These were the words of Patrick Henry, many years ago, as he stood before the Virginia legislature, the House of Burgess, and pleaded for them to join in the battle for liberty.  What was the source of his passionate urging? 

I’m reminded of that most notorious time in recent history, 9/11.  Jerry and I were in the small fishing village of Ninilchik, on the Kenai Peninsula of southern Alaska, when it happened.  We caught the morning news on the TV, watching and listening intently to that horrible message.  We felt so disconnected… and hopeless, somehow… being away from home in that distant place, and yet taking the tragedy so personally.  We felt so powerless to do anything about the situation, yet so outraged and dismayed, so violated…  It was like a part of us had died inside; something so good was lost… I think our feelings may have been a little like those of Patrick Henry, so long ago--and those of any soldier who has fought on the battlefield for our country’s independence, for a just cause.

Some months later, along comes our 4^th of July celebration, Independence Day.   It’s a time when many fun things are happening across our country.  In the Prescott area we have a great parade, with many patriotic floats and groups, and bands playing, and a rodeo going on.  There are huge fireworks displays throughout the tri-city area, and the neighborhoods are covered with flags displayed to reflect the patriotism that exists.  I’m reminded of the town of Sandy, Utah, that had an absolutely gigantic display of flags stuck in the ground over a large area—3,031 in all—to represent each individual who lost their life on 9/11.  The display was shared ‘round the world by way of the internet, on the anniversary of that event.  What a statement!  And what a reminder of the magnitude of that fateful day.

Yet our 4^th of July celebration is kind of like a large birthday party!  It’s a lot of fun, but there’s the awareness that something significant has happened to cause it to be celebrated in such a way. 

And birth days are wonderful times, I think everyone would agree.  I remember what an indescribably great moment it was when each of our three children was born.  The fact of their birth, these babies that grew so completely within me, in a way so far beyond science and technology, or even anything human caused.  Such a totally incomprehensible event in the mysterious and amazingly awesome nature of it!  What woman could have ever thought or predicted things would happen in that way if there hadn’t been others who’d experienced it before?  Someone once described the experience of birth as the closest we ever get to God in this life.   Birth is indeed a miracle. 

Yet birth is often painful, too.  Any mother who’s had a child by “natural” childbirth will tell you it is an experience never to be forgotten.   Would any of us choose that, if the results weren’t so great?

The birth of any given moment, of a highly significant event, can also be painful.  Our country’s achievement of independence was one of those extremely painful yet awesome birth events on that sultry Philadelphia> summer day when the Declaration of Independence was signed.

It all started with people coming to this country in search of religious and other freedoms.  Their mother country, England, would not allow them to worship their God as they chose, that with other restrictions imposed upon them, so they hoped for a place where they could be free in their choices, in this land across the sea. >

It was two hundred and twenty-seven years ago when 56 men birthed liberty with that great document, the Declaration of Independence, declaring that freedom was not only important, but essential.  They wrote “We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”  It’s a faith-based statement of that precious commodity, freedom, that has such great meaning for all of us as we live our day to day lives and perpetuate the vision that began so long ago. 

Yet that vision of liberty as a God given right to be lived out on this earth continued to experience difficulties.  We can look at what happened to the men who signed the Declaration of Independence, in that painful and sacrificial birthing process.  Have you wondered what kind of men they were, those illustrious members of the Continental Congress, who were wholly responsible for the Thirteen Colonies, the cradle of American liberty?

To start with, twenty-four of those men were lawyers and jurists.  Eleven were merchants, while nine were farmers and large plantation owners—wealthy men, well-educated.  These courageous men willingly signed the Declaration, knowing that the inescapable penalty for their actions would be certain, agonizing death if they were captured by the British Government. 

Five of them were eventually captured, then convicted of treason, horribly tortured, and killed.  Twelve of their homes were ransacked and burned.   All of them, of course, felt the tremendous pain, in one way or another, of the Revolutionary War that followed.  The sons of two of the men were killed in battle, two sons of another man were captured by the enemy, while nine more fought and died from their wounds or the increasing hardships of the war, as the settlers fought to obtain that much wanted freedom.  Families were forced to live in hiding, property and resources were destroyed, looted, or lost, and the wealthy ended up in poverty. At the Battle of Yorktown, Thomas Nelson, Jr., discovered the British had taken over his home for their headquarters.  He urged General George Washington to open fire.  Washington did and the home was destroyed.  Nelson later died bankrupt.  The atrocities continued as these men gave the supreme sacrifice, valuing unrestrained liberty more. They had to claim and re-claim that vision of a nation with liberty and justice for all.  They had pledged, “For the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of the Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.”  It’s a sacrificial price that these men paid, one that we mustn’t forget, because of their faith in a land of liberty, a free way of life!   It’s a price that’s been met with “balloon payments” many times since, as liberty is pursued as a way of life in our country and throughout the world. 

So let’s return to the scripture from Mark’s Gospel we read earlier, the story of Jairus and his 12-yr. old daughter, and her need for healing.  Jairus was a well-to-do synagogue leader, which tells us he was a person of faith, and he sought after Jesus when his daughter became very ill.  The daughter is actually at the point of death when Jairus finds Jesus and begs him to come with him and lay his hands on her, for Jairus knows that Jesus will heal the child.  Jairus believes in this man of miracles. 

As Jesus goes with Jairus and a large crowd follows, Jesus suddenly feels himself touched and “power goes out from him.”  Meanwhile, a very sick woman, who had been suffering for 12 years from hemorrhages, we are told, and who was getting worse instead of better, had come up behind him in the crowd and simply touched his cloak, believing she would be made well.   Jesus appears to not have known who touched him, until the woman fell down before him, in fear and trembling, and told him the whole truth.  Jesus then said to her, “Daughter your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.” 

As the woman with the hemorrhage is healed, a messenger comes from Jairus’ home to inform Jairus’ that his daughter has died.  But Jesus says, “Do not fear.  Only believe,” continues with a small group to Jairus’ home where there is a lot of commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly, and tells them the child is only sleeping.  He goes in with the child, tells her to “Get up,” and she proceeds to start walking around.  Jesus told her family to get her something to eat.>

Jairus’ story is one of faith, commitment and belief, and healing.  It’s one of interruption, things not going as planned, yet turning out even better because of the unexpected turn of events, and because a person in need was not ignored.  It’s a story of human doubt that becomes renewed in faith, a faith that was deep although they did not yet know what great things were to come.  They could not possibly foresee that outcome of a love so great, that their God would allow his son to be sacrificed on that cross… and resurrected three days later, that the sins of the world might be erased, that they might be free.

Jairus’ story is one of overcoming tragedy, one of hope invigorated in the midst of a desperate situation. It’s a story of doing for others, yet of helping one’s self.  It’s a story that reveals the awesome power of belief in God and the ability of Jesus to change the turn of events.  Those who had reached out for Jesus’ hand were then touched to bring them new          life.   After the healing, Jesus continued to provide guidance.   It’s Jesus who was there for both the rich and the poor, the leaders and the downtrodden, the young and old, men and women, as they humbled themselves before him and were healed according to their need. 

It’s a story that each of our original patriots could have related to themselves as they acted on their beliefs and then suffered because of them.   Yet their faith in the God of the scriptures, knowing that God gave his son that they might have eternal life, led them on a path that would provide healing for the people of this country, people who were oppressed and suffering, in need of that touch of Christ.  It was a journey of freedom, with the life of liberty promised to all people.

We know too well the struggles for that freedom that continue to this day.  >Independence is not just “won,” but it must be maintained.   The ongoing “balloon payments” keep re-occurring in continual strivings to perfect that liberty for all that was promised.   Mistakes have been made—often very large ones.  We have fallen short of the goal.  The system is not yet perfect—far from it—but with people of faith choosing to honor and live their commitment, we can pray that it will continue to come.  We can thank our God that we are where we are, as we honor those who worked so hard to get us here.  

The message for us continues to be that of faith in action as we celebrate each fourth of July.  Jesus lived and ministered on this earth to give us a message of love for all people, and our role then comes to turn that love that we have first received into action that helps all who are oppressed and suffering in this world, bringing them to a world in which their needs are heard and their choices are honored.  Through our ongoing efforts to create and preserve this country as one that is truly free, under God, we are then able to respond as a free country to a world full of people who need that freedom.  As Christ heals our nation, may we, the people of a free nation, with others of faith wherever they may be, then help to heal a world full of sickness and death, that all people might some day have hope and freedom from fear.  It’s an ongoing process, and the healing is not guaranteed, but as people of faith we must aim for that goal, by every decision and action we take, that liberty, justice and peace might encompass this earth.

What an awesome and heavy responsibility we have as people of faith, one that demands critical self-examination and prayer every step of the way.  As people of faith, we are to be as Christ in the world.  We are his hands and his legs.

Let us pray:

Lord, we thank you for the free exercise of our faith in this land, for all those who have given so much of themselves that we might have that freedom, and for the liberty you have given us to reach the sleeping places in this world. Lord, there are lands that need you and your love so desperately.  Use us as instruments of that love that we might help to heal.   Thank you for America and its blessings of liberty.  May our heritage be preserved, with all the freedoms of the world!  Amen.

Let’s stand and sing a song of blessing for this land, for all that it is, but at the same time, for all it can become, as one nation under God.

(and closed with singing “God Bless America”)