Galatians: For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.
Today was May Day, the day we celebrate workers. In Europe, it's a bank holiday. We also celebrate Mary in the month of May.
I remember making May baskets when I was young. When the children were younger, we made May baskets with flowers and candy and secretly delivered them throughout our neighborhood. If it was a school day, I'd wake them extra early and we'd deliver the baskets, go out for breakfast, and then they'd go to school. If I was a really great mom, I'd send them May baskets, but now I just do it through text.
In high school, we held ribbons attached to a Maypole and wove our way around it until we got to the center. There was also May crowning where a floral crown was placed upon Mater's head.
May is the time of new birth. As Paul says in Galatians, Christ came to set us free. The Israelites were enslaved in Egypt, freed with the help of God and Moses, yet complained that life was better in Egypt. Because of their complaining, they continued in the desert for another forty years or another generation.
Let's say we finally kick an addiction, and the opportunity arises when we can't handle the pressure, and give in to temptation. Addiction is the yoke of slavery. Through Jesus' help, we can free ourselves from addiction.
What are the areas of your life where you need freedom?
May 1
Matthew: When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him.
Mark: They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes.
Luke: Once while Jesus was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret, and the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God,
John: After this there was a festival of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
Acts: But a man named Ananias, with the consent of his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property;
Romans: Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
1 Corinthians: It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not found even among pagans; for a man is living with his father’s wife.
2 Corinthians: For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
Galatians: For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.
Ephesians: Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children,
1 Thessalonians: Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers and sisters, you do not need to have anything written to you.
1 Timothy: Do not speak harshly to an older man, but speak to him as to a father, to younger men as brothers,
Hebrews: Every high priest chosen from among mortals is put in charge of things pertaining to God on their behalf, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins.
James: Come now, you rich people, weep and wail for the miseries that are coming to you.
1 Peter: Now as an elder myself and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as one who shares in the glory to be revealed, I exhort the elders among you
1 John: Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the parent loves the child.
Revelation: Then I saw in the right hand of the one seated on the throne a scroll written on the inside and on the back, sealed with seven seals;