SERMON FOR 6 JULY 2003 -- SUSAN J. BARNES
St. Matthew's Episcopal Church
It's a very special day in our worship. Today, in commemoration of
Independence Day we parade the national colors in procession. Today we
sing hymns that honor our nation and celebrate the freedoms we have as
citizens of the U.S.A. So, today, I want to share some thoughts about the
blessings and the responsibilities we have as Christian citizens of this
great land.
Some of that came into focus on Friday, when I attended with friends and
family the annual 4th of July parade in Round Top, Texas. The smallest
incorporated town in Texas--now population 73--is the proud host of oldest
4th of July Parade West of the Mississippi. We've been going for nearly
forty years, since my parents bought their farm near there. In those
days and run: Birkelbach's cafe, Mrs. Schlabach's bakery, Von Minden's funeral
home and general store, Mr. Knutzen's blacksmith shop, Don Nagel's garage
and filling station, Annie Schatte's real estate company. As the names
suggest, their forebears came to Texas in the 19th century from Bohemia and
the lands of modern-day Germany. In the 1960s the local folk spoke
together in a German dialect and vernacular passed down by their ancestors.
They were proud of their European heritage, but even prouder to be
Americans. That pride is what made their 4th of July parade so special, I
suspect.
Now, of course, Round Top's businesses are more the province of Houston
and Austin transplants and weekenders than of native-born folk So much has
changed. But the 4th of July parade still belongs to the people of Round
Top. It is a whopping big event that proudly celebrates the precious
freedoms that the town's immigrant founders sought and found in the
U.S.A.--the promise of 1776 fulfilled.
"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..."
Those words from the Declaration of Independence opened a new era in human
history--the era of democracy, of government instituted by the people,
staffed by the people and committed to work solely for
the people's good. At the time, those truths were anything but
"self-evident" as
principles for government. They were revolutionary, indeed. And they lit
an unquenchable fire in the human imagination. Since July 4, 1776 that fire
has glowed brightly and carried democracy to every part of the globe.
Christians can find the germ of the democratic ideal in our own
scriptures. Jesus lived out God's vision of the equality and dignity of all
people. St. Paul articulated that vision when he wrote, "In Christ there
is no Greek nor Jew, no slave nor free, no male and female".
The founders of this country the Christian vision of equality underlay their democratic ideal. But they
didn't make Christianity the national religion. Experience taught them
better. Abroad they had seen the corruption that power brought to state
churches. At home, the Salem witch trials taught them how religious
fanaticism could infect and pervert civil justice. So they guaranteed
religious freedom That very freedom brought millions of people to this land, including many
who settled in and around Round Top.
Freedom and faith. As a Christian I cherish these two precious gifts them up with one another, but separate. I see them in dialogue across time
and space. On one hand I see how faith--Jesus' vision of equality come to reality nearly 18 hundred years later here. At the same time
American Democracy gave rise to a manner of living and assumptions that were
unimaginable in Jesus' own day. That's because back then, and right up
until 1776, the course of a person's life was essentially laid out at birth,
by the conditions of birth. Where you would live, your education (if any),
your occupation, your friends you were born. Then the revolutionary document of July 4, 1776 changed
all of that. Those "self-evident" truths--claimed for you and for all human
beings the freedom to chart your own destiny, the freedom to live, the
freedom to pursue happiness.
So Christian faith informed our freedom at the outset. But, in return,
that modern freedom redefined what it means to live, including our life as a
people of faith. How's that? Because with freedom came a level of
responsibility that was previously unimaginable. As citizens of the U.S.A.
we are free to better ourselves, free through study and work to make of our
own lives whatever we can. And we are responsible, too, for the
consequences of every decision, every action, every choice that we make.
As American citizens we celebrate our freedoms. And when we live up to our
freedoms we take on the responsibilities that come with them. We live
according to the laws of the land. We pay our taxes. We stay informed. We
vote. We respect the rights and property of others. Our pursuit of
happiness must never infringe upon others'. If it does, we can expect to
pay the consequences that come with trespass, with breaking the
law As Americans we are free to follow Jesus Christ. And we celebrate that
freedom of this great land. To follow Jesus Christ is to measure all of our
choices, all of our decisions, all of our actions against God's law. That
law is love: the love of God, the love of others, the love of self.
Frankly, the responsibility is enormous. It's hard enough for me to try to
act in keeping with love of God and love of self: I fall short all of the
time. But acting and choosing in keeping with the love of others is
monumentally complicated. Because the U.S.A. is such a towering economic
power, and because the world's economy is now so interconnected, most of the
things we buy affect markets abroad. So our decisions have an impact far
beyond the people whom we see and know.
Each one of us has to come to terms with this responsibility as we can, in
prayerful relation with God. Each one of us has to find the way to be
accountable to God in Christ for our life choices. Some will do it best
alone. Most of us do it better when we are connected to other Christians
through communities such as St. Matthew's. I found an interesting model
for Christian responsibility in the Iona Community, based in Scotland. The
Iona Community members don't live on the island of Iona. They live all over
the U.K.. Lay people and ordained, they attend different churches,
different denominations, work in different jobs. What makes them a
community is their commitment to one another to live according to five
principles: daily prayer, daily reading of scripture, work for justice and
peace, meeting regularly to pray together, and being accountable to each
other for the use of their time and their money. It gives you pause,
doesn't it? They actually share spend their time and their money. I find it both attractive and scary!
The Iona Community's rule is radical, radically responsible to God. People
like me probably need that level of accountability. However we manage the
accounting, though, the Iona Community have got the basic idea right. As
Christians our responsibility to God doesn't stop with coming to church on
Sunday morning, nor with tithing on our income. As Americans we accept
that we are responsible to the law of the land 100% of the time, and we
enjoy the freedoms of this great nation 100% of the time. As Christians,
we may give 10% of our income and 10% of our time to God's work, but we have
to know that we are responsible before God for how we dispose of 100% of our
time and 100% of our money.
It is the highest responsibility, the highest. But remember that it comes
with an unimaginable latitude reward. Different from the punishment we deserve and receive if we break
the law of the land, when we break God's law of love, we can find
forgiveness and the chance to start over again.
The reward--not for succeeding, not for being perfect, but just for being,
just for asking blessing. We have the privilege of living in the knowledge of God's
infinite love, of gathering in community to support one another and to share
in the table fellowship. We have the holy scriptures to guide us,
especially those that present the living example of Jesus. And, among many
other blessings, we have the unfailing comfort and companionship of the Holy
Spirit.
