Liberation

This weekend we were singing “God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman” at a church we attend. The last two lines of the first verse stood out to me:

To save us all from Satan’s power
When we have gone astray.

Here is the essence of the Gospel and something that can speak to a post-modern world. There is a great oppressor, Satan, who keeps us all bound in our own self-destructive and other-destructive ways. The most tragic thing is that humanity as a species turned over the power for him to do this.

Still Christ came as the great liberator. He came to set us free from the power of the oppressor. If all humanity would submit to the One who is liberating us, all injustice and oppression would end.

Sadly, the reality is not everyone will do this. Part of the power of the oppressor is that he has us deceived into believing that oppression is freedom and self-actualization.

So, the story goes on.