by Pastor Douglas Brauner

“Absolute freedom is absolute nonsense!” Richard Foster

I never thought that I’d pastor a church that would close its doors for eight weeks. It’s a new day, a different world in which we live because of a virus.

The day is coming when things will get back to “normal.” We’ll once again haul our kids to soccer matches, watch Mike Trout hit towering home runs, and gather for worship, at least this is my hope.

Whenever that day comes and whatever it looks like is not the reason for my musings. I want to engage you in thinking about limitations and finding freedom within those limitations.

When the coronavirus was still confined to China, before it migrated to the United States, I planned a photography project that would force me to deal with limitations. I call this project, 1 Camera, 1 Lens, 1 Film, 1 Block. Once a month I head to downtown Colorado Springs with the same camera, mounted with the same lens, and loaded with the same type of film to take pictures of one square block.

I started this photography project on New Year’s Day. It was a bright, semi-warm beginning to 2020. I was nervous. The camera I chose is a rather larger camera. There was no hiding the fact that I was out to take pictures.

Stay with me. There’s a reason I’m sharing all this with you.

The camera takes only twelve pictures per roll of film. Perfect! I could take three pictures on each of the four streets of the city block. (Wait a second, that’s another limitation.) And that’s not all. I also made the decision that I had to take all the pictures from the sidewalk, no wandering down alleys or stepping off the curb into the street.

I chose to use black and white film, my favorite at the moment, however, it was a film that I had never shot before, Japan Camera Hunter Streetpan 400 (just wanting to show off a bit). I didn’t stick with the old tried and true Kodak Tri-X 400 which I dearly love. I didn’t go with Ilford HP5, a reliable film shot by many photographers.

I have to think in black and white to shoot this film effectively.

This photography project is a journey rather than a destination. I don’t know where it is taking me, but I love the journey and I’m discovering a tremendous amount of freedom I have within those limitations.

That’s why I’m writing this blog. I’m growing to love accepting my limitations and embracing the freedom that I have within limits.

I have the freedom to choose my subject matter which has not always been easy, especially on Cascade Avenue. I have the freedom to compose each shot the way that I want to compose it. I have the freedom to make mistakes. I have the freedom to ask people if they wouldn’t mind if I take their pictures as I engage them in conversation. I have the freedom to develop the film anyway I want to develop it.

That’s freedom within limitations.

This is how I’m approaching the coronavirus pandemic. Yes, our church doors are shut. Yes, I can’t watch NASCAR. Yes, I can’t take Janice out for a nice dinner. These limitations are real and they affect my daily life, however, there is still freedom within these limitations.

I can choose to walk the dog.

I can choose to have meaningful conversation with my wife and others even if it’s on the phone.

Speaking of phones, I can choose to use my cellphone as a phone, not only as a camera or game console.

I can pray.

I can read Scripture

I can….

I’m not saying that we have to like the limitations placed on us, but we have choices. We can grumble and complain or we can adjust our lives and embrace the freedom that we have to make choices that might even positively change the direction of our lives.

I agree with Richard Foster, “Absolute freedom is absolute nonsense.” Maybe that’s a lesson we can learn in this crisis. In human terms, our freedom in Christ is not absolute freedom. It comes with chains. The apostle Paul referred to himself as Christ’s slave. By our baptism into Christ we wear the same chains, chains that ironically set us free from sin, death and the devil, a freedom to live differently.

In the same way that there is freedom in my chains to one camera, lens, film and block, our chains to Christ set us free to love God and love our neighbors. There is a world waiting to be discovered within this freedom.

Copyright Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado.