of view – for what would we do, how long would our communities function, without teachers, and paramedics, and garbage collectors, and nurses – jobs less rewarded financially? We must rightly ask ourselves about this system. Some countries already have – which is why in Norway, for instance, early childhood educators receive much higher salaries and much more status than they do here. The question that Anderson asks – the point raised in our Second Lesson – may lead us there. If indeed all talents are equal before God, is it not our responsibility to ensure that we remove barriers to people engaging those talents to their fullest? This is where Anderson brings her point home – the idea is not to hand out money paternalistically, to see the ‘haves’ of society so charitably tossing coins at the ‘have-nots’. This may make things more equal but not necessarily free. (For are not ‘have-nots’ still subject to the generosity of the ‘haves’?) But perhaps to ask deeper questions, such as, “What structurally must happen in society to maintain freedom by equalizing opportunity?” Public health care surely falls into this argument. One example is making buildings wheelchair-accessible – by allowing everyone the freedom to enter, they are given equal access to the space.
So, we have a Second Lesson this morning that begins by reminding us that God has found the balance between equality and freedom. With the gifts of the Holy Spirit, we are made equal. Through the love and acceptance of God, we are granted freedom. But this lesson also raises significantly more substantive questions about what we want society to look like. For example, “What is our calling to extend these two ideals into our public places and institutions?”
We will have an election this year – a chance, whatever your politics, to debate and consider what we value. We have all around us countries being torn apart, or frenzied into controversy, by this very discussion – should freedom reign supreme above equality, or should equality come at the expense of freedom? We have, in our faith, the example of this balance – perfected in our relationship with God. It is not so easily turned into practice on earth, but surely, we must try -- for our society, ourselves, and our children. Surely that is what God, who sets the example, calls us all to do. Thankfully, as those verses from Corinthians remind us, we are blessed – each one of us, in our own way – with the gifts meant to be used toward that ideal goal - that time when freedom and equality are not traded off but exist in harmony.
Amen.
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