 The booklet "A Reflection on Freedom"
The author Kristina Post describes this book like this, in the foreword:
This is a book about freedom and our limitations. The idea for this book came to me after a conversation with a seventeen-year-old student, who just happened to be a Muslim. He had been warned by his imam about singing the Swedish Christmas hymn ”Nu tändas tusen juleljus” (“A thousand Yule-candles are lit”). It troubled him,
as he wanted to sing with the school choir in the Lucia procession, yet without doing anything wrong. This led us into a introspective talk about our concepts of God, our limits, and where God might be found. The conversation badgered me as something important, and soon this book took shape in my mind.
My starting point is that I’m a Christian. Jesus crossed limits all the time. What about us? What kind of boundaries do we need, and which are just expressions of our fear of the unknown? In our time, with over-the-border flows of refugees and transboundary issues of survival, such as our climate, it seems important to reflect upon in what ways we can step outside of our boxes in order to stretch out our hands to each other and let loose our innovative creativity. Our mutual problems will only be solved with mutual resolve.
The Christian faith is all about love and stretching out a hand to everyone, and for me, it is important to take this seriously. It has also led me to ponder, not only what I let myself be restricted by, but also about what restrictions people from other faith traditions might have. Honestly, I have to say that I don’t know. Like most people, I
have a set of prejudices and my own preconceptions as to what the aim is of other people’s religions. The only reasonable approach I can come up with, is that everyone of us has to take these questions to heart and give them some serious consideration.
What does our traditions and religious observances have to do with our relationship to God? Sometimes, the patterns seem to be more important than the contents. And all those who claim not to have any faith at all, still let themselves be formed by existing patterns and systems all around us. All of us, faith or not, have reason to consider which borders are vital to us and which ones only constrain and hamper us. What is true freedom, for real?
This book may constitute a base for conversations or personal reflections, as you so wish. A book which you may freely use at your discretion!
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She regards herself as a creative maniac, who rather likes to see possibilities instead of problems and problems as challenges, carrying an indomitable belief that love in the long run will overcome evil. A trusting relationship to God is her source of strength in life. |
