A sermon by Senior Minister John B. McCall, July 8, 2007
Psalms 92:5-15
Luke 9:23-25
Last Wednesday on Independence Day I heard two readings of the Declaration of Independence – once on Public Radio, and once down at Legion Square by Dick Bernard, who’s made it a tradition over several years to dress as Thomas Jefferson and read this remarkable document to the crowd that gathers.
I was struck, again, by the genius of our Founders who were able to craft a vision that has withstood unforeseeable challenges across these 231 years. Ours is a great and noble democracy, first established by inspired leaders and sustained by the blood, sweat and tears of many over the generations.
Every time we hear the stirring words and patriotic songs that mark Independence Day, don’t we also ask the essential question of how we, as a nation, are doing in light of these ideals? How do we respond today to the pressures and forces that threaten us?
What, if anything, makes us different from so many other nations across the generations that have fallen, not to the attacks from the outside, but to the corrosion that grows from the inside?
My thoughts this morning are not about foreign policy, nor do I point the finger at the particular people who sit in the White House, the Pentagon, or the chambers of Congress.
But I do suggest, in light of my understanding of the Christian faith, that the dangers our nation faces – both from the outside and from the inside – have a common cause.
I believe we’ve lost our sense of community.
I believe we’ve let ourselves measure everything by whether it’s good for me personally, regardless of whether it’s bad for you.
I believe we’ve gradually become a nation of individuals who’ve lost the willingness to sacrifice or compromise for the common good.
And even more than that, I see many signs that we, as individual Americans, act as though we’re entitled to everything we have, and more, even when we see that others suffer.
That attitude, which some would label arrogance, fuels the anger of everyone who’s pushed to the edges, both those whom we label as threats on the outside, and those whom we label as threats among us.
Dr. Hak Joon Lee, a seminary professor of ethics and community, recently wrote about the tragedy at Virginia Tech. He said: “When community disappears, individuals – usually the most vulnerable and fragile members – are more susceptible to social ills such as mental illness, violence or crime.” [The Progressive Christian, July/August 2007, pg. 7]
As this sense of community breaks down those who already have slipped through the cracks can easily slip over the edge:
• The isolated and ostracized student,
• The desperate single mother whose children are hungry,
• The worker with two jobs who can’t still can’t pay the bills,
• The illegal immigrant who wants to glimpse this land of opportunity
• The young zealot of whatever religion, nation, culture, or language, who sees that he has nothing to live for, so maybe dying a martyr’s death is better.
If you were to spend one day fielding the phone calls to our church office, you’d hear the stories of those who are out of food, out of money, out of luck… calling for a bag of groceries or help with a financial crisis.
We’ve lost our sense that the true genius of our nation lies in the ways we treat the poorest and weakest among us. We’ve let ourselves believe that it’s all right for something to benefit me even if it’s bad for you.
Our response to these acts of desperation has been to build walls at our borders and tighten airport security; to enlarge our police forces and install metal detectors in our schools; to deploy missile shields and to build larger prisons in our homeland.
So in early July, when I read the lofty ideals of the Declaration of Independence, I can only imagine what the framers of our nation would say about us today. What do you think?
Are the greater dangers to the well-being of our nation on the outside or on the inside?
We can’t put a finer point on it than Jesus did:
“If you want to become my follower, deny your and take up your cross daily and follow me. If you try to save your life you will lose it, and if you lose your life for my sake you will save it. What does it profit you if you gain the whole world, but lose or forfeit your true self?”
What does it profit you? Absolutely nothing. For a little while it seems we can win at others’ expense, but not in the great sweep of things. As the Psalmist says, the truly righteous will flourish and spread the knowledge of God to others. So, the obvious question is what can we do?
• Well, we can ignore and deny what we’re seeing all around us.
• We can shoot the messengers, whenever and wherever someone challenges the status quo.
• We can elect leaders that we believe will move us in the right direction.
• We can wring our hands and pray a lot.
But I suggest something more immediate – perhaps more subversive. And I think it’s happening right here on this very room, among us, in our own church, and in tens of thousands of similar places.
You and I and so many others are building community and trying to break through isolation, and loneliness – and the loss of hope that goes with them.
By offering an extravagant welcome to friend and stranger alike we’re chipping away at walls of separation and we’re praying for a world that is just.
Right here, this morning, maybe even without giving it deep thought, we’ve witnessed the life-changing power of community:
• Food pantry & Crisis Ministries
• Passing the peace
• Baptism (Alexander Ibrahim – whose very name and family story builds a bridge)
• Prayers, for Bill and Darla, and for a couple who received the church’s blessing at their marriage yesterday
• Receiving the offering
Our worship is shaped each week as a visible witness to the healing power of community. And when can carry that back out into the world, think what’s possible.
In this season of Independence Day, we claim the dream once again – that all are created equal and that each has the freedom to seek life and liberty and the joy of having enough. “America, America, God shed full grace on thee… and crown thy good with brotherhood from sea to shining sea.”
Still unrealized; still a dream; still worth living for; perhaps worth dying for. Jesus said: “If you try to save your life you will lose it, and if you lose your life for my sake you will save it.”