Vision of Freedom

My devotion the other day offered an interesting and challenging new perspective for me on a Bible passage.  I'm using a wonderfu devotional book called, Sacred Journeys: A Woman’s Book of Daily Prayer by Jan L. Richardson.  The Bible passage is from Exodus 15:19-21.

¹⁹When the horses of Pharaoh with his chariots and his chariot drivers went into the sea, the LORD brought back the waters of the sea upon them; but the Israelites walked through the sea on dry ground. ²⁰Then the prophet Miriam, Aaron’s sister, took a tambourine in her hand; and all the women went out after her with tambourines and with dancing. ²¹And Miriam sang to them: ‘Sing to the LORD, for he has triumphed gloriously; horse and rider he has thrown into the sea.’

The reflection highlighted that while Miriam was rejoicing the women on the other side of the sea were weeping – these are the women whose husbands, brothers, and sons were chariot drivers for Pharaoh and were killed during this event.  The question from this reflection asked:

How will it become possible for us to share a common vision of freedom – one in which all may live?

Before reading this reflection, I had never once thought about people left behind on the other side.  This question gave me a lot of food for thought.  Americans often use the term freedom so loosely, but do we stop to think about other people or countries we’re affecting by our so-called freedom? At what expense are we claiming our freedom?  Is it freedom if we’re destroying land or communities?  If we do want a vision of freedom where all can live, does it mean we all must sacrifice?  What type of sacrifices?  Individualism?  Materialism?  As you can see this simple question has got my mind whirling - I don’t have the answers, but I think it’s a worthy topic to discuss at greater length!