D.H. Lawrence on Freedom in Christianity Today

By today's standards, Lady Chatterley's Lover might get little more than a PG-13 rating, but D.H. Lawrence raised a firestorm of protest when this was first published early in the 20th century. His short life focused on sensuality, and he was known for statements like "sex and beauty are inseparable." Thus, it was surprising indeed to find him quoted in a Christianity Today article, even if the title was "How to Teach Sex."

In Studies in Classic American Literature, Lawrence sets out his thoughts on freedom. No, he declares, the Pilgrims did not come to America for freedom of religion. Instead, they were like all the others who began to settle our country running from, not to. While his overall premise widely misses the mark, he did recognize something about our human condition that is too often missing, even in some of our most evangelical churches.

Men are less free than they imagine; ah, far less free. The freest are perhaps least free….Men are free when they are obeying some deep, inward voice of religious belief. Obeying from within. Men are free when they belong to a living, organic, believing community, active in fulfilling some unfulfilled, perhaps unrealized purpose. Not when they are escaping to some wild west…Men are not free when they are doing just what they like. The moment you can do just what you like, there is nothing you care about doing....Liberty in America has meant so far the breaking away from all dominion. The true liberty will only begin when Americans discover...the deepest whole self of man." (emphasis in original)

Sadly, it appears likely that Lawrence himself never discovered this true liberty. Still, his words are a reminder of the freedom that we have in Christ, through his grace alone. "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free," Paul says at the start of the fifth chapter of Galatians. "Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery." No more running after some elusive breaking away from dominion on our own, no more "doing just what they like" with the false sense that this is what freedom is all about. Instead, we can know with James that we will be blessed in all that we do when we look intently into the gospel of grace and the "perfect law that gives freedom." (James 1:25)

The Rootedness Needed for the Fruit of the Spirit

Jeremiah 17:7 But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him.
17:8 He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.”
17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? (NIV)

I am finding a great deal of wisdom in a book aptly titled, The Wisdom of Stability: Rooting Faith in Mobile Culture, and one segment stood out with great relevance this morning. Referencing Jeremiah 17:7-9, he notes that "we can bear fruit, even in times of spiritual drought." Then, however, the author (Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove) reminds us that Jeremiah does not stop with these words of comfort and assurance but instead moves immediately to the state of our deceitful hearts. Wilson-Hartgrove notes, "Whatever help we may be able to offer someone else, we cannot trust our own fruit to sustain us. Our vitality depends on a root system beneath the surface, tying us to one another and connecting us to the deeper waters of God's sustaining presence." (pp 144-145)

In our weekly women's Bible study, we have been moving through the various aspects of the fruit of the Spirit, and this reminder that "we cannot trust our own fruit to sustain us" is especially relevant. How often we live our "good Christian lives" by trying on our own to be more joyful and patient and "good" (whatever that may be!), forgetting that no tree exists by eating its own fruit. The Jeremiah passage puts the chronology in right order: the tree puts out its roots into the life-giving stream of the Spirit, and it is from there that its growth remains strong, its leaves are green, and the fruits--of the Spirit, not itself--can become manifest.

The other reminder from Wilson-Hartgrove is also good. The roots that we put down into God's spirit become intertwined and entangled with those of other believers and, in so doing, we are strengthened within the community of believers. Frequently cited but still worth mentioning, the ability of the California redwood stands to remain strong over centuries is a great illustration of how the Christian community of believers can grow together:

It might seem unintuitive that the redwood trees grow close together because being close together they have to fight for sunlight and other resources. But their intertwining roots grow interconnected and help the trees survive standing together. Additionally, these trees are adopted to surviving forest fires as their bark is extra thick. Sometimes the insides of the redwood trees are burned out, but the tree keeps growing because most of it is protected and survives. (http://www.hikingsanfrancisco.com/outdoors/redwood_trees.php)

On this day of worship, I need to remember both of these aspects, the need to draw deeply from the Spirit's sustenance and to do so intertwined with the lives and faith of the fellowship of believers all around me. Only in doing so can the fruit of the Spirit truly begin to manifest itself in my life.