Begin Your Celebration of Independence Day in Worship
Join us on the Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
July 4, 2010
For A Service Filled with Patriotic Songs and Prayers for our Nation
Pastor Boswell will preach on Hebrew 11:8-16, “A Bettter Country”
Hebrews 11:8-16
A Sermon Preached by the Reverend Dr. Howard W. Boswell, Jr.
Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, July 4, 2010
Kenmore Presbyterian Church
Kenmore, New York
The 28th President of the United States of America, Woodrow Wilson was the last of eight presidents from Virginia. I learned that fact in Virginia History, which was required in Seventh Grade when I grew up in that state. Later, I learned Wilson grew up in a Presbyterian manse. His father, Joseph Ruggles Wilson served as pastor in Staunton, Virginia.
So, it comes as no surprise to find a prayer by Wilson in our Book of Common Worship. “A Prayer for our Nation” begins in a very Presbyterian way. It acknowledges God’s sovereignty, “Almighty God, ruler of all the peoples of the earth.” It continues with a confession, “Forgive, we pray, our shortcomings as a nation.” Then, it prays for America’s leaders and her people, “Give wisdom to our counselors and steadfastness to our people.” It concludes by taking the long view, “And bring us at last to the fair city of peace, whose foundations are mercy, justice, and goodwill, and whose builder and maker you are.”
Wilson was not the first of our nation’s leaders to take “the long view.” In hot and humid Philadelphia in the summer of 1776, Thomas Jefferson took the long view when he wrote, “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.” Most of the signers took the long view, as they promised, “And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.”
Another hot and humid summer, in 1963, in Washington, D.C. the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. took the long view as he looked out from the Lincoln Memorial. He shared a dream, “deeply rooted in the American dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed—we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.” You’ve heard his word, punctuated by the chorus, “I have a dream…” And remember, o remember well, how Dr. King ended,
- With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day. This will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with new meaning—“my country ’tis of thee; sweet land of liberty; of thee I sing; land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim’s pride; from every mountain side, let freedom ring”—and if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.
Yet, Dr. King had another dream, a vision. Shortly before his death in 1968, he preached at Mason Temple in Memphis. Somehow, he knew what lay ahead and he said, “I’ve seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people will get to the Promised Land.” When Thomas Jefferson penned his famous words and the signers of the Declaration of Independence, it was far from certain whether they would succeed. I read a book by David McCullough, 1776, which suggest things went from bad to worse through that famous year.
In the musical 1776, General George Washington never appears on stage, but he sends reports to the Continental Congress, which leads one member to say, “Och, the man would depress a hyena.” One of my favorite scenes in the musical begins with Mr. Thompson, the clerk of the meeting, reading one of these letters. He sings,
“I have been in anticipation of receiving a reply
In response to my last fifteen dispatches.
Is anybody there? Does anybody care? Does anybody care?
It moves John Adams, played by William Daniels in the original stage production and the movie, to sing,
“Is anybody there? Does anybody care? Does anybody see what I see?
I see fireworks, I see the pageant and pomp and parade,
I hear the bells ringing out, I hear the cannons roar,
I see Americans – all Americans, free, forever more.
Nowadays, it’s easy to wonder, “Is anybody there? Does anybody care?” We live in a time when the dreams of people like Jefferson, Adams, and King seem deferred and long since exploded. We see the worst of what comes from the lack of commitment to a common vision of what America may be as we listen to the endless debate in Washington, on the airwaves, over the internet, which seem to celebrate the individual’s rights, rather than the public good. Yet, as citizens and as Christians, we cannot surrender the dream of those who’ve gone before us. We cannot submit to the cynicism so many seem to have. We cannot succumb to the incivility in which so many participate under the guise of practicing freedom of speech.
In the movie, National Treasure, treasure hunter, Benjamin Gates and his sidekick, Riley Poole stand before the Declaration of Independence at the National Archives. Gates says, “Of all the ideas that became the United States there’s a line here that stands at the heart of all the others.” He reads from the faded, fragile document that forms the framework of our freedom, “But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.” Then, he says with some sadness, “People don’t talk that way anymore.”
Perhaps, people don’t talk that way anymore. Maybe, many people in our country prefer sound bites and slogans. It could be some accept cynicism and incivility as part of our national life. Yet, you and I cannot join them, because we come from a long line of people who took the long view, like Woodrow Wilson. In his prayer, did you hear an echo of what we read in Hebrews 11:10? Remember how the author said of Abraham, “For he looked forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.” As Christians, you and I follow in the footsteps of forebears who died in faith, but did not make it to the Promised Land. Yet, they saw it from afar and welcomed it. Like them, we live as “strangers and foreigners on the earth, for people who speak in this way make it clear that they are seeking a homeland.” As Christians, we follow them and “desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one.” We live in hope that that God will not be ashamed to be called our God and we will enter a city God prepares for them.
As citizens, we need to talk in this way. As we journey towards Wilson’s “fair city of peace, whose foundations are mercy, justice, and goodwill,” we need to work to make this “a better country” as we pray that God’s kingdom will come on earth as in heaven. We need to hold our nation to the vision of all who took the long view and never gave up hope. We need to live, as one of our chief ends proclaims, as “the exhibition of the Kingdom of Heaven to the world.” As we come to this table today, let us commit ourselves anew to make America become a place where all may come and sit at the welcome table!
©2010 Howard W. Boswell, Jr.
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