Throughout the Old and New Testaments we find the good news that God creates us for freedom and works that we might be free. And yet over and over in scripture and in our own lives the choices people make continue to enslave them.

My own understanding of Jesus includes a sense of the amazing freedom that he brings to my life and the amazing freedom that he offers to all people. In Christ we are not confined to old structures and old strictures.

At its heart, the way of the United Church of Christ is a way of freedom. In our congregation and in our own lives we are set free to test limits, to move in directions not defined by the past.

Still, individuals, nations, congregations find freedom difficult. People and institutions readily take on new masters and serve false gods.

Listen to the elders as they come to Samuel. They want someone other than God to be their sovereign.

For the most part, things have been going pretty well. Since the death of Eli, the priest whose rotten sons were abusing the power they had, Samuel has been a judge over Israel. And Samuel was known for his fairness toward the people and his faithfulness toward God.

But Samuel's sons are really no better than the sons of Eli. They take bribes and pervert justice.

So the elders come to Samuel and say, “Look, you are old. Your sons are no good. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to see that this whole country is going to be in trouble as soon as you die. Who will take care of us?

“And,” they continue, “don't give us any of that ‘God will provide’ stuff. Instead, give us a king. Then we'll be safe and secure like the other nations.”

The elders think they are just looking out for themselves. And there's nothing wrong with that.

How, after all, do you order public power and guard the public well being in a community where the leadership tends to pervert power and well-being? Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely we are told.

There’s nothing wrong with the search for public well being. We know how much people want safety and security. But we have seen again in our own recent history the dangerous extremes to which we will go in pursuit of those goals. Yes, we’ve heard Benjamin Franklin’s opinion that those who would sacrifice liberty for security deserve neither liberty nor security. Most people have not really listened, however.

A king seems to be a good idea to the elders of Israel. A king could keep people in line. A king could fight battles for the people.

Human beings will always want someone other than God as their ruler. This is a blessing and a curse. It is a curse because we always turn from the source of our happiness toward things that will not please. But this is a blessing, too, because it calls us to be responsible in the public sphere of life. Since a theocracy is not possible, we need to find another way of ordering our common life.

The problem is, in asking for a king, the people are still avoiding responsibility for themselves. It will be a king—not the people—who will rule. It will be a king—not the people—who will fight. Or at least that's how they see it.

Like everyone else throughout history, the elders want someone other than God as their sovereign.

Listen to the elders. They’re ready to move in a new direction, they don’t want to be limited by the way things have been.

A king would be nice.

None of this sits well with Samuel.

He hears the request and runs off to God. Samuel is one of those people who are always ready to protect God.

“Can you believe what they're asking for? A king! I won't hear of it.”

To which God responds: “Listen. Listen to the voice of the people and all that they say to you.”

One of the jobs of a leader is to listen—even when what is said isn’t what you want to hear. A leader doesn’t have to anxiously respond to every report. But good leaders listen.

Samuel is told that protecting God isn’t his job.

His job is to listen.

His job is also to warn the people.

Warn them because what they want is going to be dangerous.

Warn them because novelty alone is not a reason to pursue something.

Warn them because a leader is often called on to speak the unwelcome word.

“Don't take it personally,” God says. “The people aren’t rejecting you. They’re rejecting me. And it’s nothing new. They rejected me when I brought them out of slavery in Egypt. Life didn’t get better right away so they thought other gods might be more helpful.”

The history of God and humankind is a history of rejection. Disciples running from Jesus when it became clear that God with us meant God suffering and dying as we do. Our own rejection of the love of God, preferring guilt to forgiveness.

Here’s the amazing thing: the rejected God is a God who still accepts us. The rejected God still cares for the people. The rejected God tells the prophet not to condemn the people but to warn them. “Show them the ways of the king,” God says.

How remarkable that God does not argue, does not rage, does not retaliate. When we turn against God, God still turns toward us.

Warn the people about the ways of the king.

The people are asking for a king because all the other nations have one. We can imagine Samuel responding like the parent whose teenager says “Everybody's doing it.”

“If the Assyrians were jumping off a bridge, would you do that?”

Samuel warns. These will be the ways of the king you want. Summed up in three words: “He will take.” He will take your sons and daughters, the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards, one-tenth of your grain, your slaves, your cattle, your flocks. Samuel says, “If you think my sons are bad, wait ‘til you see your king.”

The king will take.

And you shall be his slaves. Is this what you want? A people set free by God are heading straight into slavery because of their desire to be like everyone else.

God is willing to let Israel choose. And then Israel must live with its choice.

Out of a love for our created freedom, God is willing to let us choose. And we, too, must live with those choices.

There is a certain wistfulness and deep sadness here. Something precious is being forfeited and the people don't even seem to notice.

Samuel was told to listen to the people and then to speak. But it seems as if none of the elders heard a word.

That's all very nice, the people respond to Samuel's warning. Now would you please give us a king? One who will go before us and fight our battles.

They are ready to give up their freedom. They are ready to do one of the most paralyzing things anyone can do—let someone else do it.

Too often, when people seek the common good their focus is on taking responsibility for others; or the focus is on trying to make other people act responsibly. We often fail to simply take responsibility for ourselves, for our faith, for our actions, our commitments—and then live responsibly toward others.

A nation cannot follow God. A nation cannot be led by God. We tremble at Islamic fundamentalists and Christians on the left and the right who would impose their versions of God’s will on all people. A nation cannot be led by God, but individuals can be responsible before God as they live their public lives.

Even though Samuel is still opposed to the idea, let alone the reality, of a king, God says: “Go ahead.” Listen to their voice. The people desire this. It’s their choice. They have been warned. Now set a king over them.

Samuel will eventually do this. But for now, like so many who know better than God, Samuel recommends a different course. He tells the people: Return home.

Is it possible to trust this strange God who offers freedom instead of bondage?

Samuel abruptly cuts off the discussion. Where will this desire for a king lead? When the monarchy fails, what future will there be?

Living as free men and women before God there might be times when we seem unfaithful, when others will stand ready to condemn. There might be times when we will fail miserably. But God will not cut us off.

Even Samuel, as faithful as he was, could not see that God would redeem the failings of Israel, would continue to keep the people of the covenant in God's love. We can trust in that love as we continue to live in that tension of freedom and faithfulness.

In a free nation, the right to make decisions for oneself must be guarded. In a church like ours, with a tradition that affirms the right of individual conscience before God, we must continue to seek and use the freedom we have.

In our congregation and in our own lives we are set free to test limits, to move in directions not defined by the past. We can question old ways and try new paths, seeking the good in ways that are limited only by our love for God and our love for one another.

This is the freedom for which Christ set us free—the freedom to love one another as we have been loved, to choose the way of kindness, generosity, and faithfulness.

This is how we have conceived our freedom within the United Church of Christ. It is the freedom to obey the only One who deserves to be obeyed; freedom to be open as a congregation to the working of the Spirit of God; freedom to know and feel the power of that Spirit.

Our freedom is grounded in the crucified and risen Christ.[1] It is the freedom of the spirit that seeks out the freedom of the whole person—body, mind, and soul. And it is a freedom that seeks out the freedom of all people.

An old prayer speaks of God “in whose service is perfect freedom.” There is a paradox here, for we wonder how service can be freedom. This prayer suggests, I think, that to obey, to follow the God who is Love, the God who above all else wishes us well, leaves us the freedom to be the best and gladdest that we have it in us to become. The only freedom Love denies us is the freedom to destroy ourselves.[2]

Take responsibility for your freedom to pursue that toward which freedom leads: fellowship with self, fellowship with God, fellowship with neighbor. Stand fast, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.