A Word or Two About These Days, and Choice

I confess to feeling sad of late. Watching the news and tracing the rhetoric of this years Presidential campaign, and the vitriol that has followed. Listening to talking heads on TV, and witnessing the division in our country at heights I cannot recall - even in the decade of the 60s - including Colin Kaepernick not standing for our nation's anthem, and now the similar act of others. And then, last night, gazing at coverage of one more city, Charlotte NC, in riot over perceived (whether real in this case, or not) racial bigotry - all of this has, frankly, left me sad.

But today this sadness came to a head as I received a text and pic from my daughter, Taylor, who is visiting Philadelphia, PA. to attend a wedding. She is with our dear family friend, Debbie Irons, and they've taken this opportunity to visit sites of this famed city, such as Independence Hall (aka the State House of Pennsylvania), pictured here. This is where our nation's Declaration of Independence and Constitution were signed. So that when I saw the pic Taylor sent my heart was seized. Seeing it and reflecting over what now is, I wondered over what we have become. How have we come to this? What has happened to our sense of unity, common ground, or our national thankfulness and pride? At least... that is where I began. But now, in thinking further, I offer up this - for, for me, it brings both a reminder and some needed hope.

How so? By remembering that the idea, which is America, has always been, first and foremost, just that - an 'idea.' One capable of creating, if you will, in any of us the 'hoped after ideal.' For think of it. Both those who framed our Constitution and those who fought for our liberty were simply those who, one person at a time, chose to believe in this idea and thereby live. In other words there were, even then, those who disagreed - not only across the ocean but here on this very land. They were those who saw things differently, who did not want change, who chose not to join in and who even chose to resist. Did this dash effort or halt progress?  Did this change sentiment or cause our constitutional framers and militia to give up?  No! The majority held. Some early on and some sometime later.  And so, today, we remain hopeful in this ideal. One which still, on any given day, is either true or not- but certainly only for those who choose it to be.

Now the way of my point is this. Many of us recall parents teaching us of choices we could make everyday - to choose right over wrong, love over hate and good over evil. Like mine, perhaps yours reminded you this 'choice' would never be any more true than it was right then - encountering your next circumstance or the person you next might meet. So when Taylor sent me her pic my reaction, though at first sad, is now changed. In realizing that the framers of our constitution and those who declared our independence did not do so because of their reality but because this was the reality they chose - one they wanted so; likewise, my own patriotism and hope should not be based only on what is, but as much so on what should and yet might be. Meaning, my patriotism - the best part of it - lies squarely in choice. My choice everyday to defend your right and mine to have an opinion, and do so in respect and awe of my fellow man. Not with hate, vitriol, vengeance or revenge, but with love. Yes, racism is real in America. To say it is not would be foolish. Like you I don't like it. Not one bit. But why is it so? Not because our constitution is failed, but because we are fallen, sinful and come short, each of us, of God's ideal.

Christ once told His disciples that freedom is not found in circumstance, but in knowing - saying, 'you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.'  He was talking of Himself, and of potential freedom from sin through 'knowing' Him. Today I stand on this very same thing - both as a man in Christ free from sin because of Him, and as an American citizen free from tyranny over ones actions and my own mind. I stand and choose. I choose not to hate but to love. I choose not vengeance but forgiveness, not sentimentalism but freedom - even from those with whom I disagree. In standing so I am free indeed. I will not give up simply because of someone else's response, and in this way my sadness over what is can be replaced with hope in what might yet be. I will not be made a prisoner.  For in Christ, and in these United States, I am still... free.

Indeed,

Pastor Sam