On this 4th
of July Weekend, let’s just take a moment to give thanks for our Freedoms, hard
won by visionaries who were willing to state, “And for the support of this Declaration, with
a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to
each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor” for the dream of that
freedom.
The signers of the Declaration of Independence were courageous men who risked everything for what they thought right and necessary.
Representatives of each of the 13 colonies signed the document and went out on
a limb. Should the endeavor fail, their lives and fortunes were forfeit.
Let us remember the
thousands of men and women in uniform over the years, and now, who have defended
that freedom to live, worship, and prosper as we want.
Let us pray for our
leaders that they may continue to hold the vision of freedom for all people as
promised by Declaration of Liberty and the poem, by Emma Lazarus, on the Statue
of Liberty:
The New Colossus
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows
world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!"
cries she
With silent lips. "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!"
We are blessed by our
freedoms and our possessions. Let us not grow weary of being the hands of Love
to others who are not so fortunate!
Next time, we’ll
start a series of posts looking at ways we can Love one another in little ways,
as we share our Blessings and live into “Loving one another as Christ loved
us”.
