“I wish there were some way we could understand how important dietary law has been to the people of Israel. Most of us have eaten bacon all our lives, and we do not think twice about combining milk and meat, but if we were first century Jews, the very thought would make us break out in a cold sweat. It would be like coming to church one morning to find pork chops and whiskey on the altar instead of bread and wine.”
Acts 11:1-18 notes From Feasting on the Word by Barbara Brown Taylor
The summer before 6th grade my family moved me from a town in the Central Valley of California to Berkeley, California. This move exploded my world. Before Berkeley I lived a life that was well-defined with clear rules and roles surrounding me at every turn. Constrained. This was most obvious to me at school. In Berkeley, I could not find the rules. My elementary school had broken windows and no grass. The children cussed on the play yard. The teachers seemed to have no control. It was shocking to me. So it may surprise you to hear me say that the move to Berkeley was the best thing that could have happened to me.
I had lived a life of constraint before Berkeley but I did not know it. I was “safe and secure from all alarms” but I was not free. It took time to grow into my freedom. The language was different. The music was different. The city pace was so fast I could hardly keep up at first. I believe that because of that move I am able to love persons who are different than me. I believe that freedom ushered me into situations that I otherwise may have never found as a young person. Freedom tasted like Pete’s coffee, black, in 10th grade. Freedom looked like the Golden Gate from the parking lot of Lawrence Hall of Science. Freedom had a Lesbian/Gay Student group at BHS in 197 7. Freedom was the ocean. Freedom was grits. Freedom was Led Zeppelin and Herbie Hancock. Santana and Pete Seeger. Marvin Gaye and John Denver. ~Linda
Constraint and Freedom. How has it been for you? What would be the most shocking thing for you to find on the altar instead of bread and wine?
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