A fiery, fateful meeting on March 23, 1775 at St. John's church in Richmond, Virginia, convened with one purpose: to align all thirteen colonies into war with  Great Britain. Imploring the delegates to take that step to freedom, Patrick Henry, once quoted as a Quaker in religion and a devil in politics, who successfully served the State of Virginia as governor for five terms, spoke in a voice that became louder and louder, stronger and stronger, passionate word upon passionate word, climaxing, ultimately, with this renowned ending, "Give me liberty, or give me death."

Moments prior to that famous ending, Patrick Henry said what I trust you will construct as a parallel between that church in Virginia and this one in Pennsylvania.   The following is a part of Henry's speech.

"They tell us, sir, that we are weak; unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger? Will it be the next week, or the next year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house? Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction? Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance by lying supinely on our backs and hugging the delusive phantom of hope, until our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot? Sir, we are not weak if we make a proper use of those means which a gracious God has placed in our power...There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations, and...the battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave."

The battle, ladies and gentlemen, rages on. The battle, First Congregational-UCC, is how we live our lives as cowards to Christ, or as those who, finally forging alliance and allegiance, seek liberation from sin and death.

On this Fourth of July, God has placed something in your power, the ability for you to be liberated, liberated from something that binds or shackles you, liberty from family stress, financial strife, or work or career-generated struggles. You may be seeking liberty from oppression, depression, or wounds—new or old—that leave a lasting, painful impression on your soul.  You may be seeking liberty from unhealthy eating habits, or an unhealthy relationship you feel you alone can no longer fix.

To be liberated, identify what is holding you, and what is holding you will find within yourself. In the freshness of the day, with the charge Christ commands in scripture, ask yourself, what is penning you in? Where is your struggle? What is containing you from being truly what God wants you to be?

What God wants you to be is a reconnected, recommitted disciple right along with those seventy we read about here in the Gospel of Luke. What God wants is for you to be liberated, or free. Yes, the God of unbinding love wants you to be free from anger, free from resentment, free from strife, free from struggle, free from inward hate and outward places like hell both within and around you. Yes, the God of unbinding love wants you to be free from worry, free from doubt, free from soul-filled pestilence and deeply rooted pain.  Yes, the God of unbinding love, through His son, wants you to be liberated.

Now how is that going to happen today? Our scripture here is loaded with instructions. Here are all of them. I counted nine. Here is number one. Pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest. Two: remember that I [Jesus] am sending you out as Lambs. Three: don't take any money with you, not even an extra pair of sandals. Four: don't stop to greet anyone on the road. I read that some family and friends will discourage you from being who God intends you to be. Five: whenever you enter into someone's home, first say, "May God's peace be on this house." Six: don't move around from home to home; stay in one place. Seven: don't hesitate to accept hospitality. Eight: eat whatever is set before you, which fortunately or unfortunately includes Slim Jim's which were mentioned during our Father's Day sermon. (All right, I added the Slim Jim part again today.) And finally, nine: if a town refuses to welcome you, go out into the streets and say, "We wipe even the dust of your town from our feet." 

I do hope you were paying attention because, whoops, I should have shared before that there will be a pop quiz at the end of this sermon. No, there isn't a pull-out quiz hidden in your bulletin, but there are three points I'd like to begin with now. Of this list that we have that seems both applicable and odd, what all of this means is that we are, after first giving prayer to God, to go forth into the world not of this world, as we talked about last week; we are to go forth into the world as lambs.

This is point one. Go forth as lambs. Ironic that it's the Fourth of July where military might is honored and Jesus' message is not to go forth lighting more cannons, but to love more hearts and to do so specifically as lambs.

Jesus, that radical leader who came not as king but as baby in a lowly manger, is was not (and is not) of this world. That's liberating! And he's telling you, from this list here, to go forth as lambs. He's telling us that when it comes to sharing Christ in your life, do not devour someone whole like a carnivore, instead, graze beside someone for awhile, and here all those food instructions come to light. Eat what is set out before you. Do not assault like a lion or the wolf mentioned; share your God with others and, in turn, their God with you.

Jesus is calling us and sending us, both the faithful and the fearful, out to be disciples, and discipleship is what we've been learning about specifically during the months of June and July. To be a disciple, hear Jesus' words again. Hang in there like a lamb that, coincidently, needs a very low fence to stay put, as any farmer will tell you. In other words, and these words paraphrase scripture, don't jump fences. Specifically, don't skip around from house to house. Be intentional with those with whom you spend your time, even—or maybe even especially—if they are different than you are.

The goal Jesus is asking us to achieve is point two, and that's make disciples. To make disciples, first, be one. To increase the number that is mentioned to 72 million—start here. Start with yourself. Liberate yourself enough to go and seek. Liberate your thinking enough to touch the lives of 72 people you can find, 72 people who need to hear from you, as you, in turn, hear from them. In other words, do you want to talk about independence? Real independence? Liberate yourself and someone else from spiritual oppression. To do so, here's point two again: to be a disciple, make disciples.

To be a disciple and to make disciples, you have all the protection you need. You have God. As we read in 10:6, when you share the message of Christ, the blessings will return to you. For many, sharing the message is tough, but just sitting here in church is not enough. The battle is on. The war rages, and you must go. Then the blessings will come. These blessings may not be what you expect. They may not even be something you're aware of or even appreciate, at least in this life, but there are blessings from God, when you, lamb, go forth.

Patrick Henry sought liberation for 13 colonies. Seek liberation for all here today who experience a God of love and of freedom.

To be liberated, bind yourself to Christ. And that is our third and final point. To be liberated, you must bind yourself to Christ and what he has for you.  It will not be easy all of the time. In the American Revolution, for example, 7,200 patriots were killed in battle. 8,200 were wounded. 10,000 died from disease and exposure, with nearly 3,000 deaths at Valley Forge alone. An additional 6,500 died in prison after being captured and 1,400 soldiers were listed as missing.

What about the fifty-six who signed the Declaration of Independence? Did they pay a price for their liberty? You, who bind yourself to Christ and what he has for you, decide. Of the fifty-six, five were captured and tortured by the British before they died; twelve had their homes ransacked and burned; two lost their sons in the Revolutionary Army. Nine of the fifty-six fought and died from war wounds.

Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships sunk by the British Navy. He sold his home and properties to pay his debts and died in poverty. At the battle of Yorktown, the British General Cornwallis had taken over Thomas Nelson's home for his headquarters. Nelson quietly ordered George Washington to open fire on his home. The home was destroyed and Nelson died bankrupt. The point from this is liberation is not easy. Nothing of worth is easy, but a life with Christ is worthwhile. So as a lamb sent forth to make disciples, be one with Christ and all he has for you.

I don't know what St. John's church in Richmond, Virginia, was like the day Patrick Henry gave his speech, but I can imagine.  I can imagine Patrick Henry, devoted to the cause of liberty as God is devoted to the cause of your liberty, was speaking to people with a passion as you have a passion, and that passion you have, that passion you feel in your bones, that passion that stirs your core, that passion that unites you one to another is this: in a world today that needs to be as liberated as it was in 1776, we have a choice. Bind yourself to Christ. No longer will it be, "Give me liberty, or give me death." It is give me liberty and give me breath. Give us the breath of God that falls on, and liberates, us.

Let us pray. Yes, God, give us liberty and give us breath...breath to stand, breath to live, breath to set ourselves and others free.