Friday, July 3, 2009

the Fourth of July: Dependence Day


I'm thankful to be a citizen of the USA. It's a marvelous and complex nation. Founded by religious zealots, adventurers, entrepreneurs and a few criminals, they held freedom and faith in high regard.

...but I'm convinced that faith is the duct tape that holds it all together!

In the Virginia statute for religious freedom, an underpinning of the first amendment, Thomas Jefferson wrote:

All men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinion in matters of religion.

Where did tolerance run amok? Why don’t we feel free to profess our faith? What’s wrong with a lively, respectful discussion about religion?



Thank you, Lord,
For the freedom we enjoy in the USA.
It would seem to compliment
Your grant of “free will.”

We are free to pursue our dreams,
Free to pursue our faith.
In that tandem,
Life has meaning and purpose.

But it’s not a perfect system.
Freedom turns selfish,
Culture coarsens.
Free will rejects the things of faith,
Values and community.

Here’s where the evangelist shouts:
REPENT! REPENT!
And it’s spot on.

On this Independence Day
Let’s make a Declaration of Dependence,
On God Almighty, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.
Let’s profess our belief, reliance and trust in You.

Freedom without faith
Will not prosper or satisfy.

Amen.



(Steven Curtis Chapman gets credit for the Declaration of Dependence theme.)