A Pastor’s Thoughts: America Our Gift

[By Pastor Phil Jordan, St. Luke’s Chapel, Van Etten]

Two hundred and fifty years ago, our nation began the experiment called democracy. Our forefathers, the founders of our country, laid the groundwork for a nation established to secure the life, liberties, and freedoms of its people: freedoms to cultivate and nourish everyone who, in turn, would strengthen our nation through the opportunities it offered.

Like the road to Calvary, it has not been an easy road. Differences in opinions, faith, politics, and cultures have created schisms along the way that endure today. Yet, these differences have created diversity, which has called people to our shores seeking refuge and freedoms to become our great nation.

Founded under the principles of Christian tradition, peoples from all over the world have come together to become an eclectic group of people supposedly bonded by love. For most of us, Lady Liberty has welcomed our ancestors as part of this great democracy called America. In our trials and temptations, we have struggled to maintain its integrity. So far, so good.

We live in a land geographically diverse, knit together in the fibers of so many different cultures, races, and religions. We take pride in the tapestry of diversity, yet shamefully we must look back at where we have ‘erred and strayed like lost sheep,’ seeking forgiveness for our sins of taking pride in our accomplishments. 

Our fears have often jeopardized our existence, yet when called upon, the patriotic fervor of our nation brings us together with the soulful and spiritual feeling indescribable when we hear the national anthem or salute the emblem of our country, the Stars & Stripes, the flag of this great nation.

We mustn’t forget our wrongs and endeavor to make them right. We mustn’t forget the natural inhabitants, the Native American people, whom we often wronged. We mustn’t forget the early settlers who fought the odds and when America survived. We mustn’t forget those who died in the cause of freedom, and in the tragedies of human existence have maintained what we celebrate today.

As we celebrate today, let us remember our inalienable rights for ALL people: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Our faith leads us to an understanding that God created all of us, and through Jesus and our loving Father in heaven, love embraces ALL of us.

The words of Emma Lazarus from her poem, “The New Colossus” enshrined on the Statue of Liberty are a great definition not only of democracy but of America.

Give me your tired, your poor,

your huddled masses, yearning to breathe free,

the wretched refuse of your teeming shore,

send these, the homeless tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door.

— Amen —