Human success is in the hand of the Lord, and it is he who confers honor upon the lawgiver.
What an interesting time and day to be commemorating. As a faith tradition rooted in England, Independence Day was a quagmire of conflicted thoughts and opinions. The early colonists started as subjects of England, and brought with them their Anglican faith. When independence was looming, those in the Church had to figure out how to be Anglican, while declaring independence from Anglican. Two-thirds of the signers of the Declaration of Independence were nominally Anglican, a church where the monarch of England was the head of the Church, so the struggle was real. When those early Anglicans figured out how to hold on to the faith and theology to which they ascribed, and still support independence from England, that was worthy of celebration. As a result, Independence Day remains in the Episcopal prayer book as an official feast day. Many Episcopal Churches have American flags, right next to the Episcopal flag in the church. And many shudder at the notion.
So today, 243 years after that Declaration, we are conflicted by this feast day. Yes, we will take the opportunity to grill out, and find fireworks, but that’s about all the celebrating we do. Politics are complicated, the flag is now seen by some as a symbol or icon of something ugly and very different than what it originally signaled. So Independence Day becomes a day where some rail against the government, the politics, and all the flag has come to symbolize.
But to me, that feels like throwing the baby out with the bathwater. And it presumes that the we are the saviors of this nation. The appointed readings for Independence Day clearly point to God being in charge, not us – even in political settings. God overthrows the unrighteous. God plucks up the roots of nations, and plants the humble. God removes some of the nations and erases them from human memory. This sovereign God rant concludes with the admonition that Pride and violent anger were not created for human beings. I’m not suggesting we cannot be angry, but ultimately it’s God that will resolve any national drama, not mortals.
Early US political and church leaders understood this. The Declaration of Independence is full of reference and deference to God as the ultimate creator and keeper of the peace. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal,”. We’re familiar with that clause, but the next part of that same sentence continues, “that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights”. It is God who provides unalienable rights. The Declaration concludes, “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.”
Divine Providence. Capitalized in the Declaration of Independence. Our nation was founded on a clear understanding and acknowledgment of God’s supreme authority and loving-kindness on this nation, and all of us in it. And while the nation is different than it was, the political leaders are different – everything is different, I’m not sure that means it’s all worse. I don’t know why we’d dismiss the good, because of the bad. If that was God’s way, wouldn’t we all be dismissed, because of our bad bits?
This morning, I’m thinking about Independence Day. About being grateful for what the early leaders of this country intended. Clearly there are places we aren’t living out that vision – for example, all men are still not equal. And the flag is sometimes flown in grotesque settings – at violent protests, at hate rallies.
But I won’t allow others to steal my sense of honor and gratitude at the original intent and meaning, and the wise deference to God as the ultimate adjudicator and overseer. Where we’ve strayed from that early vision of this country, today I will hand that over to God to sort out, and instead celebrate the good.
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