St. Luke’s Episcopal Church / Prescott
Sermon: 4th of July 09
The Rev. Mark Moline, Rector
In our lesson from Hebrews we read, “By faith he stayed for a time in the land he had been promised, as in a foreign land, living in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he looked forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.” Like Abraham, Isaac & Jacob, we live our lives in faith looking forward to that promise – that City built by God. We are on a faith pilgrimage here, but we are called to be more than mere travelers; we are not just passing through. Like Abraham, we are called to stay here for a time. We are called to faith for the journey itself as well as faith in the promised destination.
We are called to faith through Christ in self, faith in family, in friends, faith in community, and during this Independence Day celebration, we are indeed called to faith in our blessed nation. Now, I know that being a good Christian and being a good American are not one in the same. I do not equate national patriotism to Christianity. Christ on the Cross is not our National Emblem – any more than the Stars and Stripes represent Christ. But of course neither of these concepts precludes the other – for both concepts involve FAITH!
President Lyndon Johnson said, “This, then, is the state of the union: free and restless, growing and full of hope. So it was in the beginning. So it shall always be, while God is willing, and we are strong enough to keep the faith.”
In one sentence, President Johnson correlates our faith in our nation with its strength and vitality, and then subjects all three to the will of almighty God. He equates national strength with personal faith in the nation, and his words echo down to us as a warning to remain strong in faith in our nation, for our nation’s sake.
I think it is interesting to note that while others may take away our freedom (or at least try to); no one can ever take away our faith. We can lose it, we can just give up, and we can choose cynicism over hope. Or we can proclaim our faith, share our faith and live out our faith. Faith, even faith in our nation, is a matter of the heart, not the mind. Like our nation, our faith in it, is a gift from God, placed in our care to do with as we choose.
I love Johnson’s choice of words here, – I think they capture a bit of the excitement of the sixties. He didn’t say the state of the Union was perfection – he said it was free and restless, growing and full of hope. The restlessness, the growth and the hope or the faith all demanded the freedom. The question for us is, do they still demand freedom today?
Others may try to take our freedom and are probably doing just that. Perhaps I’m paranoid, perhaps this sounds trivial — but I can remember a time when we could drive down the Highway and see the face of a highway patrolman, a real person, a friend who was looking out for our safety and at the same time a solemn reminder to drive safely and thus respect others and their safety and their freedom. Now, we drive down the Highway and see the dark glass of a computerized camera lens trained on our face. Now the accuser we face in court has a chip instead of a heart. Metal alloy instead of flesh and blood. We’ve traded safety for revenue enhancement – Justice for bureaucratic convenience – Freedom for Oppression.
I do think we are experiencing an erosion of our freedom, and of course heavy-handed “photo-enforcement” is just one small part of a larger trend. I’m not getting political here. I think this erosion has been going on for many years and many administrations from both parties. I don’t think it is either deliberate or a conspiracy; I do think it is slow, steady, subtle and persistent. I do think it is arrogant and ultimately destructive. I think it is very real and I think we need to resist it. And it seems to me one of the best means of resisting this slow national demise is to simply keep the faith. As the president said, “As long as God is willing, and we are strong enough to keep the faith.” We need to believe in our nation for our freedom is in the balance.
During this celebration of national independence, let us keep the faith by remembering and celebrating the greatness of our freedom, and the achievements of this free nation. We are not a perfect nation – anyone can find fault – We have freedom of speech, let’s use it — it is OK to find fault and it is so easy. However, someone needs to keep the faith, or we will lose our freedom and thus no longer be free to find fault. I believe we can resist the erosion of our freedom with our faith.
We have used our freedom to accomplish so much. In the year 2000, The Brookings Institute gathered 450 history and political science teachers, and had them compile and rank our nation’s 50 greatest achievements in the preceding 50 years. While it certainly wasn’t true scientific research, and some of the items on the list remain quite controversial, still, by and large this list of achievements is nothing less than amazing. Based on what we have accomplished for the world – we are a great nation. We can be proud.
Well, I don’t have time to get into the particulars of this list of grand and glorious achievements. But, we have done so much as a free people for people; we can each take pride in America on this 4th of July. However, even more crucial than our pride, we can still have faith in America, for America is still the land of the free and the home of the brave.
