Remember the Revolution

Today we were going to start out on a mystical vacation with a two-foot tall angel named Juan Diego, but it happens to be the 4^th of July, Independence Day. This day is much too important to ignore, so our vacation will have to begin next Sunday. Meanwhile, start packing.

Aspiring immortals get out your flags and wave them high, high enough for all the angels in heaven to see. Even if our ancestors were far far away from America in 1776, when we adopted this country, we adopted the brave signers of the Declaration of Independence as our forefathers, and their protestation as our cry.

Today we keep the memory of what they did alive because it was brave, and intelligent, and right. To remember the words of the Declaration of Independence forces us to measure this country by what they revolted and died for: the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness and equally vital: freedom from tyranny and oppression.

Are we the America they demanded? Are we alert enough to recognize and revolt against tyranny and oppression even when it creeps in from within our government? Are we brave enough to demand liberty? Do we consider that the right to life extends to the most vulnerable among us and do we fight to protect that right? Finally, are we free to pursue happiness? Yes! I say yes to all. We are that America they demanded 234 years ago today!

On the day we cut the cord that tied us to Great Britain, Americans became more aware of humanity’s dependence on God who created us equal and was able to protect and provide for this rich young country-full of industrious men and women.  Let us maintain that awareness of our ultimate dependence on God, for all that we are, and all that we have, and all that we aspire to.

May our gunpowder always be used for glorious showers of light, and when it is not, let it be for the most noble causes.

What does this have to do with aspiring to live in Kingdom Come? I say, be faithful in the small things and God will grant you greater. A good citizen of America will make a good citizen of the new earth. Rejoice in our freedom to disagree; may right and goodness always prevail in our holy land, America. Amen.

A Thanksgiving Prayer

Even though these hundreds of years have passed since the pilgrims first gave You thanks with a similar feast and with such joy and relief in their hearts, we here thank You still for protecting and providing for that brave remnant who suffered so much to come to this land and to set up home here where they could worship You as they saw fit. We thank You Lord still for the Indians who helped the settlers so much.

Thank You for guiding this wild and barren country through the centuries to become the great nation it is today, a source of marvelous inventions in so many fields from electronics to medicine, and a land of the brave and generous who give of ourselves in so many ways to free others from political, religious, and financial oppression. Thank You for Your part Lord in making the America of those pilgrims free and great, the land of opportunity and our home.

Thank You for love and forgiveness, for our family, and our dearest friends, You who orchestrate our lives and bring people together for Your purposes. Thank you for bringing us together today.

Thank You for forming and strengthening the hands that have labored to bring us this feast. Those here among us who made these scrumptious looking foods, and those behind us, the farmers, the truck drivers, the grocers, the recipe writers, who also had a hand in this feast. Thank You.

Finally, thank You God for being the source of all that is good and beautiful. Let’s eat.

Amen