Reflection for 4th of July Weekend

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Reflection for 4th of July Weekend

By Rev. Vicki

As we approach the holiday weekend, I cannot help but wonder what the 4th of July might mean to us as Christians in the middle of a pandemic.  Do we observe the day but not celebrate in the company of hundreds or thousands so that all might be safe?  Yes, we may need to honor country with family only and keep barbeques and festivities on the home front.  We may need to think of time outside the home as a time of social distancing and mask wearing for there is a reason that there are no fireworks, concerts, 4th of July sales, or massive parades.  We are still at the mercy of an unseen enemy.  This quieter holiday might give us time to reflect on what it means for us to be a nation with freedoms our forefathers dreamed of for all to have.  I would like to share with you some food for thought:

The Preamble to the Declaration of Independence – 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.

From the Constitution of the United States – We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Amendment 1 (to the Constitution) – Religion and Expression – Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

The Star-Spangled Banner (first verse only) –

O say, can you see, by the dawn’s early light,

            What so proudly we hail’d at the twilight’s last gleaming?

            Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thro’ the perilous fight,

            O’er the ramparts we watch’d, were so gallantly streaming?

            And the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air,

            Gave proof thro’ the night that our flag was still there.

            O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave

            O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

And as Christians, how do we overlay the above with the following from Matthew 22:35-  40?  …and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him.  “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?”  He said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’  This is the greatest and first commandment.  And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’  On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

May God bless your weekend and your thoughts.