What do you think of the young man on the cover of our bulletin?  What is he doing?  I think that Kristen took this photo in a church camp so I think that he might be in church. Maybe he is praying. Or, perhaps he is just sleeping or day-dreaming. Or, he could simply be remembering the mischief from the night before or planning his escapades for whenever he is allowed to get out of the room.

 

Our Fourth of July celebrations usually feature images of fireworks or, sometimes, we feature our military as a symbol of America’s strength. I have enormous respect for our men and women in the military but today, I want to focus on people like our young friend in the photo.

 

And I want to suggest that while our military is essential to our survival, it is not the source of our strength as a nation.  The nation’s strength is found in the way that we live out our public faith. 

 

What do you see in the future of this young man and his peers?  There could be a military uniform and that would be honorable.  But he could also serve in the Peace Corps. Perhaps he will carry this nation’s genius for problem solving into another place and there live out our deep commitment to the dignity of every human being.

 

He could be a plumber or a carpenter and provide services to the community that are absolutely essential to wholesome living. John Gardner, years ago said something like this; a country that values its philosophers more than its plumbers will have holes in both its philosophy and in its pipes.

 

He could be an attorney who attends to the needs of the widow and orphan, to the vulnerable in our society or maybe a scientist who will some of the money provided by Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett to solve medical problems in places where market forces will not and can not operate.

 

Or, can you see this young man as the leader of a congregation, perhaps a pastor or missionary, telling the stories of Jesus to a world that is too soon to forget?

 

On this week of the Fourth of July, how do you picture the future for this young man’s generation? What is the faith that will shape his tomorrow. The way that we answer that question will determine the shape of America’s future.

 

This week, I read the passage from II Samuel, chapter 1, that talks about the death of King Saul and his son Jonathan. In his Ode to Saul and Jonathan, David cries out, “O how the mighty have fallen. The weapons of war have perished.” (II Samuel 1: 27)  I read that and began to think about ancient Israel. “Whatever happened,” I wonder, “to the ancient Kingdom of Israel?”

 

And the answer is, the only thing that really endures is the faith. Here is the shortest history of Israel that you will ever find. First there were the tribes, each living an independent existence. Saul, David and Solomon united the tribes into single country and for a while, King David and King Solomon ruled their territory with glory and might. And then it started to come apart. The country divided. And then the powers that surrounded Israel began to take over. What was once Israel, stood in the middle of the wars that involved Egypt, and Syria, and Persia and Babylonia and Rome and Israel never again fully regained her independence.

 

And through it all the ancient prophets cried out, remember your faith. Remember the God who led you out of Egypt. Be faithful to your God. And the second verse of their hymn was always this, remember the widow and the orphan. As Amos said it, “Let justice roll down like a mighty river and righteousness like an ever flowing stream” (Amos 5:24). 

 

The survival and strength of the nation is always more dependent upon its character, upon the way that it exercises justice and righteousness than upon its military might. Israel surrendered its freedom as it lost its character, so reads the message of the Old Testament.

 

Incidentally, Israel was always officially Jewish. That did not matter. What mattered was the character of the people and the character of the leaders. That character was always grounded, first in the relationship with God and out of that relationship, a powerful ethic and morality that began to see the distinctive value in each of God’s people.

 

That sense of the each person’s value was intensified in the New Testament with the message of Jesus.

 

In the Bible story that was read this morning, Jesus is on his way to the home of Jairus to attend to his sick daughter. On the way, he surrounded by people including a woman who has been bleeding for 12 years. Can you imagine her distress? Not only was she physically depleted, but she was financially depleted having spent all of her money on medical care, and she was spiritually excluded because of her “unclean” condition.

 

So she takes a chance and reaches out in the crowd, and she touches him. And suddenly she is made well.  Jesus has felt the power leave him and he asks, “Who touched me?”  The disciples make light of the question; in this crowd, they say, it could have been anyone! But Jesus keeps looking until the woman admits her deed.

 

She tells her story and Jesus replies, “Your faith has made you well.” I sometimes wonder why Jesus did not claim the credit.  You touched me and I made you well is what he could have said. But it seems that he was in the business of empowering people in their own faith, “Your faith has made you well.”

 

Now we are going to risk stretching this scripture too far. You be the judge.

 

The question is, what is faith?  What is it that makes us well? For the woman, it was a matter of believing in Jesus. But is that all? It is a matter of trust but is that all? For her, it was the way that she embodied her belief and trust and picked her weary body up and took it to where Jesus was and reached out to touch him. For that ancient woman, faith was the way that belief became behavior. Is that not so?

 

So how might this speak to the week of the Fourth of July?  For what it is worth, I do not believe that nations can ever be Christian!  Only men and women, only persons can follow Jesus. 

 

But persons do shape the climate of the community and persons do shape the way that a nation lives out its own principles. So let me point to two phrases that I believe are critical to the American character.

 

In the declaration of Independence we affirm “that all men are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights….” Every person, without exception, has been gifted by the creator, with certain human rights simply by virtue of their humanity and to deny or abridge those fundamental rights is to strike a blow against the creator.

 

The way that belief shapes our behavior will shape our character and that will shape our future, the future of the young man on the bulletin.

 

The second phrase comes from “Pledge of Allegiance”, “with liberty and justice for all.”  Liberty and justice happen when those inalienable rights are honored. Liberty for all, justice for all, without exception, that is our founding belief.

 

As that belief become behavior, our character will be formed and the United States will become the nation that the creator intends.

 

That is the future that I dream for our young people. It is the faith that will make us well.

 

Let it be so.

 

Amen