"Encourage one another and build each other up" (1 Thess. 5:11, NIV).

This coming Halloween will mark the 490th anniversary of the day when Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses to the Castle Church door in Wittenberg, Germany. That event is typically considered the beginning of the Protestant Reformation, a huge religious, social, and political movement that would end up rocking the world from the tip of South America to the northern coasts of Japan. What Martin Luther set the fuse to nearly five centuries ago amounted to nothing less than a global tsunami that changed the course of history. So trying to summarize what the Reformation was all about is no small task, but I think I'm on pretty solid ground in saying that Luther and his fellow reformers ushered into the world a new understanding of freedom. Maybe it's not as famous as the 95 Theses, but one of Luther's most important writings was titled "The Freedom of a Christian," in which Luther argued that real, true, authentic life is not finally about rules, requirements, and have-to's, but it's about freedom: freedom to love, to serve, to reach out beyond ourselves. It's a very big idea.

For most people today, the Reformation is ancient history, but the idea of freedom is still a very hot topic. I suspect that one reason Harley-Davidson is selling so many motorcycles is that people associate those big, loud, expensive bikes with freedom - you know, the open road, the wind in your hair, the bugs in your teeth. And why else would Americans waste billions of dollars every year on lottery tickets and game cards except in the vain hope that one big jackpot can buy you the freedom we all dream of? I think the idea of freedom is, in some form or fashion, tied up in virtually every big issue facing us today, from national security to universal health care to global climate change.

But for all our pursuit of freedom, what is it? Is it something you can buy? Is that what money finally gets you? Is it being able to do whatever you want whenever you want to do it? Does it mean not ever having to answer to anybody but yourself? Or is freedom just another word for nothing left to lose?

As I read the gospels and the other New Testament witnesses to Christ, I'm convinced that Jesus was the freest man that's ever walked this great green earth. The irony of that statement is that Jesus wasn't exactly born in the land of the free and the home of the brave. He was born into very humble, if not impoverished circumstances. He grew up in a highly rigid, tightly scripted culture. He lived and died in the grip of foreign occupiers whose control over state and Temple was absolute. And yet this same Jesus lived the most free, unfettered life of any man in human history. Of course, you might say, "Well, certainly he was free. He had all those miraculous powers. He could walk on water and raise the dead. I'd be free, too, if I could do those things." But Jesus never used those powers for himself or to assert his freedom. Rather, the way we see Jesus really living free is in the relationships into which he freely entered.

Think about this for a moment: Did Jesus ever know a stranger? Just think about the vast array of people we see Jesus meeting, greeting, and often healing in the gospels. From the Samaritan woman at the well to the despised tax collector in his toll booth, Jesus was constantly crossing all sorts of social barriers. He dined in the homes of the rich and of the poor; he healed both Jew and Gentile; he had mercy on male and female alike; he made friends among the righteous and the unrighteous. And for every barrier he crossed, there was, of course, a taboo. Don't speak to women; don't touch a leper; don't eat with sinners; don't associate with the Roman occupiers and/or their stooges. But wherever Jesus went, those walls of separation came tumbling down in acts of love and deeds of mercy that not only demonstrated Jesus' freedom, but also made others free to love and bless as Jesus had loved and blessed them.

Growing in Christ can take many shapes and expressions. There's growing in God's Word. There's growing in prayer. There's growing in service and devotion. But in the final analysis, all Christian growth really comes down to growing in Christian freedom. As Paul so famously wrote in Galatians 5:1, it's for freedom that Christ has set us free, and the way we most truly exercise that freedom is in our relationships with others, both inside and outside the Body of Christ. Jesus Christ did not die and rise to the Father's right hand for us to live in shallow, superficial relationships that never get beyond the "hi, how are you" stage. Neither did Christ go to his cross for us to live in little ghettoes of our own making, closed in on ourselves, fearful and suspicious of others. If you ask me, the real historical proof of the resurrection is not just the empty tomb and the folded grave cloths, but rather, the way Jesus' disciples were freed and empowered to go to the ends of the earth with the one message of freedom that continues to turn this world upside down.

Remember going to your first dance, and remember that dead space in the center of the room - the girls on one side, the boys on the other, staring across the emptiness, scared, nervous, unsure and uncertain. I sometimes wonder if we ever completely outgrow that fear and awkwardness. Maybe we learn how to ask for a dance or a date, but I'm not sure we ever totally get past the apprehension that locks us up and keeps us from relating beyond just the trivial and the trifling. But here's another place where we can help one another and really grow better together.

Now this might sound very surface-y and not a little cliché, but one way we can encourage one another to grow is simply to smile. I'm not talking about plastering a stupid grin on your face 24/7, but I am talking about just trying to be more conscious of keeping a pleasant expression and demeanor about you. Over the years I've gone to I-don't-know-how-many Christian assemblies, conferences, and rallies, and so often at these gatherings I see Christians walking around with these hard, stony expressions on their faces. I know they've got the love of Jesus in their hearts, but on their faces all you see is the wrath of God. You know what I'm talking about. They walk past you without ever making any eye contact, much less even a hi-how-are-you. I know there are a lot of very depressed people in the world, and I know (believe me, I know!) how you can get lost in your own little universe, but I also know how fear and inner pain can turn the miracle of a human face into a piece of stone. The amazing thing is that just a simple, well-placed smile can shatter that rock and maybe free that other person to return the favor to somebody else.

Now maybe you're momma told you not to talk to strangers, or make eye contact or smile at them, either. But just think if Jesus had taken that approach. Huh? You see, there's so much discouragement in the world (so much mind-numbing, soul-deadening discouragement!) that it's absolutely heart-breaking. But when we encourage one another, with our smiles, and compliments, and affirmations, we push back against the darkness. We free one another up to grow past old hurts. We free one another to grow beyond our fears. We free one another to grow into new relationships that reach new people with the renewing love of Jesus Christ.

This week's devotional readings from "Better Together" highlight the power we've been given through Christ to grow. From the gift of focused attention to the blessing of forgiveness, we grow together into the freedom won for us by Christ himself, "until," writes Paul, "all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ" (Ephesians 4: 13, NRSV).

In the Name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.