7-4-2014

Good Morning All,

       Proverbs 14:34; “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.”

      So today is Independence Day in the United States.  It is a day of celebration, of fireworks and barbeques, of parades and ballgames.  It is a day to look back at all that this country has been through; all that has occurred to mold this nation into what it is today.  It is also a time to look at where we are right now; to look at the events that are molding us even today into the people that we are.  It is also a time to look forward at what lies ahead; to look at the horizon, what future event will potentially be a “defining” moment.

    We look at our country and many defining moments occurred.  We look at Valley Forge, or Gettysburg, Chateau-Thierry, Pearl Harbor, Khe Sanh.  Or maybe the transcontinental railroad, the Hoover Dam, the Apollo mission; The Constitution, the Bill of Rights, Civil Rights, the Voting Amendment.  Many things define us as nation.  But what defines us as a people.  What is it that says who we truly are?

    The Bible continually refers to being a “righteous nation”; first for Israel and then for the Church.  Yet what does that mean?  Simply, it means showing mercy and justice to all people.  We are to never play favorites in our judgments.  We are to have compassion on everyone, especially those who cannot repay.  When we read the indictments against the failures of the Israelites in the Old Testament it always includes the accusation that the ignored or abused “the widows, the fatherless and the aliens in their land.”  Their faith was gone and their living out of that faith was absent.

   So are we a righteous nation?  Maybe or maybe not.  A better question is “are you a righteous person”?  Do we seek to do God’s will all the time or do we seek to do God’s will when ti benefits us?  Do we seek to do mercy or do we seek to rationalize and justify our own actions?  How does our faith play out in this world?

   There has been much in the news over the last few years about whether or not the United States is or was or should be a “Christian Nation.”  I am not real sure what that entails but I know God wants you and me, as a redeemed child of God, to do his will here on earth.  God wants you and me to reach out to those around us and reconcile the brokenness and heal the wounds.  God desires that we love one another and treat one another with respect and to live in peace.  When we do this, we are a righteous person part of a righteous people.

    God makes us that way through the Spirit and through Baptism.  He gives to us the desire to serve him in all that we do.  Seek God’s help in this endeavor.  Seek to live as a loving child of God, sharing the love that he showed to you to all those around you.

Father of mercy, lead us to be a righteous people in this land.  Lead us to show your love and your mercy in a place and at a time when it is so desperately needed.  Break our hearts when we see pain that we may reach out with the compassion that you shared with us.  All this we ask in the precious name of Jesus, our risen Savior, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret