— Midweek Meditations:
thoughts, inspiration and encouragement
from ACF community members —
Sometimes at home and particularly in my role as a mother, we discuss the meaning of the powerful verse from John (John 8:31-32): “The Truth will set us free”.
I am aware that this statement is common in academic circles promoting the pedagogical freedom and the power of education. It is so powerful that many universities globally, put the statement on the front door just as we find it on the entrance of one of the most important buildings at our University of Freiburg opposite to the university library. “Die Warheit wird euch frei machen”.
Perhaps, as I am working in public health and we -unfortunately – have only negative indicators to measure “good health” such as the number of diseases (morbidity) or the number of deaths (mortality), I am also tempted to explain to my daughter that the statement from John means to avoid lies or hiding information instead of saying the truth in our lives to preserve the most important principle in any relationship: The Trust … in our spouse… our children… our colleagues… our communities… I am convinced that without trust, we cannot start any partnership or alliance personal or professional … and loosing trust, could damage any relationship… with often disastrous results.
From the life of Jesus, we can learn: his teaching… his words… following the scriptures… being obedient… being honest… trust … truth … freedom. Without truth, freedom is impossible. A truthful person will be a free person.
Today, I would like to reflect on some concrete examples from my own experience…
Many years ago, a close “stable” married couple in my city in Colombia got divorced … the reason: the wife was emotionally “imprisoned” (i.e. she was not “free”) and told her husband about an affair she had at the beginning of their marriage when she was very young… I could image her desire to be honest with her husband … the agony living together hiding information and, in the end, the sad consequence of being open and feel free. This could be the topic for another meditation but today, I would like to focus that she did not feel “free” until she told her husband the “truth”.
Some of you know that one of my professional passions is the evaluation of health projects or programmes… for evaluating the success (or failure) of projects, we mainly define indicators at the beginning of initiating the activities.
Here, my attempt to quantify the verse from John with some concrete indicators to measure “truthful couples” in a marriage:
- Do I have a password in my mobile to keep information away from my spouse? do I share the password with her/him?
- Do I have a common bank account with my spouse to be transparent about my financial income?
- Do I make personal or professional decisions involving my spouse? Or I just inform her/him when the decision has been taken?
- Do I admit when I make mistakes or I show a defensive attitude? Playing a victim role? do I get angry? Instead of saying sorry for my own error/fault
- Do I pay attention and listen to the challenges experienced by your spouse during the day? Or I am simply too busy with my own projects and personal priorities and have time for her/him.
- Do I always give instructions to the problems experienced by my spouse? or I listen and offer help to solve the challenges.
- When trying to spend some familiar time, do I mainly ask questions? Or I exchange pleasant and enjoyable information
- Do I feel that I am an expert in every aspect of life (i.e. superiority) and have difficulties to acknowledge or recognize the success or your spouse?
I would like to finish my mediation with some recommendations … I am aware that I am not a psychologist but I perceive that these suggestions are grounded in the scriptures…
To improve truth/trust making us free:
- We need to be open to change and talk honestly
- We sometimes need to accept professional help
- We need to listen and learn from other perspectives
- We should not make judgments
- We need to set and accomplish commitments
The fundamental recommendation is: we need to accept that we all need to improve and to work in our marriage if it is important to us… we cannot keep finding excuses and blaming always our spouse!
I would like to finish again with John (1 John, 3:18) “Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth” …
Pope Francisco said: “Coherence in life, between Faith and Testimony, this is not so much for what we say, but for what we do”.
The ACF Midweek Meditations
are written by a diverse group of our church members with the intention to seek God’s fingerprints in our lives. They range from somber to humorous and are inspired by all facets of live and faith. Written by ordinary people from all walks of life, they reflect a wide range of Christian backgrounds and spiritualities.
Each week’s text portrays the individual viewpoint of its author. They might not always resonate with everyone, and are not meant to be understood as representing the Anglican Church Freiburg as a whole. Yet, as a church that is aiming to ‘Build a Community of Grace’ we seek to practice learning from and listening to one another.
We pray that these humble ponderings add a small spark of blessing to your week.
Freiburg Anglican Church 