Fighting Words

Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord,

    the people he chose for his inheritance.       Psalm 33:12

I know my mother’s sixth great-grandmother was in Chester County, Pennsylvania at the time the words were written - because somewhere there are letters, acknowledging her gifts of financial assistance for supplies for the militia. She was recently widowed, her husband’s Last Will and Testament not yet filed. It could wait. She probably had her hands full trying to keep the farm running. I am not sure if Daddy’s family had yet made it to Virginia. These are the smallest echoes of a bloodline traced back across the miles and the years unknown.

What I do know is there was never any doubt in our home as I grew up - two hundred years later - that this was a sacred nation which my family had been honored and willing to serve - by picking up arms and laying down their lives. Every generation wore a uniform and went where they were needed. I have always known that I have gotten off far too easy; because others did the hard things. 

So, this morning, just as I did a year ago, I sit alone and read through the well-known words that created a nation. This nation. 

What started as 13 colonies joining together freely of their own accord to stand for freedom from tyranny has grown to cover half a continent from one coast to another. States - not conquered and subdued but wanting to join under a government that gained its power from the governed. It was revolutionary and irresistible. If you were willing to put your boots on and work hard, you were welcome. United. States. America.

Of course, there were problems along the way, and goodness knows there still are – but it was a great experiment which had never been attempted before – and it had documents in place and a system of government to be hammered out which would pave the way to create an extraordinary nation.

This is my suggestion to myself and to you. Take time to read the words that set our world in motion. It begins in a way you are probably familiar with:

“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.”

I cannot comprehend how powerful and dangerous these words were. They were spoken by men who sought God’s guidance in reverence and trembling as they chose to carefully put reason into actions that could not be undone. How heavy were their hearts, knowing they not only put their own lives in peril but also the lives of their wives, their sons, their daughters, their neighbors, and their friends? They had to be completely beyond the shadow of a doubt committed to walk forward. Confident, hearts and thoughts ablaze with the burning fire that this was beyond question the right and only thing to be done.

I would have loved to sit in the corner of that room where they met; silent, hand over mouth, listening. Listening to brilliant minds fueled with conviction argue among themselves for what good government under the mighty hand of God could look like.

Today I will think long and hard about God’s justice, God’s goodness, God’s grace; God’s provision in forming this one nation, united. May our hearts and minds be grateful today.

And in case you don’t remember how this story will end, this is the closing line those fine gambling men wrote and signed their names to so long ago:

“And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.”

And I say, “Thank you and Amen".

This link will take you to the Declaration of Independence:

https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/declaration-transcript