Year B Independence Day Observed 2024

 Year B Independence Day (Observed), 7 July 2024

St. James the Less Episcopal, Ashland, VA

“A Nation of Faith”

Collect: Lord God Almighty, in whose Name the founders of this country won liberty for themselves and for us, and lit the torch of freedom for nations then unborn: Grant that we and all the people of this land may have grace to maintain our liberties in righteousness and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Hebrews 11:8-16

By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to set out for a place that he was to receive as an inheritance; and he set out, not knowing where he was going. 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. By faith he received power of procreation, even though he was too old-- and Sarah herself was barren-- because he considered him faithful who had promised. Therefore from one person, and this one as good as dead, descendants were born, “as many as the stars of heaven and as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.”

All of these died in faith without having received the promises, but from a distance they saw and greeted them. They confessed that they were strangers and foreigners on the earth, for people who speak in this way make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of the land that they had left behind, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; indeed, he has prepared a city for them.

Matthew 5:43-48

Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

Good morning, friends. It is good to be home. It was a blink and an eternity, and it is done. I tried to learn some Spanish, and learned I do not learn as quickly as I used to when I was last in school. Alas. But I learned a different way of doing things and being, and for that I am thankful. My family and I relaxed and traveled together before college pushes us in different directions starting this fall, and for that I am immensely thankful. It was a privilege and a gift that I appreciate more than I can say. I will be sharing more in the coming days, and have another third of my sabbatical to go, coming up in 5 weeks. More to learn and more to see. 

It is a bit surreal after having been out of the country almost three months to get home and be focused on our nation with the Independence Day festivities. The dichotomy is like throwing it in reverse on the interstate. But also, in a way it gives clarity.

I love our country and the privileges that it affords its citizens, freedoms and securities that are the envy of the world. Being somewhere many would risk everything to have makes it seem all the more precious.

In the days before my return I was aghast that some states have decided to require that the 10 Commandments are required to be posted in school classrooms. That is far from the separation of Church & State that Jefferson alluded to and has been the thought and practice of our country (mostly) since its inception.

I do not want to have the 10 commandments on classroom walls because I do not trust the state to train up my children and our children collectively in our beliefs, and our interpretation, our hermeneutic to use the fancy word. One reason we have so many churches and denominations is that each has its own slant and understanding on reading, learning, and sharing God’s word. I celebrate the 10 Commandments being posted. I love that they are right there. But this is a church. It is a part of our identity. And I heard one comedian bring up the fact that trying to explain “Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery” hurts more than helps on a Kindergarten wall.

Our signers of the declaration of Independence which started this noble experiment we call the United States of America were an eclectic bunch, men of many different religious backgrounds and beliefs. Most were lawyers, merchants, and plantation owners. A couple were even ministers. The age that shaped these men was the Age of Enlightenment, and many were Deists or Unitarians. Deism is often described as seeing God as a Watchmaker who creates the Universe, winds it up, and lets it go. God pretty much follows a hands off policy. And Unitarianism dismisses the Trinitarian view of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit which is foundational to our creeds.

We are not and never have been a Christian nation, mostly in direct response to the United Kingdom where the monarch, be it King or Queen, is head of state and church both. We wanted to have a nation with Freedom of Religion. Freedom for Religion or Freedom from Religion. It was a freedom of conscience which they were fighting for, a freedom for the individual which they collectively fought for and were willing to die for.

But even here, while they did not agree on a religion to follow and swear their collective allegiance to, they were establishing and have handed on a nation based on faith.

Hear me closely, not a religious faith, but a common belief that Jefferson began his Declaration of Independence with these words:

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Now I call it a statement of Faith for that last sentence. “We hold these truths to be self-evident.” That is a belief they commonly held, that white, male land-owners were able to proclaim. In the centuries since, thankfully, that understanding has expanded and grown to mean the fullness of those words. That “all people” were given three gifts, gifts which I argue from the teaching of Jesus Christ himself, that everyone has a right to Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. It is from his ethical and moral teachings which even the Deists and Universalists would affirm, that these ideas spread and grew.

One can affirm and agree with Jesus of Nazareth without seeing him as Savior and Lord.

And these ideas which the Founders agreed on and made the foundation of their argument for the Birth of this nation make this nation a nation built on this belief, which makes this a nation built on faith. “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Our Founders could not see on this planet or in the states they represented this reality they could see in their mind. They wanted to, and they declared their independence and all of ours to do so. And for almost 250 years we have tried. And we continue to try.

In Costa Rica, where I have been the last three months, part of their constitution is that they are a Catholic nation. While having freedom of religion, they are committed in their founding documents to have an allegiance to the Roman Catholic church. That was always a looming spirit as I worshiped with our sister and brother Episcopalians. They have and always will maintain minority status in their country, a slight one at that.

I am glad that I have the Soul Liberty to choose to be what I choose to be. I am an Episcopalian by choice. I left the church of my youth because of Freedom of Conscience, and I choose to be in a church, specifically this church by a Freedom of Conscience.

I share in the Founders' understanding and statement of faith that all of us were made by God with the innate freedom to live, to have choice, and to have the ability to joyfully be who I was born to be. And I believe each and every one of us were given that same right and burden. Our responsibility is to live into these gifts, because we have been given these freedoms by a loving God and an accident of birth. Much of the world desires those things which we too often take for granted. Being out of the country has reminded me of that, if nothing else. Thanks be to God.

In our Hebrews reading we are in the midst of a litany of the faith of the patriarchs when the writer says this:

All of these died in faith without having received the promises, but from a distance they saw and greeted them. They confessed that they were strangers and foreigners on the earth, for people who speak in this way make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of the land that they had left behind, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country…

And there we have it. That is the outcome of Faith in whatever form it takes. We have to believe it, and be able to see it in our mind’s eye. And then we have to roll up our sleeves and make it a reality, even if we never live to see the promise fulfilled. Like Abraham, like Moses, like Jesus, we begin a process to fulfill that promised vision which may be beyond us in our lifetimes. Never forget, that wise ones plant trees under which they will never sit, or dig pools in which they will never swim.

This nation is a promised vision becoming, an unfinished symphony, a beacon pointing to a hungry and hurting world of what could be.

I claim these ideas in the freedom that Christ has given and generations of Americans have fought and died for me to have, for us all to have.

This year, of all years, our divisions have become a plague on both our houses. As we celebrate our Independence, let us also recognize and resolve our Interdependence. A story is told, perhaps apocryphally, that Benjamin Franklin joked after signing the Declaration of Independence, “We must all hang together, or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately.” And so it remains. As lovers of peace as Jesus has commended us to be, we must put the differences aside, and work and grow with all our brothers and sisters who “desire a better country.”

That is what is most important, that we all succeed and make it. God has blessed our nation, and may we continue to be a blessing to the world. Now will we? 

Amen