Melbourne Cup. Remembrance Day. Nauru.

All from this week. And all connected by an idea of freedom.

The Melbourne Cup: A nation stops while polite society gather for gambling, well-dressed drunkenness, the backstage thundering of horse while footy stars sniff cocaine, and tented animals are put down. Some freedoms are simply excess – another form of slavery. Genuine freedom has curbs – restraint on harm to self and others.

Remembrance Day: an ongoing reminder of the lack of freedom and peace across our world. Defence is a necessary bandaid. But power does not make freedom. Yet freedom is costly, and we take it for granted at our peril.

Nauru: And what is freedom for a child? Surely it is always the opposite of being detained by political action and then inaction. Surely it is not punitive. Surely it is not kids and families on Nauru.

Freedom’s a complex, tricky thing. It’s neither politically nor personally expedient. This week was also National Other’s Week. Love is other person centred. What freedoms will you relinquish for the sake of the other? What freedoms will you exercise for others?

St Paul’s Anglican Church meets on Sundays at 9am with kids church. All welcome.