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“Most merciful God, we confess that we are captive to sin and cannot free ourselves,” I say aloud with my worshipping community. Do we hear ourselves? We confess that we are not suffering from a single, temporary mistake, or even a series of mistakes that we can control. We are living in captivity – in bondage – to sin and can not free ourselves. This is not a one-off situation. Captivity is systemic.

Systemic change is hard. Living in captivity fools us into a false sense of security and control. And who really feels loved when they must maintain a front? We miss out on the deeper experience of love that God makes available to us through our vulnerability.

When something is systemic, we can’t liberate ourselves. God’s love and justice free us, giving us room and permission to delight in the gifts of vulnerability, authenticity, service and God’s unconditional love.

This message is excerpted from “Just freedom” by Elizabeth Hunter in the June 2021 Gather magazine.