Monday 10 October 2022

Today is Monday the 10th of October, in the 28th week of Ordinary Time.


Josh Garrels sings a version of ‘No Longer Slaves’. As you listen, notice which words you are drawn to, as you prepare to pray today.

You unravel me
With a melody
You surround me with a song
Of deliverance
From my enemies
'Til all my fears are gone
I'm no longer a slave to fear
I am a child of God
I'm no longer a slave to fear
I am a child of God
From my mother's womb
You have chosen me
Love has called my name
I've been born again
Into Your family
Your blood flows through my veins
I'm no longer a slave to fear
I am a child of God
I'm no longer a slave to fear
I am a child of God
I'm no longer a slave to fear
I am a child of God
I'm no longer a slave to fear
I am a child of God
I am surrounded
By the arms of the Father
I am surrounded
By songs of deliverance
We've been be liberated
From our bondage
We're the sons and the daughters
Let us sing our freedom
You split the sea
So I could walk right through it
My fears are drowned in perfect love
You rescued me
So I could stand and say
I am a child of God
You split the sea
So I could walk right through it
My fears are drowned in perfect love
You rescued me
So I could stand and say
I am a child of God
I am a child of God
Yes, I am a child of God

Today’s reading is from St Paul’s Letter to the Galatians.


Galatians 4:22-24, 26-27,31 5:1

For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and the other by a free woman. One, the child of the slave, was born according to the flesh; the other, the child of the free woman, was born through the promise. Now this is an allegory: these women are two covenants. One woman, in fact, is Hagar, from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery. But the other woman corresponds to the Jerusalem above; she is free, and she is our mother. For it is written,
‘Rejoice, you childless one, you who bear no children,
burst into song and shout, you who endure no birth pangs;
for the children of the desolate woman are more numerous
than the children of the one who is married.’ So then, friends, we are children, not of the slave but of the free woman. For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

Paul uses the painful life experiences of two women to explain a truth of the gospel, the freedom brought to us by Christ. You could say we have two women to thank for playing a key part in illustrating the message of freedom. Can you think of others whose stories, and perhaps suffering, have led to our freedom? Could your own story demonstrate this truth of the gospel?


Paul is urging the Galatians to choose Christ’s freedom over the legalism that they had allowed to creep in; legalism that was subtly undermining their faith. Do you notice this ever creeping in in your life?


“For freedom Christ has set us free.” As you hear the passage again, consider where you might long for this freedom, for yourself or someone you love. What would it be like, even in seemingly impossible life circumstances, to choose the free path that Christ offers?


In these closing moments, speak with God about that freedom, however elusive it might feel.


Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.