Freedom in Christ as our Identity // Pastor Karina Johnson // May 25 2025

Memorial Day weekend is Minnesota's official start of summer. Many of us like to celebrate with cabin trips, grill outs, or hikes after our long Minnesota winter and spring. But, Memorial Day is really about remembering, memorializing, those who have died in service to our country. We are grateful for those sacrifices that have allowed us to become the country we are --- one where, in many ways, we are free. Freedom of speech, religion, press, assembly, and the right to petition the government are protected in our Bill of Rights. These are good things and, yet, sometimes our American definition of freedom can get skewed and become freedom to 'do or say what I want without regard for others.' This was likely not the intent of the Bill of Rights and certainly does not align with the biblical definition of freedom. This Sunday we will dig into Romans 14 and consider what freedom means when our strongly-held convictions come into conflict with the strongly-held convictions of our brothers and sisters in Christ. And, as we dig, what I expect we'll discover is that the question of biblical freedom is less a concept to intellectually understand and more a gift of identity from God we get to live into and offer to others. I hope many of you make it back from the cabin in time to explore this topic together :)