Sixth Sunday after Pentecost
July 5, 2009
The Gospel: J
Sermon: "The Glorious Fourth"
The Rev. Dr. Vicki L. Smith, Rector
The Gospel: T
J
Sixth Sunday after Pentecost - "The Glorious Fourth" Sunday - July 5, 2009
This weekend we celebrate what used to be called “the Glorious Fourth.” We have picnics, fireworks, parades and festivals. When we look at Iran, where the people struggle to be heard, Honduras where the president has been overthrown by a coup, and Egypt which has been ruled by a dictator for at least a generation, we must celebrate with special gratitude for our nation and the freedoms it bestows upon us, especially the freedom to choose our religion and live out our faith as we deem appropriate.
One way we express our gratitude is to use our religious freedom to pray for our nation and its leaders. I once remember a friend saying, (and it doesn’t matter which president it was about), that she couldn’t pray for the president because he just made her so angry. I think that’s cause to pray more and harder. First, because we live in a free country, we have the privilege of disagreement and dissent and we should always give thanks for that; but also because whether our political party of choice is in power or not, our leaders need our prayerful support. Whether we agree with our nation’s policies and actions or not, our nation needs our prayer. Prayer for our county is one way that we live out our freedom of religion, as well as our Christian faith.
It’s often a challenge for us to discern other ways we are to live as both Christians and Americans. Sometimes our faith and our patriotism seem to overlap, while other times they seem to conflict. To sort that out is always a challenge. Some Christians, like the Amish for example, live almost completely apart from our government. They don’t vote or serve in the military. They don’t accept government assistance or insurance. They live their lives pretty much “off the grid” as they say.
Other Christians seem almost completely enmeshed with our country. There is a church outside Columbus Ohio that has a red, white and blue steeple, and it’s not because they just happen to like those colors! I suspect that for some of the folks their faith and citizenship have become identical.
Neither of those is our road; ours is a path of active Christian participation in our government and our nation. We are, first and foremost, faithful Christians, but we are also loyal Americans; we seek to successfully and appropriately be both.
We are able to do that, though, only within the context of first being Christians. As our collect today reminds us, we seek to be devoted to God “with our whole hearts”; giving all of our being, all that we have and are, to our God. That means that our faith must be defining and determining for us.
As part of that faith commitment, we have been entrusted with the tasks of witness and proclamation. So, as we live out our Christian lives in this day and nation, we seek to make Christian choices, to speak out of our faith and to serve God and God’s people right where we are—in these United States.
I actually believe that being faithful Christians can make us better Americans. As faithful Christians, we are committed to truth and compassion, to justice for all and compassion for the needy. We are committed to living lives of integrity and generosity. Those are all American values. Though sometimes our faith and our nation will conflict, often it is not so difficult for us to witness to our faith, proclaim Christ’s love and be good Americans as well.
We do need to keep in mind though, that faithful service doesn’t come with a guarantee of success, at least not success as our society sees it. Notice what God says to Ezekiel when he is sent out to preach to a stubborn and rebellious nation: “Whether they hear or refuse to hear (for they are a rebellious house, they shall know that there has been a prophet among them.” Clearly, the possibility that they will not hear is a very real one.
And when Jesus first sent out his disciples among his instructions about shoes and bags and food was the caution: If any place will not welcome you and they refuse to hear you, as you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.” Jesus knew that not everyone was going to welcome those who came in his name. Faithfulness is expressed in doing what God asks us to do, not in the success of our efforts. Just as God warned Ezekiel, people may or may not listen to our witness. Those we speak to and work with may make choices that we don’t agree with, despite all we have to say; and our nation may undertake actions of which we don’t approve, no matter how hard we worked against it. Our faithfulness is not measured by having our government always do what we think best, but by the strength and persistence of our witness for what we believe.
The traditional measures of success for individuals and nations are money and power—the more you have of either one, the more successful you are. As faithful Christians and a faithful church, we may have or receive either or both of them, but we may not too. Our success, as individuals, as a church and as citizens of our nation, is measured by our faithful living. We strive to be God’s witnesses with integrity and vigor, “whether they listen or not” as the Bible says.
On this Fourth of July weekend, we celebrate our freedom to worship by doing so. We celebrate our freedom of religion by choosing to be Christians and living out our faith as best we can. And as a special celebration of this Glorious Fourth, we send our youth mission trip off to South Carolina. That to me, is among the best ways of all for us to celebrate—by using our freedoms to serve God’s people in Jesus’ name.
On this weekend of fireworks and festivals, we pause to give thanks for all our freedoms, and especially for the opportunity to be both faithful Christians and good citizens.