Pentecost 6B 2021

We Were Founded As A Nation Under God

Fr. Dale Matson

It is often said that we are a nation of laws. We often point to our constitution and bill of rights as our guarantees of freedom. We are not a nation of laws; we are one nation under God indivisible. Our government did not grant our freedoms to us. God granted our freedoms to us. Listen to a portion of our Declaration Of Independence on July 4th 1776. “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. --That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men; deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”   Our founding fathers were Christians. Listen to this prayer.

“Oh, eternal and everlasting God, direct my thoughts, words and work. Wash away my sins in the immaculate blood of the Lamb and purge my heart by Thy Holy Spirit. Daily, frame me more and more in the likeness of Thy son, Jesus Christ, that living in Thy fear, and dying in Thy favor, I may in thy appointed time obtain the resurrection of the justified unto eternal life. Bless, O Lord, the whole race of mankind and let the world be filled with the knowledge of Thee and Thy son, Jesus Christ. – This is a prayer of our first president George Washington. 

It seems only fitting that on Independence Weekend I would be discussing liberty. This is true in our national sense and it is true in a spiritual sense.

Much of our Old Testament is a remembering. It is God through the leaders and prophets reminding the people of their history, their destiny and their dependence on God. This is what we celebrate today also on Independence weekend.

We are told that we should embrace diversity and be tolerant of those who do not hold the same views. I don’t have problems with that as a Christian. The problem is that as a Christian, I am seeing an increasing lack of tolerance for Christian views. We are told that we are no longer a Christian nation yet many of our national songs are filled with a Christian message.

There has been an attempt at uncoupling God from our nation. Leaders say today that we are not a Christian nation but look at the lyrics of some of our national songs. The last verse in “My Country Tis of Thee” states, “Our father's God to, Thee, Author of liberty, To Thee we sing. Long may our land be bright with freedom's holy light; Protect us by Thy might, Great God, our King!”

Our Gradual hymn today is “Mansions of the Lord”. At president Ronald Reagan’s funeral, Mansions of the Lord was the Recessional hymn. The celebrant for the funeral, Reverend John Danforth was both a senator and an Anglican Priest.

We are governed by God on earth and in heaven both now and for eternity. You see, as Christian citizens, we are practicing for eternal citizenship in God’s Kingdom. 

At sporting events we only sing only the first verse of “The Star-Spangled Banner” that became our National Anthem. This is the final verse of our national anthem. “O, thus be it ever when freemen shall stand, between their lov'd homes and the war's desolation; Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the heav'n-rescued land Praise the Pow'r that hath made and preserv'd us a nation! Then conquer we must, when our cause is just, and this be our motto: "In God is our trust “And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!”

In the “Battle Hymn of the Republic” we hear this in the final verse, “In the beauty of the lilies, Christ was born across the Sea, with a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me; As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free, While God is marching on.” I was a member of the A-Capella choir that sang the Battle Hymn of the Republic at my High School graduation in 1962. 

The only true freedom is freedom under God. Apart from God we are slaves to sin, and Satan. As it states in our opening Collect, “Grant us, O Lord, we pray, the spirit to think and do always those things that are right, that we, who can-do no-good thing apart from you, may by you be enabled to live according to your will.”

An American athlete qualified in the hammer throw to represent the U.S. in the Olympics. She turned away from the American flag while the national anthem was being played. She said and I quote, "I feel like it was set up. I feel like they did that on purpose, and I was p****d, to be honest," she said of the anthem being played while she was on the podium. https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/28/sport/gwen-berry-us-olympic-trials-spt-intl/index.html

When I was in 6th grade, it was my job to hoist the flag at the beginning of the school day and bring it down at the end of the school day. We would fold it carefully into a triangle. The triangle represented the tricornered hats of the colonial soldiers who fought for our country’s independence. I would then give the flag to our school principal. If it accidently touched the ground it was supposed to be burned. There was a reverance and respect for the flag because it symbolized our country.

Many years ago, when I lived near Milwaukee Wisconsin, residents of South Milwaukee who were mostly Polish immigrants, covered their lawns with small American flags.

One of our greatest presidents, Abraham Lincoln had this to say, “It is the duty of nations as well as of men to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God, and to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon, and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in Holy Scripture, and proven by all history, that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord.” 

 Adam and Eve exchanged the truth for a lie. They became corrupted with sin and no longer knew what was right and good. They became slaves to sin, the devil and death. They passed this corrupted state unto everyone born on this earth except for Jesus Christ who was born without being corrupted by sin and remained sinless.

So how did God go about restoring humans to the knowledge of the truth? He began by giving them the Law. He started by renewing their minds. The Law told people what was true and right and good. They now knew again the truth. In fact, one could argue that the Law is a kind of Gospel. Listen to how the Law is described in Psalm 119, “Teach me, O Lord, the way of thy statutes; and I shall keep it unto the end. Give me understanding, and I shall keep thy Law; yea, I shall observe it with my whole heart. Make me to go in the path of thy commandments; for therein do I delight.” Only a person who also holds the Gospel of God’s grace can make that statement. The Psalmist loved the Law. Do we love the Law? I believe the extent to which we love the Law is determined by to what extent we understand and have internalized the Gospel. 

 Anglicans recite the Law also called the Decalogue at the beginning of our penitential service. The reality is also that the Gospel is a sword. 

 This is probably correct for the new Christian but as we mature in Christ, we should increasingly see the Law as beautiful, holy and good. St Paul said, “If we are led by the Spirit, we are no longer under the Law.” What this means is that we are no longer under the domination of what we consider to be a “tyrant”. We now see the Law for what it truly is. We love the Law, rejoice in it and obey the Law with the help of the Holy Spirit. 

In 2015 Pastor Stephen McAlpine, offered some insightful and important observations about the future for us as Christians in our country in what he called stage II exile. “Whether we are aware of it or not, the culture we find ourselves in has already dismissed us as irrelevant to their lives. That was stage one of our exile. We were simply ignored and have been dismissed. They have neglected to pass on America’s story. We wrongly assume that we can have more impact on culture than it can have on us.  That is dangerously naive thinking.  Jesus never said the culture will misunderstand you, He said the world will hate you.  He did not say to his disciples, ‘go out there and change culture’; He said, “Fear not, I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33). https://au.thegospelcoalition.org/article/stage-two-exile-are-you-ready-for-it/

In Stephen McAlpine’s latest book, Being the Bad Guys: How to Live for Jesus in a World That Says You Shouldn’t, (2021), Christians are now the bad guys. McAlpine gave an example of a Christian doctor that was fired for refusing to use preferred pronouns for his transgender patients. He lost his case in court with the court ruling that “…Genesis 1:27 is incompatible with human dignity and conflicts with the fundamental rights of others.” 

Here is what St. Peter had to say in Scripture and is true for us today. “Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.” (1 Peter 2:11-12)

I would also like to offer a passage from the book of Jude. “But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold.  They said to you, ‘In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.’  These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit. But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.  Be merciful to those who doubt; save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh. (Jude 1:23)

We are not a perfect nation. We sing in “America The Beautiful” America! America! God mend thine every flaw, confirm thy soul in self-control, thy liberty in law. Finally, I would like to offer a prayer for our nation as we celebrate Independence Day. This prayer is from our BCP 657 Prayer 39.   

 

For our Nation

“Almighty God, who hast given us this good land for our heritage: We humbly beseech thee that we may always prove ourselves a people mindful of thy favor and glad to do thy will. Bless our land with honorable industry, sound learning, and pure conduct. Save us from violence, discord, and confusion; from pride and arrogance, and from every evil way. Defend our liberties, and fashion into one united people the multitudes brought hither out of many kindreds and tongues. Endue with the spirit of wisdom those to whom, in thy Name, we entrust the authority of government, that there may be justice and peace at home, and that, through obedience to thy law, we may show forth thy praise among the nations of the earth. In the time of prosperity, fill our hearts with thankfulness, and in the day of trouble, suffer not our trust in thee to fail; all of which we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”