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True Freedom             Galatians 5: 13-25               July 1, 2007

The other day, there was an article on the front page of the Philadelphia Inquirer entitled “Which one is the holiday weekend?”  Actually, the column was about the Jersey Shore, and it raised such critical questions as “will bars and restaurants need extra ice cubes this week or next week?” and “when will hotels impose their famous three-night minimum holiday stay rules?”

Well, it won’t surprise you that most of the merchants and hospitality vendors interviewed by the Inquirer writer decided to hedge their bets and plan for both weekends.  While there were some arguments that starting the celebration on a weekend that actually is partly in June is somehow not right, the overwhelming consensus was that this year the Fourth of July weekend won’t be a weekend at all – it will be what the church often calls a “octave” – starting yesterday, June 30^th and ending, eight days later, on Sunday, July 8^th.

Well, as I’m sure you’ve already gathered, we, here at First Moravian, are recognizing Independence Day today – on the Sunday that is, in fact, closest to the actual Holiday.

Actually, our recognition of the Holiday raises two interesting questions:  First, what is the fuss all about on the 4^th of July? And second, why should we, as members of the church, be celebrating such an event?

The answer to the first question – What’s the big fuss? – is pretty straightforward.  We Americans recognize July 4^th as the Birthday of our Nation.  It’s the anniversary of the day the Declaration of Independence was adopted – July 4, 1776. 

In many respects, Independence Day is our Nation’s defining holiday.  Celebrations often include speeches by politicians reminding us of what the United States is about.  Words like liberty and equality are often spoken.  Fireworks displays are everywhere, and that most American of foods, the hotdog, is served – sometimes to excess, by the way (the annual Nathan’s hotdog eating contest is held on the 4^th of July).

Setting aside all of the pleasant traditions, however, we make a big fuss on the 4^th of July because it reminds us of one if the most important – if not the most important – of the core values that define us as citizens of this Nation.  Freedom.

Wow, do we Americans love freedom.  We live our lives with the assumption that we have it.  We send our soldiers to foreign lands in the name of it.  It is the most important concept articulated by that wonderful text that adorns the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor. “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,” the poet writes.  

In fact, freedom is the one-word answer to that first question I raised a moment ago.  What is the big fuss about the 4^th of July?  Freedom. 

But before we light the sparklers and wave the flag, let’s not forget the second question.  After all, we are not just citizens, brothers and sisters, we are, first and foremost, Christian citizens.  So we must also ask and answer the question, “why are we – the members of the Body of Christ – recognizing this Holiday?”

Interestingly, the answer to the second question is actually the same as the answer to the first.  The reason we, as Christians, should recognize this Holiday is also captured in a single word – the same single word – freedom.

When I planned our service this morning, there were two old patriotic hymns that I considered using.  Neither, by the way, is in our blue Book of Worship.  I had to go back to the old red Moravian Hymnal to find them.  We sang the first one earlier – O Beautiful for Spacious Skies.  We’re not going to sing the other one, but I’m going to read two verses from it for you now.  It’s about freedom.  I’m sure you know the words – probably by heart:

My country,' tis of thee,
sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing;
land where my fathers died,
land of the pilgrims' pride,
from every mountainside let freedom ring!

Our fathers' God, to thee,
author of liberty, to thee we sing;
long may our land be bright
with freedom's holy light;
protect us by thy might, great God, our King. 

The lyrics to this song were written in 1831 by a pastor, Reverend Samuel Francis Smith of Boston's Park Street Church, while he was at  Seminary in Andover, Massachusetts.  It is not only a Hymn; it was essentially our National Anthem for the better part of the 19^th Century.  The Star Spangled Banner did not become the National Anthem until 1931.

The song points to the fact that freedom is both a national value and a Christian value.  That God is, in fact, the author of liberty.

So you see, freedom, the central theme of the 4^th of July Holiday, is also one of the central themes of our Christian faith. 

Listen, again, to a portion of the text that is our Epistle Lesson for today.  Paul wrote,  “for freedom, Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit to a yoke of slavery.”

Comforting words, aren’t they?  But Paul doesn’t stop there. “You were called to freedom, brothers and sisters;” he continues, “only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another.  For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”

Paul is clearly telling his readers that freedom is a gift from God.  It is part of what it means to be a citizen of God’s Kingdom.  And because that is true, he then clearly points out, our freedom carries with it the obligation to love one another.  “Through love, become slaves to one another,” Paul commands. 

My friends, I am confident that if Paul were alive today, living in this Century, his words to us as Christians in America would be no different than the ones he penned to the Christians in Galatia. 

Paul had urgent concerns for the Galatians.  “You are free,” he tells them.  But that freedom requires nothing less than sacrificial love for one another.

If we fast forward to the present and try to apply Paul’s words on this 4^th of July weekend, as I believe we must, three sobering observations come into clear focus:

First – The concentration of wealth and power in our nation has reached an extreme.  If you define wealth as the total value of everything a person or a family owns, minus any debts, 1% of our population owns more than a third of the National wealth and a staggering 84% of that wealth is in the hands of the top 20%.

Second – The quality medical care in which we take such pride in this country is only a dream for an increasing segment of our population.  The number of Americans without health insurance continues to rise. The number now is close to 47 million, or roughly 16% of our population. This segment of our neighbors tend to receive less preventive care, get diagnosed when their diseases are more advanced and have higher mortality rates than those of us who are insured.

And Third – In the richest nation in the world, mind you, 38 million people, roughly 13% of our population, fall into a category that is euphemistically called “food insecure.”   Which means 38 million American people have trouble finding the resources to put food on the table each week.

When I read these statistics, I feel like someone has smacked me on the head with a two-by-four. 

And I can only draw one conclusion, I’m afraid.  As a nation, we have embraced our God-given freedom, but I fear we have forgotten the second part of the equation.  I fear we have forgotten that freedom carries with it the obligation to, as Paul puts it so pointedly, “be slaves to one another in love.”  We have forgotten that freedom without compassion for the poor, the sick and the hungry is not freedom at all.

The other night, a group of us were talking about the heat that the Pepsi Corporation is taking over a reported advertising blunder.  You may have heard about it.  Pepsi vehemently denies it, by the way, but the story is that Pepsi decided, some time ago, to produce a patriotic can with the Pledge of Allegiance printed on it, leaving out the “under God” phrase from the Pledge.

The backlash from church groups at the mere thought of someone removing those words was swift and predictable.  “If we do not buy any Pepsi product,” one e-mail said, “then they will not receive any of our money.  After all, the words ‘In God We Trust’ is on our money.”

Let me suggest a slightly different twist on this same subject: a groundswell of public opinion reaffirming the Pledge of Allegiance the way it is and the motto “In God We Trust” on our currency is well and good.  But we can’t claim to be a nation “under God,” therefore embracing the freedom that the writer of My Country ‘Tis of Thee correctly points out is authored by God, and at the same time ignore the clear, unambiguous demand in Scripture for the Nations – not just the individuals, but the Nations – to care for the poor and the sick and feed the hungry.  

And I would argue that at present, the data suggests that we are doing a pretty poor job of carrying out that demand.

Now, I know there are lots of different opinions on the subject of the best way to care for our Nation’s poor and hungry and needy.  Some would favor additional government initiatives; some would suggest that a small-government approach, with the private sector taking the lead, is the best solution. 

While we may respectfully disagree on the methods, however, there is no escaping the basic truth.  We Christians have every reason to join in the festivities on the 4^th of July.  We have every reason to sing the patriotic hymns and say the Pledge of Allegiance– including the phrase “Under God.” 

But as Christians we cannot sit idly by while our Nation’s leaders turn their back on our disenfranchised citizens.  Prophetically speaking the truth to those in power is not just our right as Christian Americans, it is our duty.

So, my friends, let us enjoy the 4^th.  But in addition to listening the sounds of “Stars and Stripes” and, if you’re like me, Handel’s “Music for the Royal Fireworks,” let us allow the words of Paul to ring in our ears as well.  May we enthusiastically embrace our American freedom, but never forget that for us as Christians, true freedom also means loving our neighbor.  May that true Christian freedom be ours.  Today, Independence Day and every day.

                                                                                AMEN