大象传媒

From Paul Oxley, vicar of St Mark鈥檚 in Milton Keynes:听
Last week was a big one in the Oxley house. Mrs Oxley had decided that a week in a caravan over easter was the perfect opportunity for our girls to learn to ride bikes. Obviously I feared the inevitable back pain I鈥檇 endure as I ran alongside, holding their seat with enough strength to be reassuring with a simultaneously light grip promoting freedom and self-confidence. However, they mastered it super fast, and had a blast cruising round the caravans. My responsible eldest maintained a speed of 10 mph and gave way to pedestrians.听
Her younger sister is a loose canon who soon announced; 鈥淒ad, my friend Ruan can ride his bike with just one hand - I鈥檓 going to try that鈥濃��and before I could stop her, she buckled her helmet and left. Riding a bike brings a world of freedom and possibility. Cyclists can scale lung-busting hills. They can free-wheel along countryside roads, nip to the shops for sweets or offer 鈥榖ackies' to schoolmates! BUT, the freedom also brings potential peril.听
My girls can get further away from my watchful eye than before. They could crash. Their bike could be nicked. Honestly, nothing鈥檚 helped me understand God more than being a dad. Jesus consistently encouraged his followers to understand God鈥檚 character as that of a father. A father who, so the story goes, created a world and then handed over the keys, surrendering control and granting us freedom. We have the capacity to stroll into mosques, temples and churches and murder those who worship differently to us. We can burn the planet to enhance our own comfort and sneer at those who dare to question this wisdom.听
We can be cynical and closed and selfish. BUT. Freedom also means I can experience the exhilaration of creating peace, the joy of generosity, the wonder of creating something beautiful. I鈥檓 free to love enemies and destroy hate, and reject the rat-race of 鈥榤ore鈥� instead embracing the wide open spaces of contentment. I want my girls to embrace and enjoy their new freedom. I also want them to respect it and revere it. I want to live my life in a very similar way, just maybe without wearing reflective vests and cycle helmets the whole time.