“God bless the USA” the popular song goes.  It’s a great song for the 4^th of July, that day we call “Independence Day.”  But, you say, how can we make such a statement as “Bless the USA” when it sounds so exclusionary? so self-oriented?  As Christians, we believe in blessing others; but ourselves?

And what about the rest of the world?  Shouldn’t they be blessed, too?  Would they want to bless the USA?

Well, we know that not everyone wants to bless the USA!   We know some people around the world, in fact, want to kill Americans!  This truth is so self-evident that it inspired at least one individual to write about it.  I’ll share some of this writing that was sent to me in a recent e-mail and I’m sorry that it did not have a name attached to it.   You may have received it, too.  It goes:

To Kill an American:
You probably missed it in the rush of news last week, but there was actually a report that someone in Pakistan had published in a newspaper an offer of a reward to anyone who killed an American, any American.   So an Australian dentist, yes, Australian, wrote an editorial the following day to let everyone know what an American is, so they would know when they found one.  The writing goes:

An American is English, or French, or Italian, Irish, German, Spanish, Polish, Russian or Greek.  An American may also be Canadian, Mexican, African, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Australian, Iranian, Asian, or Arab, or Pakistani or Afghan.  An American may also be a Comanche, Cherokee, Osage, Blackfoot, Navajo, Apache, Seminole or one of the many other tribes known as native-Americans.

An American is Christian, or he could be Jewish, or Buddhist, or Muslim.  In fact, there are more Muslims in America than in Afghanistan.  The only difference is that in America they are free to worship as each of them chooses.   An American is also free to believe in no religion.  For that he will answer only to God, not to the government, or to armed thugs claiming to speak for the government and for God.

An American lives in the most prosperous land in the history of the world.  The root of that prosperity can be found in the Declaration of Independence, which recognizes the God given right of each person to the pursuit of happiness -- and the article goes on to recognize a number of other positive traits and acts of Americans, including that as Americans “welcome the best,” they also “welcome the least,” for the national symbol, the Statue of Liberty, welcomes your tired and your poor, the wretched refuse of your teeming shores, the homeless, tempest tossed.  These in fact are the people who built America.

How accurately my own ancestors fit in with this description!  I’m reminded that my eight great-grandparents came from eight different countries, at different times, in different ways, and for many of the reasons just mentioned.   They brought with them such surnames as Kirch, Hanson, Lorette, Emerson, Jaggi, Schrambling, McGonnell and Ross and many more through their extended connections.   How is it with your family?

Let’s try something, just for fun, just to celebrate!   As I name each country in my background, stand up, please, if that is also a country of your ancestry, and remain standing; Germany, Sweden, France, England, Switzerland, Holland, Scotland, Ireland.   Now, continue to stand and let’s try adding a few more countries and see what happens:  Spain, Italy, Russia, China, Japan, Ecuador, Venezuela, Canada, Mexico, Norway, Kenya, Ethiopia, India, Turkey, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Zambia, Colombia, Bulgaria, Greece, Finland, Korea, Vietnam, Australia, New Zealand, Wales, Iran, Egypt, Iraq, Israel, Palestine, South Africa, Argentina, Brazil, Mozambique.    Everybody, please stand!  And since we’re already standing, let’s sing  “America,” p. 697 in your hymnal.   It’s written by Samuel Smith who was 23, had a passion for world evangelism, and was inspired by a German song to the tune of Britain’s “God Save the Queen.”  Samuel Smith eventually became a Baptist preacher, and the song was first sung in a Congregational Church.  He was so happy when his son became a missionary to Rangoon.  Let’s sing it!

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

My native country, thee, land of the nobel free, thy name I love;
I love thy rocks and rills, thy woods and templed hills;
my heart with rapture thrills, like that above.

Let music swell the breeze, and ring from all the trees sweet freedom's song;
let mortal toungues awake; let all that breathe partake;
let rocks their silent break, the sound prolong.

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, or King.

I hope you noticed the song ends with a prayer.  And, by the way, probably most of you were not aware that the opening liturgy of our service came from the country of Jamaica.

We began this service by singing “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.”  That son was written by Julia Ward Howe, known to be a leader in women’s rights and an ardent foe of slavery.   Julia and her husband, a prominent Boston philanthropist and humanitarian, were both crusaders for progressive political and moral issues of the day.

We’ll be singing America the Beautiful at the end of this service.   That hymn was originally the tune of “O Mother Dear, Jerusalem.”  There are two parts of it I would like to point out:  first, the hymn reminds us that “God shed his grace on (us).”  Is there now any question about that, friends?  We have been blessed, as God continues to shed his grace on us.  That sounds to me like the original blessing God continues to want for us that George and Nancy talked about, not long ago, in their sermon series on the Unfolding Drama.

And secondly, there is a reminder to “crown thy good with brotherhood.”   It’s a re-wording of the Golden Rule “to do unto others as we would have them do unto us”; a reminder to treat others as ourselves.

All of these--God's grace, the intended blessing, and the admonition for brotherhood, are the essential parts of the scripture reading in Psalms that we shared today.  “Happy is the nation whose God is the Lord,” the Psalmist says, reminding us of the greatness and goodness of God.

The Psalmist talks further about war, something very much on our minds today.  As we deliberate on the value of war today, we are also reminded of the many wars of our past, especially as we look around us and see so many in this room who have risked their lives and put forth great effort, through military service, to keep us free.   We are reminded by the Psalmist that God’s grace is with us through it all, and we are thankful for all those in this room and elsewhere who have blessed us by their contributions to our “happiness,” as the scriptures and our Declaration of Independence describe.

Friends, we have so much to celebrate as we celebrate “independence.”  While we must have no illusions about the level of perfection we have achieved, to not acknowledge the blessings we have received and have to give, works to diminish the role that God has played in our country and in our lives.  We have so much that is good, so much talent, such great potential, that we have every reason to celebrate, as we likewise have an obligation to continue doing so.   Our God truly does want our happiness, our joy in the most complete sense of those words, and that happiness and our joy must be Christlike!  That is what must govern and dictate all that we do.  Those are principles of our faith that must be so internalized that we live them out wherever we may be and in whatever we do, not in a way that imposes ourselves as intruders upon others and is lacking in respect for what they have that is of value, but in a way that shares with them the wonderful gift and blessing that God is in all of our lives, and that God is for them, too!

It is because of this great gift of God’s grace and God’s blessing that we acknowledge, that we can come together as a united community of faith, as well as a country, one that recognizes what we all have together in our commonality of purpose and vision, remembering the past as we together shape the future, bringing us to commune together as one, sharing in the body and the bread of Christ with all those who do so, in our country and the world.

 It is because of what we have so generously first been given that we will continue to seek out ways to offer our individual and collective gifts to a needy world.  The birthday of our country is the birthday of all of us, and it’s a good reason to keep singing.

Celebrate independence!   To God be the glory!  Amen.

Sermon delived by Rev. Carol Mumford on July 2, 2006.