Independence Day blessings to you -- this is the 248th birthday of the United States, and I sit humbled by the fact that I have been alive for more than one-fourth of those July 4ths. The birth came with the signing of the Declaration of Independence, but that did not happen in a void. It began the drive to take that independence in a war with England that lasted five years, with the colonies' inhabitants evenly divided in thirds -- fighting for, fighting against, and just leave me out of this.
It meant that neighbors could not trust each other, or had to protect themselves from one another; it meant each colony, proud and distinct themselves, had to buy into active support of fighters and supplies in the other colonies, wherever the British Army was massing.
New York was taken, Philadelphia was occupied, Charleston was barricaded, and farms and homes were torched if the army of one side found support for the other side. It was born of blood, the body consumed, the perspiration of overwhelming effort, the pain of labor that took command of the body's attention.
It birthed a nation.
Of course, there was a gestation period of nearly 160 years in Virginia, almost as long in the others. By this time 1776 rolled around, Americans were Americans -- British subjects but increasingly obvious that they were subservient in they eyes of the king, in the eyes of all kings, really -- and so independence had been developing for generations, waiting for the time to arrive for a people to breathe on their own.
Those seeking independence were not so much English themselves -- the founders were -- but many other nationalities as well, there to escape persecution in their home country, or their against their will in the evil of slavery. The notion of a free and independent nation of free and independent dreamers who could put their efforts into results that benefited them was a powerful idea, foreign to nearly everywhere else in the world, at least as a principle.
Every generation has had to reestablish the principle of individual freedoms with the responsibilities (not rights) that go along with it. The second generation had to reclaim America's independence in the War of 1812; the next had to sacrifice it's young men at the altar of abolishing slavery; the next in claiming the "sea to shining sea" part; the next in becoming influential in the marketplace while maintaining the individual's right to life, liberty and pursuit (does not read accomplishment) of happiness.
The second half of our history to this point found each generation submitting itself to protecting that idea by confronting tyranny in its ugliest forms.
This generation will have to confront tyranny too, to keep that declaration independent, and more importantly, to protect the Constitution, which formed a republic that can succeed. But that tyranny is from within; forces from outside the country have found that invasion by force is not possible, so invasion from within has been the steady, stealthy strategy for all of my lifetime.
It is showing strong signs of success.
Congress writes the laws with representatives -- closest to the voters and accountable every two years to the ballot -- in charge of funding or not funding; the Senate, representing state interests, debates and approves the laws. The Supreme Court determines whether a law meets the standards of the constitution and the President carries out the law, as an executive is supposed to do.
When any of these branches abdicates their authority or moves outside their responsibility -- and all of them have, terribly -- the republic is in peril.
And we are in peril; whether it is in a Titanic sort of way will be up to this generation (and was all are in this generation!) to fight for freedom again.
Every Independence Day recalls the perils of the past and calls for the nation to confront of perils of the day.
And in Godsfield, pray the way today as you pass every evidence of freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of assembly, freedom of the press, freedom of due process of law.
This nation depends on it.
I had thought I would tell the story of the Star-Spangled Banner, and its origin in the 1814 near Baltimore with Francis Scott Key. Instead let me leave you with this:
You know the first verse; say it as a prayer especially by adding the fourth verse:
O thus be it ever, when free men shall stand
Between their ‘loved home and the war’s desolation,
Blessed with victory and peace, may this heaven-rescued land
Praise the One who hath saved and preserved us a nation.
And conquer we must for the cause, it is just,
May this be our motto: In God is our trust,
And the Star Spangled Banner forever shall wave.
O’er the land of the free, and the home of the brave.
And then let me offer another verse that I wrote several years ago; it is singable.
On this journey of faith, keep this truth in your heart,
That the Lord can fill those who are His earthen vessels.
Let the freedom and dreams that formed our nation’s start
Be the fabric and frame into which hope can nestle.
Let your blessings be clear, know the Lord has come near
To those who allow faith to over-whelm fear,
And the Star-Spangled Banner forever shall wave,
O’er the Land of the free and the hearts of the brave.
--Lintern
May God bless your Independence Day remembrance.
Love ya,
Paul