©Thomas B. Cundiff
Exodus 20: 1-17
2 Corinthians 3:17 and
Matthew 22: 36-40
Exodus 20: 1-17
The Ten Commandments
Then
God spoke all these words:
2 I am the Lord your God,
who brought you out of the land of Egypt
7 You shall not make
wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit
anyone who misuses his name. 8 Remember
the sabbath day, and keep it holy. 9For six days you shall labour and do all
your work. 10But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall
not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your
livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. 11For in six days the Lord made
heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day;
therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it. 12 Honour your father and your mother, so
that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving
you. 13 You shall not murder. 14 You shall not commit adultery.
15 You shall not
steal. 16 You shall not bear false
witness against your neighbour. 17 You
shall not covet your neighbour’s house; you shall not covet your neighbour’s
wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to
your neighbour.
II Corinthians 3: 17
“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of
the Lord is, there is freedom.”
Matthew 22: 36-40
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.’
I. FOURTH OF JULY WEEKEND
This week,
on Wednesday, we break away from busy schedules for picnics, and patriotic
songs and fireworks. We celebrate our independence with the
official mantra only Americans can proclaim:
WE ARE ONE NATION UNDER GOD!
This
phrase, first penned by President Abraham Lincoln says it all: In every aspect of life we enjoy as free
Americans and under the law of love and surrounded by God’s spirit: WE ARE ONE NATION UNDER GOD!
Sadly, there
are those who want to take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance;
Sadly, there
are those who want God out of politics;
Sadly, there
are some who say they want God out of America
Sadly, there
are also those who feel politics should never be discussed in church.
As
Presbyterians we believe faith is linked intimately to how we live our lives ….
all aspects of our lives …. and that include our politics. This statement from the Study Edition of our
Presbyterian Book of Confessions:
“The Claim
of God on All of Life: Reformed
confessional tradition follows Calvin in emphasizing the authority of God over
every area of human life; over personal and familial relationships, over the
organization and government of the Christian community, and over social, economic,
and political “secular” communities as well.”[1]
The Ten
Commandments and the Great commandment read this morning are a good example of
this intersection of law with faith as God penetrates into all aspects of life. For Presbyterians this wonderful idea and
ideal, “One Nation Under God” makes a lot of sense! This being said, in the context of faith in
God through Jesus Christ God’s Son, I hope we also see ourselves as Christians
first. Some may disagree with this, but
I truly believe this. I pray we use our
faith in God as Christians to inform how we live as Americans – and not the
other way around.
Let us
also remember that while we are ONE NATION UNDER GOD that is predominantly Christian, we
also have under the American flag those who are Buddhists, Jainists,
Confucists, Taoists, Sikhs, and Hindus and Islamic people, Jewish people – and
I am sure I have missed a few religions.
One common theme, however, people of all faiths champion together
serving this nation under the American Flag, hand-in-hand and
arm-to-arm in head and heart” – ONE PEOPLE OF FAITH AS WELL AS ONE NATION UNDER GOD!
As an example:
Women and men of many different faith-traditions are proud to serve this
country in the Armed Services—and they are dying for the freedoms we all enjoy. In fact, the DOD (Department of Defense)
places “high value on the rights of all
members of the Armed Forces to observe the tenets of their respective
religions.”[2] A basic principle that makes us unique,
globally, as Americans found n the Bill of
Rights in the First Amendment to
the Constitution ratified effective
December 15th 1791: “Congress shall make no law respecting an
establishment of religion, nor prohibiting the free exercise thereof…..”[3] So again we are ONE NATION OF MANY PEOPLE AND MANY
FAITHS LIVING TOGETHER UNDER A HIGHER POWER – GOD!
There is
a lot to think about when it comes to connecting religious faith with American citizenship
– and the Pledge of Allegiance is an
example. There have been efforts in the
past to take the words “under God” out of the Pledge of Allegiance. It was in 2004 the Supreme Court refused to
hear the case to remove these words, UNDER GOD, from our pledge.
It was in
1954 the words “Under God” were placed in the Pledge of Allegiance. It was A Presbyterian pastor, pastor of the New
York Avenue Presbyterian Church, Rev. George M. Docherty that said of the
inclusion of the words “Under God” in the pledge, words of which I agree
wholeheartedly: “One
nation under God does not limit the United States
Even in our
darkest moments as a nation we have been united under a higher power, GOD, bound with the idea of freedom tied intimately
to our “unalienable rights” as defined by the Declaration of Independence….for
“We hold these truths to be
self-evident, that all (women and) men are created equal, endowed by our creator
with certain unalienable rights-that among these are life, liberty, and the
pursuit of happiness.”[5]
II. A Broken Nation
All this
being said: While we talk about what it
means – with pride – to be American is the sobering fact that so much in this
nation seems to be broken! There are too
many people hurting – the unemployed, hungry, disenfranchised from main-steam
American life – women and men and children who don’t feel like they can
celebrate!
One
example found in this statistic I was looking at this past week: 14
million children—American Children—are being served in this nation by the
organization FEEDING AMERICA
There are
lots of issues. There will always be
things in our society that are broken and need to be fixed. There are economic issues, immigration
issues, health care issues, budget issues, environmental issues, issues of
global security and how we are going to relate with other nations around the
globe. There will always be issues. There will always be something that needs to
be fixed.
This is the
week we step back from the issues to affirm again: We are proud to be Christians and Americans
who believe we are ONE NATION UNDER GOD…AND THIS TRUTH: FAITH IN GOD WILL
ALWAYS PREVAIL OVER BROKENESS IN THIS NATION – IN THIS WORLD.
We cannot
fail in solving problems with God and God’s love under girding all that we
decide to do to make this a better world.
We can wave our flags and proudly shoot our fireworks because we are ONE NATION – UNDER ALL THE BLESSINGS GOD GIVES US! But we must also do more than celebrate. We must engage the powers that would keep us
from fighting the good fight in standing up for the rights of others….and all
that God would have us do in making this a better nation and world in which to
live.
III.
TURNING TO SCRIPTURE
While the Declaration of Independence represents
the values we espouse from the founders of this nation, it is the sacred
writings of Holy Scripture including the “Ten Commandments” and the “Great
Summery of Law or Commandment of Love”, that give me a preachable moment in
connecting what we value the most. Today’s
scripture in Paul’s writing to the people of
“Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom”
Truly, we
must affirm that true freedom comes not from earthly powers or principalities –
but through the “spirit of our Lord” – GOD!
Let me talk
about this in another way: Where the
Spirit of the Lord is NOT, there
will NOT be freedom. There will be bondage. There will be conflict. There will be little consequence to what we
do. There is little or no accountability
without GOD!
Where the
Spirit of the Lord is NOT we lose
our moral compass. Without God and God’s
love and God’s care and God’s compassion, decisions will be made in a helter-skelter
way! Where the Spirit of the Lord is NOT, there is no true way to measure
what is good or courageous or moral – freedom dissipates and chaos rules. We have in our Constitution some remarkable and courageous guidelines to help our
leaders govern. What we have in
scripture is God’s remarkable and courageous words that help us all live in
love for God….and love for neighbor.
What I am gleaning
from scripture today: Freedom doesn’t
come entirely from a Constitution or Bill or Rights or the Declaration of Independence
From the
perspective of Christianity and other religions with belief in a higher power… we can only truly be united and free if we
accept living under the rule of God. And
in living as one nation, one people under God there is one single and universal
commandment – a higher law than any other law -- a spirit-filled law:
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and mind
and
You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Matt 22:36-40
Take away
God’s Spirit and God’s Love and life looses meaning and purpose -- and freedom fades
away.
For my last
thought this morning…..we say we believe GOD IS LOVE. When we use the endearing word GOD we can
also substitute the endearing word LOVE to defining how God rules in life. So consider this: WE ARE ONE NATION UNDER GOD! WE ARE ONE NATION UNDER LOVE!
The logic
in this makes sense for me – the summary of all the laws and all the
commandments including the ten commandments:
LOVE. For the Christian, the freedom we enjoy and
experience as Americans is empty and purposeless without God and God’s love.
IV.
CONCLUSION
So as
responsible citizens who focus on the higher power named God – God is our
supreme leader and commander-in-chief – and God never loses elections. God is part of everything we do as a nation.
So let’s
work at making sure we wrestle with what it means to be free as a nation –
under God – working together to solve the problems, and heal the brokenness
that exists using all the resources and tools God gives us – the most powerful
of all tools: LOVE.
So take
this affirmation home with you: Where there is freedom, we also find the
presence and power of God and God’s love.
[1] Book of Confessions, Study Edition, pg. 358
[2] DOD Web page, policies.
[3] The Constitution, Amendment #1 (First ten Amendments are the ‘Bill of Rights’)
[4] Wikopedia article on Rev. George M. Docherty
[5] The Declaration of Independence, adopted in Philadelphia July 4th, 1776 ,
some minor editing for this sermon.
[6] Hunger Fact sheet, feedingamerica.org, 2012
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