Saturday Sermonette - A PIECE OF CONCRETE

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,
Because He has anointed Me
To preach the gospel to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty those who are oppressed;
19 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”
Luke 4:18-19

On a shelf in my china cabinet sits a small nondescript jar with a little chunk of concrete and a yellowing label. Back in 1990, I met a German couple touring the US. We developed a friendship and continued it through letters for a few years. You see, Gaby and Wolfgang had given my date and me that chunk of concrete--a piece of the Berlin Wall that they had chipped off the wall themselves the year before.

When that wall came down in 1989, it made world wide news. The wall had been built in 1961 to prevent the ever-increasing leak of East Berliners to West Berlin. When World War II ended, Germany was split in two. East Germany was under Communist control; the West was free. Over the years, the difference in economy between the East and West had become a huge, huge gap. The West prospered, the East was starving. Anyone trying to escape to the West was shot.

President Ronald Reagan made a famous speech asking Mr. Gorbachev, the Russian president, to tear down the wall. Gorbachev didn't. However, a while later he declared that citizens of East Germany could now freely apply for passports and visas. Thousands of people began to gather on the east side at the Berlin Gate. More than the guards could handle, so they opened the gates. People surged through, embracing friends and relatives they hadn't seen in almost 30 years. That began a two-day party of rejoicing.

So where am I going with this history lesson? Freedom is precious. It's human nature to kick against anything that tries to restrain us--and yet ... and yet.

Then we sometimes willingly offer ourselves to be captives to some awful thing. Drugs, alcohol, sex, cigarettes, riches. When those ugly things become our slavemasters, we cease to be in control of our lives. A wall has been built, and it will take an act of God to tear it down.

Ask, and receive. God is the giver.