7/4/65

It Is So Good To Live!

Scripture: Read Jeremiah 31: 1-14.

This is a day of special significance in many ways. Some of us have marked the birth days of self or friends or loved ones during the week, or on this day. Some have seen the beginning of a new home in the marriage of a member of the family. Some have celebrated significant anniversaries. Some have faced new testings and challenges. For most of us, life is good to live and we wish fervently for the strength to live it well.

For the churches of our order this is a day of recognition that the General Synod of the United Church of Christ is in session in Chicago right now. Nearly 700 voting delegates of our churches in the USA, plus officers and members of the Executive Council, with representatives of our instrumentalities and seminaries, and numerous official and unofficial visitors, are reviewing the work of our United Church, electing officers, charting the course ahead, making recommendations to the churches.

Members of the General Synod are turning directly to God several times each day, in prayer. The responsibility resting on them is great. And so is our responsibility great. It behooves us to pray, frequently, that the spirit of God shall brood over the meetings of the General Synod, that what is done at the meeting in Chicago shall be in accord with the divine will, and for the help of God’s children everywhere.

For us, here, today is a day of communion with God and with each other in the spirit of Christ. We gladly gather about the table of our Lord in remembrance and fellowship. It is also a day for welcoming new members into our fellowship. For this, we are rejoicing and giving thanks.

Of course the Fourth Day of July is always an annual occasion of celebration by the people of this nation that we have been a free people for nearly two centuries. In a sense, so far as we may pin-point the time, it is the birthday of our country and is celebrated with joy in circuses, parades and carnivals, in fireworks displays, and by holiday from routine. Like most of our holidays, Independence Day or the fourth of July ought not to be simply an occasion of abandon, but a time for reviewing certain important meanings. Since the precise date of our country’s birth falls this year upon the day of Christian common worship, it is appropriate to remind ourselves that the church has a mission both to individuals and to the nation. Most of us agree that government should be under the scrutiny of religious conscience and ethical concern. Our country needs our prayers.

We have, in recent years, seen the inclusion of the words “under God” inserted in the pledge of allegiance to the US flag. It ought, if it is to be used, to be no idle phrase, but rather a vivid reminder that God has something to say to the nation.

The Hebrews who came out of slavery in Egypt, wandered for a generation in wilderness, then came, under Joshua’s leadership, into a land that was to be their own, were often reminded by their leader how they were being led by the righteous God. For one thing, he reminded them that God was saying to them, “I gave you a land on which you have not labored, and cities which you had not built, and you dwell therein; you eat of the fruit of vineyards and olive yards you did not plant.” [Joshua 24: 13].

Part of our church’s mission to American is to be reminded, and to remind others, that we and our fellow citizens enjoy benefits which we did not create and for the use of which we are accountable. We did not think up the magnificent political experiment that takes into account the importance of each individual person with concern for his liberty and proper pursuit of happiness. Not even the founding fathers thought it up. It started in the mind of God, and is a part of His purpose of righteousness. Our spiritual fathers were led of God to a continent unspoiled by tyranny. He gave them not only the vision of a government “of the people, by the people, and for the people” --- all of the people, but the conviction that this vision could be, and must become, a reality.

God moves in history. What America is today was determined, in large measure, by the fact that our country’s early leaders believed that God moves in history. The church must keep that principle alive in today’s people. Not a few of our contemporaries seem enamored of the idea that history doesn’t count; that only the present matters as we face the future. An ignorance of history leaves us without the distillation of accumulated experience that is our precious and rightful heritage. When we rely solely upon our unaided present perceptions, we too often simply compound our collective ignorance. God moves through history into the human consciousness of today, toward the future.

Joshua told the political leaders of his people that they couldn’t go on living off their fathers’ spiritual investments, unless they took a firm religious stand themselves. “Now therefore fear the Lord,” he said, “and serve him in sincerity and faithfulness.” [Joshua 24: 14]. He recognized that some -- perhaps many -- would drift away from vital faith. To them he added this stern comment: “If you be unwilling to serve the Lord, then choose this day whom you will serve.” [Joshua 24: 15]. And, while holding each one responsible for making his own individual choice of basic loyalty, he made his own witness unequivocal: “But as for me and my house,” he declared, “we will serve the Lord.” [Joshua 24: 15].

Is there any other possible approach appropriate to us as churchmen today? This is our mission to government, to insist that those running for office, and chosen thereto; and those who influence legislation, show their colors and put their political decisions under the light of the same God of Righteousness who inspired Lincoln and Washington and the founding fathers of our country. If we read our history carefully, we are aware that the United States began its life where the Bible begins its story. The first words of the bible are, “In the beginning, God ...” The words written in English over the first instrument of government on the New England part of our country --- the Mayflower Compact --- were these: “In the name of God, Amen.” God was to be the first cause, the foundation, the source of all that followed. Faith in Him was the premise and presupposition for all that cam thereafter.

The ideals of our nation are religious ideals; our standards are religious standards; our goals are religious goals. Our founding fathers did not argue this case. They declared it. They believed profoundly in human dignity. They did not invent the idea; they had studied their history well enough to realize that human dignity is not something earned by man’s effort. It is bestowed upon man by God. It is a part of man’s “createdness.” It derives from the faith that man is an immortal soul with an eternal destiny. And so the freedom which we cherish, and about which we often speak too glibly, is not something we attain so much as it is a divine gift to us to be received and used in responsible gratitude.

A young boy in school was asked to tell what he saw in the famous picture of colonial soldiers marching with muskets shouldered and colors unfurled. The boy, scrutinizing those in the lead, observed: “There is one man with a drum, another man with a fife, and another man with a terrible headache carrying a flag.” Perhaps it could be a “headache” to carry some flags -- but not the flag of our nation if we remember whence we came, the price others have paid, the responsibility we have, the urgency for the future that we be in very truth a nation recognizing itself under God’s goodness, His leading, His chastisement, His vision and direction. It can continue to be good to live in such a land. It is good to live here. We must see that it can be made to feel good to all other inhabitants of the country who want freedom to be responsible people.

If we are to continue in enjoyment of our precious freedom, we must bring our offering, our contribution, to the temple of liberty. Life is good for those who advance good character, the courage to venture, who have faith in good reason or intellect. We have a strong belief in democracy as government by the will of the majority. But the majority can be misguided, chaotic, ruled by whims. Effective democracy depends upon the intelligence that informs the majority, so that the majority of people proceed upon rational grounds of prudence.

Our country, and all of us its citizens, needs good character. No need to name more than rigged quiz shows, price fixing, phony kinds of sales, public scandals and private greed to be reminded that only good character can save us from rotting within. It ill behooves us to sneer at simple integrity as being old-fashioned. We can’t afford serious erosion of our ideals. Our liberty is at stake!

Ours is a time for venture. This has been the price of liberty in the past. The colonial fathers ventured into a country where many laid down their lives early, but where they were sure the prize of freedom was worth the price. We have a lot of venturing to do -- not alone out into the space beyond our earth, but into the field of better human relationships right here in the earth. Our time calls for character, courage, and belief in the intellect. Concerning this last-named attribute, the biblical language is clear: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all mind and heart and soul.” [Matthew 22: 37].

There was a great European comedian, Karl Vallentin, who once enacted this scene; the stage curtain goes up, revealing only darkness. In this darkness a street lamp throws a solitary circle of light. Vallentin walks round and round in this circle of light wearing a worried look on his face. There comes into the light a policeman who asks, “What have you lost?” and Vallentin replies, “The key to my house.” The policeman joins in the search. They find nothing. Finally the policeman inquires: “Are you sure you lost it here?” “No,” says Vallentin, and pointing to a dark corner of the stage, he says, “over there.” “Then why on earth are you looking for it here?” “There is no light over there,” says Vallentin.

We need the schooling of intellect to shed light where we need it for an understanding of the world’s needs; we need commitment to good character and courage in that light; we need a constant reappraisal of our liberty and its responsible use; we need the constant reminder of history and conviction that we truly live “under God.” When we do our best to meet these needs, it is so good to be alive that every minute is exciting and can be made worthy. Amen.

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Delivered in Wisconsin Rapids, July 4, 1965.