Fourth Sunday after Pentecost
Readings – Deuteronomy 10:17-21; Psalm 145; Hebrews 11:8-16; Matthew 5:43-48
“To be partners with Christ with the love of God with the love of God on our lips and in our lives” is our current mission statement of the Diocese of Central Pennsylvania as posted on our hallway wall. From the Gospel according to St. Matthew, we read, “…Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven…”. That is what we have pledged to live for.
Unfortunately, it sometimes seems like the culture of our nation is going in a different direction. Deuteronomy of the Old Testament declared:
You shall love the stranger, for you were strangers
in the land of Egypt.
Also, the Psalmist challenges us,
v.8 The Lord God is gracious and full of compassion.
V.9 The Lord God is loving to everyone…
So, we reach, we strive to perfect, beyond our current grasp, as Hebrews reminds us, “by faith”, by moving forward in trust. Indeed, it is printed on our currency, In God We Trust. By faith we strive, we reach forward so that all persons are encouraged and are supported to be the people God created, God gifted them to be. By faith we reach, we strive to perfect, so that all thrive in the environment we work to create.
July 4th, 1776 there was made a pledge to create an environment where “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” would thrive and flourish. In fact, that assembly of men considered “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” for only white men of property.
Juneteenth 1865 when the Emancipation Proclamation of President Abraham Lincoln arrived in Texas, that pledge of “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” was extended to black men of property.
The Fourteenth Amendment expanded “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” to include all men who were born on America’s soil, all, to citizenship, equal protection for all citizens and due process for all.
On August 18, 1920 the Nineteenth Amendment doubled our voting citizenship by expanding our pledge to women. They, too, were entitled to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”.
The “We hold these truths to be self evident that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” has been dramatically expanded as they have become much more expansive and inclusive. America’s political will has reflected us, as people of faith, to value all as sisters and brothers.
So, in the midst of all this 2025 celebration of the Declaration of Independence, let us affirm God’s Spirit continuing to work among us.
Let us affirm that we are to be active in creating an environment, a culture, where all God’s people can develop their God given gifts and abilities.
Let us affirm that it is God’s will that all may live where “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” is proclaimed.
There is plenty of work to be accomplished, work for all of us.
Amen
