real freedom -- it's worth celebrating!

Today, I had a conversation with a friend who described his 4th of July plans -- to take his grandchildren into Boston for the reading of the Declaration of Independence.  He said that this was a tradition that he wanted to pass on.  What made it all the more meaningful was his delightful Polish accent -- which took great pride in this tradition.   There are so many Independence Day traditions -- the fireworks, BBQ, the Bristol Parade, the Boston Pops on the Esplanade with the 1812 Overture -- all of which remind us of those amazing ideas that all men are created equal and endowed by their Creator with inalienable rights which include life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. 

Lately I've been thinking about what guarantees our lives, our liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  It's easy to look at our history as a nation and find those moments -- like George Washington at Newburg, like Abraham Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address, like Martin Luther King Jr at the steps of the Lincoln Memorial -- where the spirit of the nation stood on the edge of a razor.  At each of those moments, a leader validated the promises of the Declaration with courage, wisdom and hope. We  rejoice in the good fortune, honor the men who graced us with their lives and take hope from the fact that men like Washington, Lincoln and King are part of our heritage.

There is a deeper guarantee -- one for eternal life, one that promises freedom from the bondage of sin and evil, and one that promises that the pursuit of happiness is not a chimera. In John's Gospel, Jesus told us that I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. (John 10:10).  The apostle Paul wrote in his second letter to the church at Corinth -- if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature, old things have passed away, behold, new things have come.  (2 Cor. 5:17).  These promises -- of abundant life, or newness, that the old things are really behind us when we are in Christ -- animate the life of freedom that the Christian can live as a birthright.  We can live as redeemed children of God and know the life of peace and joy that Jesus set before us.

But there is a key to experiencing the fullness of the joy set before us.  It is the key of forgiveness.  C. S. Lewis made the observation that those who say that forgiving is easy have never had anything to forgive!  I am convinced that when Jesus told Peter that he must forgive his brother seventy times seven times (Matthew 18:22) He was being quite literal.  On the path to forgiving someone four hundred ninety times, you will learn the heart of forgiveness and stop keeping score.  You will also learn the power of the prayer that Jesus taught the disciples ... And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors ... (Matthew 6:12);  that our experience of the joy of being forgiven is tied directly to how freely we forgive others. 

I am also convinced that along that path to forgiving four hundred ninety times, we will learn what Gandhi told us "The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong."  The strength to forgive comes from the understanding that none of us is perfect and from a heart that is grateful that it has been forgiven much.

If we would have life, liberty and pursue happiness -- they all begin in a life surrendered to Christ.  If we would find happiness and freedom, they are on the road of forgiveness.

Keep the faith

Richard

living independently -- how to celebrate the 4th

The Declaration of Liberty is a promise which continues to be fulfilled by each generation.  The first installment was the Revolutionary War.  The second installment was the Civil War.   In the Revolutionary War this nation was blessed to have a leader who choose to become a Cincinnatus who would walk away from power when it would have been easy to hold it.  In the Civil War the nation was blessed in the person of Abraham Lincoln.   When I look over the life of Lincoln, I can see a man who found wisdom and learned the value of letting go of pride and the freedom of forgiveness.  

Some of his practical wisdom ... "We should be too big to take offense and too noble to give it."  When you look at his cabinet -- read A Team of Rivals -- and you begin to understand that only someone who could choose not to take offense could have worked with that team.   Lincoln also said  "I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice." and "I destroy my enemies when I make them my friends."  Those ideas came to fruition in his 2nd Inaugural Address which he close with this amazing paragraph.

With malice toward none, and charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations. 

Remember that those were the words of a president who was winning the war - a war in which more Americans died than all of our other wars combined.  A war that left deep scars on the nation's soul.   What is profound is that Lincoln  embraced mercy when vengeance would have been so much more popular.  The great tragedy of the 19th century in America was the failure to choose mercy during Reconstruction.  The legacy of  Reconstruction was an impoverished South, Jim Crow, the KKK and a nation that called a grown man "boy."  I often wonder how different the life of the nation would have been if the high calling to mercy and restoration had been embraced by a war weary nation.

The prophet Isaiah wrote "He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore." (Isaiah 2:4).  Jesus said  "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing"  (Luke 23:34) 

Peace is the lesson that the Lord would have us study -- He would have us perfect peace, not conflict.  He would have us practice mercy and leave justice to His wisdom.  Forgiveness is the heart of the Gospel -- it is what we need most desperately to receive, and it is what we most desperately need to give.

Keep the faith.
Richard

The Other Independence Day -- March 15, 1783

Very soon we will celebrate the 4th of July with picnics, parades, fireworks and a remembrance of just how extraordinary the Declaration of Independence remains. Some of us will think about the risks that its signers took -- placing their lives, their fortunes, and well being in the venture. As we celebrate, it's good to remember the courage and the blessing that the promise of the Declaration sets before the nation and the world. Each generation of Americans has invested that Declaration with greater meaning and brought its promises closer to fulfillment. It is a great blessing to live in a nation that declares as a foundational truth that all men are created equal and endowed by their Creator with inalienable rights. So many live in places where that promise is rejected out of hand.

We learned about Bunker Hill, Valley Forge, Trenton, Saratoga, and Yorktown in school. We learned something of the very dear price that was paid for making the first installment on the Declaration. Perhaps we understood something about the cost of freedom if we listened carefully and used our imaginations to walk in the snows of Valley Forge and face the years of defeat punctuated by improbable victories. It would be easy to see the story of the Revolution and the years that followed that culminated in our Constitution as a stream that just had to occur exactly as it did. It would be easy to believe that the Constitution had to follow the Declaration just as day follows night.

It would be easy, but it would be wrong. A quick read of history tells us that most revolutions fail even when they sweep the Ancient Regime aside. Most become dictatorships or worse. So much depends upon the character of the men who lead the revolution.

By 1783, Cornwallis had surrendered at Yorktown and the negotiations with England dragged on in Paris. The English still held New York and the Continental Army was still mustered at Newburgh to hold that English army in the city. Unfortunately, the Congress struggled with exactly how to pay the army and many of its officers were close to mutiny. By March of 1783 a full blown conspiracy to march on the Congress in Philadelphia and force it to pay back wages was well underway. One of its leaders was Horatio Gates who had been involved in the Conway Cabal, a plot to replace George Washington during some of the darker days of the Revolutionary War.

George Washington was informed of this conspiracy by Alexander Hamilton and met with the rebellious officers at the Public Building in Newburgh. The rebellious officers were sullen, but when Washington paused before attempting to read a prepared speech, to put on his eye glasses he said to them ..."Gentlemen, will you permit me to put on my spectacles, for I have not only grown gray, but almost blind in the service of my country." With that simple statement, the remembrances of shared ordeals and loyalty overcame anger. The heart went out of the conspiracy in that moment. The nation was saved from becoming just another banana republic with a dreary series of juntas and dictators to punctuate a sad history. We are a blessed people that when liberty stood on a knife's edge, good men remembered what they had suffered and sacrificed for. We were blessed to have a leader who knew humility is greater strength than boasting.

So as you celebrate the Fourth, think about George Washington's spectacles and how they saved us. We all need help remembering what the apostle Paul wrote to the church at Ephesus, "In your anger do not sin. Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold." (Eph. 4:26-27) When you find that your anger is capturing your heart, remember Washington's spectacles. There is always more that holds us together than will pull us apart -- if we are willing to see it.

Keep the faith

Richard

Lessons from the Plum Beach Lighthouse

The lighthouse at Plum Beach was built in 1899 and was 39 years old when the Hurricane of 1938 sent 30 foot waves crashing into the tower. The two light keepers survived by lashing themselves to the weights of the clockwork mechanism that rotated the light. But it was not the storm that nearly destroyed this lighthouse -- the building of the Jamestown bridge made it obsolete in 1941. Only the sea birds inhabited this mighty tower until 2003 when the restoration began. It now stands proudly and its light once again shines in the night.

In John 8:12 Jesus said "I am the light of the world, he who follows Me shall not walk in the darkness, but shall have the light of life." I think that those two lighthouse keepers understood just how desperately we must hold onto the light. The storms of life will come; they will threaten to sweep us away into that darkness. Only when we hold onto the light when all hope seems gone will we find just how precious the light is. The really neat thing is this -- as we hold on, He holds us all the closer. When our strength fails, His begins.

The neglect of this lighthouse after the bridge was built tells us that old victories will not win today's battle. The tower was abandoned to the birds, and sixty years of neglect was demonstrated in the 52 tons of guano that were removed during the restoration. Grace and mercy are like the crew that cleaned away the debris of neglect, restored the lighthouse to its purpose and turned its light back on. Grace and mercy rescue and make things new.

It reminds me of the Prodigal Son -- "But the father said to his slaves, quickly bring out the best robe and put it on him, put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet; and bring the fattened calf, kill it and let us make merry; for this son of mine was dead, and has come to life again; was lost and has been found ..." (Luke 15:22) I see something of the Father's style in this brave lighthouse -- because it was loved, it no longer is covered in bird droppings, it has a fresh coat of paint (the best robe), it has a ring (its light is on again) and it stands proud again (new sandals). Each year hundreds of visitors celebrate its victory and restoration and capture its image from boats, cars and from the shore.

We can take a lesson or two from this brave lighthouse -- we must hold onto the light and God is in the restoration business.

Keep the faith

Richard