A Sermon by The Rev. Dr. Roger Douglas

America

The Rev. Dr. Roger Douglas

St. Margaret's Episcopal Church & School

A dream of a new day where they would become a welcoming community.

The song "America," has always held a special place in my heart. I never knew as a city boy from the east about purple mountains or fruited plains, but somehow I sensed they could be signs of God’s favor upon this country.

It was only later that I began to realize that God’s favor, or God’s blessing, (that had been shed upon this country, was not a once and for ever thing.) A lot more was expected of us as Americans. Our calling was not simply to admire the beauty of the land.

And so, on this 4th of July weekend, I wasn’t to explore with you a bit of what God expects of us. I am doing this out of the belief that blessing and grace are bestowed upon this country for a purpose, not simply as an entitlement.

The curious thing about God’s blessing is that God expects you to find ways to bless in return. Blessings are gifts from God. But blessings have to be utilized, lest the blessings die, or become abandoned from lack of use.

Over two hundred and thirty years ago, a group came together and received a blessing from God. It was a group of people who had been heavily influenced by the words of Scripture. They had not only heard the Bible read in church; they actually read sections like Old Testament lesson from Deuteronomy, read them in their homes.

Anyway, out of this group’s understanding of the faith, as well as their experience of being strangers in a strange land, they began to articulate a dream. A dream of a new day where they would become a welcoming community who were able to pass on the blessings they had received. This original dream was of becoming a wildly inclusive community with the unalienable right of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It was as if they were dreaming of establishing a new kind of family, God’s family with freedom for all.

We are to celebrate this common vision. In doing this we find there are elements of rejoicing and of self examination. It is time to give thanks and to repent, a time of ice cream socials, and a time of serious reflection. As a nation we’ve come along way from those original 13 colonies, yet God willing elements of the dream still remain with us.

Our founding fathers had a common vision. A vision of a society that would work for the common good. A nation where people from all countries could come and be transformed by the American dream. The dream on one people under God, one family with a common purpose and a familiar set of ideals. A later version of this dream articulated at the beginning of the last century was to be the melting pot of the world.

A friend of mine in a recent sermon told his congregation we’ve now become less of a melting pot, and more of a salad bowl. We’re a conglomerate of minorities. We no longer think of ourselves as Americans. Everyone is now a hyphenated American. We’re African-Americans, Asian-Americans, Hispanic-Americans, or Angle-Americans. This hyphenated situation is symbolic that there is no compelling belief that binds us together as one family. And therefore fear has replaced civility as the dominant note in our public discourse.

Can we be honest enough to admit, there is no common unifying vision in the country today? Can we admit that we all write our own script? We are all private contractors, constructing our own private ideas of what this country is about. Meanwhile, we are left impoverished at the center because we’ve lost the common vision, we’ve forgotten the dream. We’ve misplaced the blessings. And we’ve let our fears replace the Gospel imperative to love.

Why is this? I have problems with sermons that simply analyze the situation or stand in judgment without taking the next step or at least modify beyond the analyzed stage. What can we, sitting in the pew do about it? So let me take the next step – but not to wrap up all your questions, nor to give an easy answer to a very complex problem. But instead let me tentatively suggest each of us might consider the next step into some very cloudy waters.

One of the reasons our founding fathers had this vision of being an inclusive community was that they believed in "the promises of God." They truly believed the words spoken by Jesus when He said, "I have come that you may have life and have it abundantly." Somehow they believed that this Grace poured over the land would not dry up, or be found lacking in years to come.

Were they just naïve? Naïve to believe that even though the glass may be half full in the present; in the future, God would take care of things. They trusted in God’s promise of abundance, and thus were willing to share what they had. I am convinced that the key to unlocking so much of the anxiety, neurosis, and fear, that plague us is to begin to become committed to the truth of god’s promises.

What we seem now to, have adopted is a counter philosophy to the promise of abundance. One that I call a philosophy of scarcity. Scarcity is the frame for much of our life. We earnestly believe that there is only so much to go around. Therefore one must hold tightly to what one had, and guard against someone taking what is justly ours. If you take a part of the pie, then there will be less left for me and mine. If I gain something, than someone has to lose. This philosophy of scarcity make us all competitors in the game of life. And fear replaces lave when scarcity replaces abundances as the principal vision in life.

Oh, it’s so easy to stand in the pulpit, 6 feet above contradiction, and hold forth. I recognize this. And I also recognize the difficulty in making a change, particularly when we’ve become wedded to such a basic philosophy like a belief in scarcity.

Good people, only those who truly believe in the promise of abundance can cease to be a competitor. Only those who believe in abundance can afford to be general, open-minded, welcoming, and loving. Only those who believe in abundance can be open to the dreams of forefathers.

The song American, speaks of a land crowned with food and filled with brotherhood. I really resonate to that song and the dream it represents. God’s grace and God’s promises are still at work among us. God’s purpose is pulling, calling, leading, and pushing us into new challenges, new ways of thinking, and new ways of behaving.

As we came to the end of pour thoughts, let me share a story that happened before the declaration of Independence was written. A group of students had been meeting in a seminary during the darkest days of the revolution. Things were not going well in New England. There were great shortages of food, battles were being lost, and communities were split between British Sympathizers and those that believed in the American dream. These students met informally with their beloved teacher.

One of the students near the end of the meeting asked, "How will we as a country finally recognize when the darkness of this conflict is over and the dawn of a new day has arrived?" The wizened old teacher, in good Socratic style turned it back on the students, and asked, "What answer would you give?" One student ventured to say, "It’s obvious, when the British are defeated and the fighting has stopped." "Not so," the old teacher said. Another student said, "When we have adequate food and more freedom." I think not said the old man. And still another student said, "When you can distinguish between your friends and your enemies." No, said the old teacher, shaking his head. Then all the students said, "Tell us." The old man picked up his Bible, and clasping it to his chest, said, "It will be when you look into the face of a stranger, and see a member of your own family. At that moment, the dawn of a new day will be coming and God’s blessing will be upon this new nation."

On this July 4th weekend, we have an opportunity to renew the dreams of our forefathers. We can believe that a new day is possible for this country of ours. We can concentrate on the promises of God rather than focus on the problems in which we seem mired. Then some years from now when our great, great grandchildren will be singing these songs and thinking about their country; I hope and I pray they too will be proud of the people who have made their country so wonderful and beautiful – "crowned their good with brotherhood, from sea to shining sea." If they are proud, we are the ones they will be proud of. .... Amen

**I am indebted to the Rev. Dr. Francis Wade and the Very Rev. Alan Jones for several ideas in the sermon.

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