Happy 4th of July weekend! I pray this will be a safe and joy-filled one.

As a birthday celebration for our nation, I am reminded of how fortunate it is to be celebrating at this time. We could be, as others in our past, attempting to celebrate in a time of civil war, a world war, a war in a foreign land, or in a collapsed economy as in the 1930s with migrant families walking from state to state looking for work. As a people, it is a fortunate time. But we can do better, we must do better. Where there is an opportunity to aid in the flourishing, health, and well-being of our people, God’s people, I pray we act, each in our own way, with our own ability.

Unfortunately, the sister and brotherhood of the American people, the unity that is required to truly be a people, is too often forgotten in the peace and prosperity of our nation. Consider for a moment: At this time, no American is watching the 4th with the eyes of one officially, lawfully, enslaved. Though the underworld of our country is ripe with illegal trafficking of people, some are right under our noses. There is no mass American migration walking across the country for food and work, but there is a truck in San Antonio waiting to be cleansed of the smell of the broken dreams and lives of over 50 migrant people. The protection of developing human life in the womb has been given protection as all life is sacred. But I fear for the woman whose life will be lost even as her body is known to be too fragile to carry forward with a pregnancy. I pray for any child born into a world that doesn’t want them and is unwilling to provide for all of them. I wonder if sacred human worth stops at a political victory or is it just the beginning? I pray we are celebrating the birth of a new, national, personal responsibility even though such care is expensive and taxable. I pray there is thoughtful care, and legal provision for the life of women and children, as well as tangible accountability and responsibility for men.

The percentage of American people who profess to be followers of Jesus Christ is shrinking. But it only takes the numbers we have working together, working through our differences, to make real the love of God within our great nation. The American people are good, generous, and kind people. Even so, real give-and-take conversation, for the sake of God and God’s creation is not only needed but unstoppable when empowered with the love of God in the Holy Spirit. Let us not seek victory for ourselves, but love and justice for the sake of Almighty God.

God Bless you and May God Bless this Nation!

Happy 4th!

Pastor Rick