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It strikes me that these words apply not to marriage or to human relationships like friendship, but also to how we might exercise our democratic right to vote in the forthcoming election.
Democracy is something we cherish highly in our free society though it is also often taken for granted. To get universal suffrage has cost a lot of people a great deal of energy, effort and, at times, persecution. Great Britain is a society which is regarded by many as one that is free and in which individuals can exercise that freedom without fear of imprisonment or persecution - something which cannot be said of every country on earth. However, freedom brings with it responsibility. In the world of ethics, having freedom of choice, action and speech must go hand in hand with protecting and respecting the freedom of others. A society in which a group of people pursue their own ends to the detriment of others leads to oppression and tyranny. There are may places in the world that this is true today and history can give us hard lessons from which to learn. Nazi Germany was one such society and there are disturbing trends in our present society which contain echoes of that ideology. Racial and ethnic cleansing were grist to the Nazi mill, leading to the persecution of Jews, Gypsies, Homosexuals and others who stood in the way. in the view of Nazism, of the 'pure race'. The BNP, for all its sudden attempt to be respectable, embodies in its ideology just those traits.
Having Freedom of Choice also means having responsibility for those who have not that choice - not because of political ideology - but because they are disadvantaged, poor and at the mercy of others who exploit them. The Fairtrade movement, of which St John's is a part, seeks to protect and help our brothers and sisters in the Third World who seek justice and fairness and a proper price for the goods they produce. Very soon we shall reach Christian Aid Week, when we focus our attention tot he World's poor. We have a responsibility to help them in a way which gives dignity and hope and a real choice of betterment.
Finally, freedom brings with it the responsibility to care deeply for each other. Every human being is made in God's image and is infinitely precious and equal to God. We must approach each other reverently and responsibly too. Democracy is nothing unless it is rooted in the Love of God.
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