Tremendously Free

 

Imagine:

not just free,

as if that is not enough,

but TREMENDOUSLY free.

What a word.

 

That is what I read recently in a book I've had on my shelf for years, and wanted to finally trade to get some more credits on Paperbackswap.  I thumbed through it before posting, because I saw someone had it as a wish reserve, meaning it'd be requested right away.  So glad I did that because what words.  (The book is Addicted to Mediocrity: 20th Century Christians and the Arts, by Frankie Schaeffer)

 

I found what I needed to find:

 

On page 39:  "Creativity, human worth, the arts, cultural endeavor, the media, communication, enjoyment of beauty and creativity in others, enjoyment of our own creativity... God's creativity - all of these need no justification... This, like so much of biblical teaching, brings tremendous freedom - not guilty, backward looking fear, but freedom. Freedom that is brought through Christ's redemption, to go fuller, to go deeper, to go broader, to enjoy more - not to go narrower and narrower into an ever-shrinking hyped up gloomy little world of spiritual experience."

 

"You are tremendously free, you are the most free, for you have form on which to build your freedom, you know who you are... you know that you and your talent will live forever." (p.60)

"May we have the courage to reject and abandon the mediocrity of the church today and stand alone if need be...  May our Christianity be a freeing experience, not an ideological burden.  May we experience a freedom from guilt feelings, a willingness to take risks, make mistakes, but above all to live the life God has given us..." (p.65)

To this I can say hallelujah.