If the identity of a nation can be captured in a handful of words, the United States certainly stands on these: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights: that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness."

It was a radical notion when penned by Thomas Jefferson in 1776. He drew from Enlightenment thinkers like John Locke, who made the case for the innate worth and dignity of every person. He also drew upon the very first chapter of the Bible, which proposes that human beings are made in the image of God. Jefferson simply made explicit the connection between universal human dignity and the rights all people should be guaranteed as a result.

All these years later, and those words still offer our nation a strong foundation, even as they remain incompletely realized. We are not nearly so brazen in our limitations of their plain meaning as the founders, who somehow left women and Black people outside the perimeter of unalienable rights. Yet, we are still working our way through the political, social, and economic ramifications of these 35 words. We are continuing to reckon with the meaning of "all," and who needs to be drawn more completely into the circle of life, liberty, and happiness.

The process requires hard work and honesty. William Sloane Coffin said that a true patriot loves her country enough to criticize it when it fails to live up to its highest ideals. "There are three kinds of patriots, two bad, one good," he wrote. "The bad patriots are the uncritical lovers and the loveless critics of their country. The good patriots are those who carry on a lover's quarrel with their country, a reflection of God's eternal lover's quarrel with the entire world."[1]

This is a good place for American Christians to be: loving to all our fellow citizens, proud of the virtues on which our nation was founded, and committed to the work of helping us live them out more completely. We do not seek to make our country Christian, but to ensure that the noble ideals enshrined at our country's birth, which echo our own beliefs about the dignity of all people, are always propelling us to become "a more perfect union." Or, as Abraham Lincoln said at the conclusion to his second inaugural address, "With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in."

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If you're in town, please join us this weekend for one of our Eucharists. We will continue our journey through Genesis, pray for our nation and the needs of the world, hear beautiful music, and enjoy a little ice cream. I also hope you will pause to pray in coming days as we remember our nation's independence. I've created a little litany, if you're looking for words to begin your prayers.[2]

[1] William Sloane Coffin, A Passion for the Possible. Coffin served as Chaplain at Yale University and later as Sr. Minister at Riverside Church in New York.

[2] https://www.transfiguration.net/litany-for-the-fourth-of-july/