withoutacitywall

As a child the romantic image of Jesus as a leader of men fighting for Freedom from the Roman occupiers was a powerful one, enforced by the music and songs we were taught as kids in church that illustrated his life. Born in a land that was also once routinely invaded, and where numerous heroes emerged to fight our invaders, I came from a tradition where you fought and died for the cause or when the cause itself died, you moved on to where Freedom lived, or at least where a sense of fairness prevailed. The words of the hymn There Is a Green Hill Far Away...etched its message into my heart as a boy that there was at least one other place that could be found, where one hero died for Freedom, and so when I was old enough, I left and went without the city wall to seek a special kind of Freedom where no man can interfere nor imprison me. And the search nears its' end.