What do you do when it happens and you do not really know why?
If you knew it was you and what it was, you could, possibly, fix it.
If you knew it was someone else and what it was, you could ask them to fix it.
But some things are not fixable.
So, you step back and learn from them. You also seek greater principles through them and apply them.
You also write about them as you reflect upon them for the benefit of those who derive benefits from the things you write and they read.
I am not sure what happened to “Music of the Heart. and some other pages I created. The whole batch disappeared.
Now, I can moan about it or make accusations, or I can adapt and figure something else out.
Yes, it was a lot of work building these pages and gaining some following and will be more work, but I am going to find a place to curate the music I love, and you love.
I spent a few days stewing, conniving and trying to fix things. It is now time to move on,
Neither I nor you have been targeted in most cases. Someone pushed the right series of wrong buttons.
It could have been me,
Lessons:
1. Always sow bountifully — lots of seeds, lots of places, much redundancy, multiple possibilities, many baskets of eggs.
2. Be ready for anything. Resilience is our friend. Sometimes, it seems, our only friend. Surround yourself and clothe yourself with bounceable material and be ready to bounce at all times.
3. Have backup plans.
4, Budget time for redoing what you have already done, for repairs, for rebuilding, and for strategizing.
5. Accept that technology, the world, organizations, and organizing itself are imperfect. The only answer to these imperfections is to keep at what we do, make repairs where we can, and keep moving forward.
There it is, my first attempt to make sense of my problem and develop an article about it.
You are seeing it here first.
Stuff breaks
Sometimes with a crumble, Sometimes with a mumble. Sometimes makes me stumble Always keeps us humble
It breaks In tiny pieces. It breaks. Can I says Feces?
People break. Systems break. Nations break.
They say, “Fake it till you make it.” I say, “OK.” And stake it till you break it.
And then? Fix it or nix it. Repurpose, repair or unpair.
Sometimes, you have to pout and Throw it out And move on.
And make the best of what you’ve learned,
After I wrote this, I found this post from Judy Fiske — Powerful.
And another joyful message of hope from Josh Groban:
The disciples on an early Kingdom mission had not only survived hostility but had thrived in the process. To their delight and surprise, God had come along with them and had wrought miracles of healing and deliverance. Even demons had been subjected to them, and they were excited. It was at that moment that Jesus had to remind them of an important lesson. It is in our moments of intense religious exhilaration and enthusiasm that we must learn the same lesson.
If you are not a Medium Member ($5 a month), here is a free friend link.
“And I will walk at liberty: for I seek Thy precepts.” - Psalm 119:45
We pledge allegiance to the symbol of a nation, “under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”
Liberty is a gift, but it must be a walk if it is to be preserved. The psalmist knew that the path to freedom was to exercise the truths of God as revealed in His written Word. He called these precepts. Precepts are the appointments, orders, statutes, and mandates of God. In them, God tells us how we should act toward Him and toward others with integrity and love.
We need structure to be free. Without it, we are enslaved to our whims and to chance. Structure allows us room to explore, grow, and exercise our freedom. It gives us a vast menu of opportunities and preferences, but it keeps us from falling off cliffs and into fires.
Yet, the essence of the principle is that we seek God as free people, freely, or we do not seek Him at all.
God wants us to seek His precepts freely, to explore and to consider His ways. That is why the greatest freedom in our country, is the freedom to exercise one’s religious and free speech options. It is intrinsic to the way we have been designed by God.
We have no state religion because state religions usurp the power of God and the dignity of human conscience before God.
Instead, we have liberty to seek and to choose.
On this day, we pause in gratitude to those statesmen who conceived of a Declaration of Independence which declared:
“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.”
Listen, Follow, and Be Blessed
“Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store.” – Deuteronomy 28:5
Here is one of a litany of promised blessings to God’s people if they will do two things. The first was to “hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD,” and the second was to, “observe and to do all his commandments.”
Listen and follow.
These are days of leisurely picnics and walks in parks. City dwellers go to the mountains or the shore. What better season could there be to schedule some time alone away from the noise and telephones just to listen to God and receive instructions from His Word and His Spirit?
When we pack our picnic baskets, we include all sorts of treats. If someone else packs it for us, we are often delighted with the little surprise items we did not expect.
Harvesters of old would take their baskets to the fields to gather the fruits of agriculture. Then they would bring them back to the storehouse where the grains would be kneaded into bread
God invites His people into His field to gather His wisdom, guidance, direction, and instruction. He promises that those who come to listen will receive a harvest of plenteous blessing.
If we diligently listen we will be always open to and aware of promptings of the Spirit and lessons from the scripture. Our hearts will be earnestly seeking God’s will with a eager thirst and a willing spirit.
If we observe and do all His commands, we will not be selective or resistant. We will simply obey them as we receive them.
That is the path to great blessing.
Fireworks
“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.” – Psalm 19:1
Millions of people will take their lawn chairs outside tonight to gaze into the sky and watch fireworks that celebrate America’s birthday and the triumph of liberty articulated in the Declaration of Independence.
There will be music and cheers and masses of people exercising their freedom.
One of the songs to be sung may be the Battle Hymn of the Republic which resounds with these words in its chorus:
“Glory, Glory, Hallelujah! His truth is marching on.”
Truth!
Truth marching!
Nature is God’s troubadour announcing God glory, truth, and freedom to humanity. The activity of God in creation is true to His character and there is much to be known of Him through observation, meditation, and contemplation prompted by an appreciation of all that He has made.
Many summer nights, I have laid on my back, under the stars, beholding God’s magnificent fireworks.
The ancient adage that we must stop and smell the roses is an appropriate reminder to look for examples of the glory of God in the work of His hands. Open your eyes and heart today to His voice in all that is around you.
God is never silent. He is displaying His wonders every night and day and He has set us free to enjoy His creation, experience His presence, and worship Him.
We are thankful for a land and a system of government that allows us to express and practice our faith. Yet, with or without the protections we are given, we are, indeed free by His power and declaration.
His glory fills the universe, and his power is stronger than any power of mankind.
Enjoy the fireworks tonight, but look beyond, to the heavens, that are declaring the glory of God.
The Colors of Our Flags
“Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children … and he made him a coat of many colours” – Genesis 37:3
Flags are seldom dull. They are full of color and we fly them proudly high. They inspire us and unite us.
They also make us targets for enemies as Joseph came to be perceived as the enemy of his ambitious and jealous brothers.
Like our nation’s flag, the colors accumulate various meanings whether originally intended or not. Joseph’s colors symbolized the favor and blessing of his father.
The colors of our flag symbolize the beauty and dignity of our nation, the sacrifices our founders and defenders, and the favor and blessings of God.
On July 4, 1776, some men gathered and signed “their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor” on a document that raised a flag of independence and liberty. Many paid a high price, but they did so proudly with a sense of God’s favor and blessing.
The announced their liberation from bondage.
As God blessed and prospered Joseph in a foreign land, He has blessed the immigrants who have formed this nation in this place. He has prospered wanderers who longed for freedom and clothed us with coats of many colors.
He has, furthermore, blessed us with a unique place of religious freedom and tolerance where we can exercise our faith and discover His grace. It is in this land, where many of us have seen the bright and colorful banner of salvation raised and have been drawn to faith in Jesus Christ.
Here, we have made our declaration of independence from sin and have pledged our allegiance to our Liberator, Jesus!
Have you flown your flag of liberation from the bondage of sin and death?
As you fly the great American colors today, do not forget to wave the flag of salvation and rejoice in the freedom to do so.
Peace that Keeps
Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. - Philippians 4:6-7
On July 4, 1776, a company of farmers, merchants, scholars, and business men gathered to ratify and sign a document to which they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor.
Most of these men paid a heavy cost for that signature. They were not crippled by undo caution or timid in the petition that they brought before the King of England.
In the realm of the Spirit, we have also been called to affix or signatures upon an invisible document of faith with visible repercussions. In it, we declare our absolute loyalty to Jesus Christ. We lay everything on the line without the constraints of care or caution, without reservation or regret, without whining or complaint.
We come in complete trust rejoicing, thanking, and bringing our petitions before God. And we find in God, not an insecure despot lashing out at us, but a loving Father whose greatest desire is that we come to Him.
As we come, He gives us His peace and that peace becomes the security of our lives standing guard over our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
In 1776, there was great conflict in store for the signers of the Declaration of Independence. In our day of declaration, we may also find conflict ahead, but in the midst, we are surrounded by the peace of God that is completely beyond our comprehension.
Let us boldly declare our liberty and surrender our hearts to the One who sets us free indeed.
The Law of Liberty
"So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty." -James 2:12
There is a high law, a higher law, the highest law of all.
It is the law of liberty. It is elsewhere described as the royal law of love.
It is the law that sets us free.
It is the law written on our hearts by the Holy Spirit in conversion. It is the law that does not require God to hold a hammer over our heads or nag us into submission.
We follow it because God loves us, because we love God, and because God has endowed us with love for our neighbors.
We are free to stray, but why would we ever want to do so? To whom would we go? What other life would satisfy?
This law is the essential obligation of our lives that informs our citizenship and people of the kingdom and as participants in nations and societies. It is the ethic at the heart of a nation that, from its roots said and then began to flesh out the sentiments of these words:
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—That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its Foundation on such Principles, and organizing its Powers in such Form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. – Excerpted from the Declaration of Independence
On this day, we celebrate that document and its philosophy, built upon eternal principles that govern us eternally. We honor is as the basis for our democratic republic and all of the institutions that are designed to work out its ideals.
As we celebrate, we recommit ourselves to those ideals and to speaking and living as people who will be judged by the law of liberty.
Proclaim Liberty
And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubile unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family. - Leviticus 25:10
It was a summer day in Philadelphia. The gathered congress was unofficial because they represented a nation yet to be born. They had debated long and hard, finally adopting the radical resolution that outlined the implications of self-evident truths.
The time came to sign below the words that we all cherish.
Once the signatures were in place, some requiring great personal sacrifice, there was another step: The message and document of liberty had to be made known. The announcement had to get to as many people as possible and years of revolution were in store to actualize it.
It was the time to proclaim liberty throughout the land to all the inhabitants thereof.
In Israel, the Year of Jubilee was a rare and festive occasion marked by a resetting boundary lines, renewal of land ownership, and release from debts. It was a time of liberation and it only happened every 50 years as a sabbath year after a series of seven sabbath years.
It was a national holiday that lasted for an entire year. Today, when we use the word, "jubilee," we spell it differently and have broadened its definition. Often it refers to anniversary, commemoration, festival, gala, carnival, jamboree, feast day, holiday, festivities, and even revelry.
It has the idea of joy and celebration built in.
Such is the spirit of liberty.
As you enjoy this holiday weekend with your family, take time to remember the principles and values that make it celebratory. Stop and give thanks for the dual freedoms you enjoy, that of a citizen of a free country and the greater freedom that we have in Christ who has liberated us from the bondage of sin and death.
Remember it and proclaim it throughout the land with a renewed commitment to use it wisely, boldly, and with deep appreciation for all who have forged it.
“Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.” – Galatians 5:1
On this July fourth, as I often do, I am thanking God for the freedom of religion that is guaranteed by our Bill of Rights. I am grateful for the Baptists of Virginia and Connecticut who lobbied for it and for the statement who championed its cause. But mostly, I am grateful to God for having the idea in the first place.
God created us in His own image with the freedom to choose Him or reject Him. Otherwise, we could not have come by faith, in love, and through conversion. God’s design presupposes freedom. Salvation requires the work of the Holy Spirit regenerating the human heart that receives Him willingly. Coercive conversions are no conversions at all. State sponsored religion creates an unregenerate church membership.
God has given men and women a deep desire for freedom. True freedom is only realized fully in Christ. If the gospel is to be proclaimed freely, it must not be supervised by human agencies. Nor can man dictate the way that God will work with a human heart.
Jesus said, “The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.” – John 3:8
That is the essence of soul freedom and the best guarantee that government can give for such freedom is to stay out of the way. And that is what our Constitution does for us and for that I am grateful.
Let us honor those foresighted fathers of our country who respected the inherent dignity of each person before God and fashioned our national liberties on that basis. As we ring the bells of patriotism this Independence Day, let us sing with renewed zeal,
America, America,
God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea.
(Katharine Lee Bates, 1893)
In Congress, July 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
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.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
Georgia Button Gwinnett Lyman Hall George Walton
North Carolina William Hooper Joseph Hewes John Penn
South Carolina Edward Rutledge Thomas Heyward, Jr. Thomas Lynch, Jr. Arthur Middleton
Massachusetts John Hancock
Maryland Samuel Chase William Paca Thomas Stone Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Virginia George Wythe Richard Henry Lee Thomas Jefferson Benjamin Harrison Thomas Nelson, Jr. Francis Lightfoot Lee Carter Braxton
Pennsylvania Robert Morris Benjamin Rush Benjamin Franklin John Morton George Clymer James Smith George Taylor James Wilson George Ross
Delaware Caesar Rodney George Read Thomas McKean
New York William Floyd Philip Livingston Francis Lewis Lewis Morris
New Jersey Richard Stockton John Witherspoon Francis Hopkinson John Hart Abraham Clark
New Hampshire Josiah Bartlett William Whipple
Massachusetts Samuel Adams John Adams Robert Treat Paine Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island Stephen Hopkins William Ellery
Connecticut Roger Sherman Samuel Huntington William Williams Oliver Wolcott
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A Reach the Exceeds Our Grasp A Work in Progress
IDEA America is a big idea!
I - Independence and interdependence.
Separating is biological reality. We began to become independent upon birth, followed by the severing of our umbilical chords. It is not about freedom, but touches freedom. It is more about becoming all we can become by moving more into independence and then, willingly functioning in community as interdependent unities - even communities of nations. It is also an indigenous principle.
D - Democracy, democratic republicanism, determinism.
It is more than a form of government or a political philosophy. It can work in multiple systems, though our system is essentially designed to facilitate it. It is not a method, but a philosophy of everyone having a voice and a choice. We accomplish that through direct participation on some levels and representative government on others, but the essential idea is democratic opportunity.
E - Equality
All are equal. That is the ideal, whether they fully understood it or not. Jefferson wrote it, whether he meant it for all or not. He is now stuck with it.
Aspirational
Like many prophetic statements, they are bigger and more comprehensive than those speaking, hearing, or accepting them can truly know, but they for the ideal. - That takes us back to the first letter - The IDEA of Independence is an ideal.
Once you get this idea, you can add an L and get a new word:
This image shows an 1876 engraving titled "Declaration of Independence, July 4th, 1776" made available by the Library of Congress. On that day, the Continental Congress formally endorsed the Declaration of Independence. J. Trumbull, W.L. Ormsby/AP
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
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.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
Georgia
Button Gwinnett
Lyman Hall
George Walton
North Carolina
William Hooper
Joseph Hewes
John Penn
South Carolina
Edward Rutledge
Thomas Heyward, Jr.
Thomas Lynch, Jr.
Arthur Middleton
Massachusetts
John Hancock
Maryland
Samuel Chase
William Paca
Thomas Stone
Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Virginia
George Wythe
Richard Henry Lee
Thomas Jefferson
Benjamin Harrison
Thomas Nelson, Jr.
Francis Lightfoot Lee
Carter Braxton
Pennsylvania
Robert Morris
Benjamin Rush
Benjamin Franklin
John Morton
George Clymer
James Smith
George Taylor
James Wilson
George Ross
Delaware
Caesar Rodney
George Read
Thomas McKean
New York
William Floyd
Philip Livingston
Francis Lewis
Lewis Morris
New Jersey
Richard Stockton
John Witherspoon
Francis Hopkinson
John Hart
Abraham Clark
New Hampshire
Josiah Bartlett
William Whipple
Massachusetts
Samuel Adams
John Adams
Robert Treat Paine
Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island
Stephen Hopkins
William Ellery
Connecticut
Roger Sherman
Samuel Huntington
William Williams
Oliver Wolcott
New Hampshire
Matthew Thornton
I Will Walk at Liberty
“And I will walk at liberty: for I seek Thy precepts.” - Psalm 119:45
We pledge allegiance to the symbol of a nation, “under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”
Liberty is a gift, but it must be a walk if it is to be preserved. The psalmist knew that the path to freedom was to exercise the truths of God as revealed in His written Word. He called these precepts. Precepts are the appointments, orders, statutes, and mandates of God. In them, God tells us how we should act toward Him and toward others with integrity and love.
We need structure to be free. Without it, we are enslaved to our whims and to chance. Structure allows us room to explore, grow, and exercise our freedom. It gives us a vast menu of opportunities and preferences, but it keeps us from falling off cliffs and into fires.
Yet, the essence of the principle is that we seek God as free people, freely, or we do not seek Him at all.
God wants us to seek His precepts freely, to explore and to consider His ways. That is why the greatest freedom in our country, is the freedom to exercise one’s religious and free speech options. It is intrinsic to the way we have been designed by God.
We have no state religion because state religions usurp the power of God and the dignity of human conscience before God.
Instead, we have liberty to seek and to choose.
On this day, we pause in gratitude to those statesmen who conceived of a Declaration of Independence which declared:
“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.”
Listen, Follow, and Be Blessed
“Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store.” – Deuteronomy 28:5
Here is one of a litany of promised blessings to God’s people if they will do two things. The first was to “hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD,” and the second was to, “observe and to do all his commandments.”
Listen and follow.
These are days of leisurely picnics and walks in parks. City dwellers go to the mountains or the shore. What better season could there be to schedule some time alone away from the noise and telephones just to listen to God and receive instructions from His Word and His Spirit?
When we pack our picnic baskets, we include all sorts of treats. If someone else packs it for us, we are often delighted with the little surprise items we did not expect.
Harvesters of old would take their baskets to the fields to gather the fruits of agriculture. Then they would bring them back to the storehouse where the grains would be kneaded into bread
God invites His people into His field to gather His wisdom, guidance, direction, and instruction. He promises that those who come to listen will receive a harvest of plenteous blessing.
If we diligently listen we will be always open to and aware of promptings of the Spirit and lessons from the scripture. Our hearts will be earnestly seeking God’s will with a eager thirst and a willing spirit.
If we observe and do all His commands, we will not be selective or resistant. We will simply obey them as we receive them.
That is the path to great blessing.
Fireworks
“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.” – Psalm 19:1
Millions of people will take their lawn chairs outside tonight to gaze into the sky and watch fireworks that celebrate America’s birthday and the triumph of liberty articulated in the Declaration of Independence.
There will be music and cheers and masses of people exercising their freedom.
One of the songs to be sung may be the Battle Hymn of the Republic which resounds with these words in its chorus:
“Glory, Glory, Hallelujah! His truth is marching on.”
Truth!
Truth marching!
Nature is God’s troubadour announcing God glory, truth, and freedom to humanity. The activity of God in creation is true to His character and there is much to be known of Him through observation, meditation, and contemplation prompted by an appreciation of all that He has made.
Many summer nights, I have laid on my back, under the stars, beholding God’s magnificent fireworks.
The ancient adage that we must stop and smell the roses is an appropriate reminder to look for examples of the glory of God in the work of His hands. Open your eyes and heart today to His voice in all that is around you.
God is never silent. He is displaying His wonders every night and day and He has set us free to enjoy His creation, experience His presence, and worship Him.
We are thankful for a land and a system of government that allows us to express and practice our faith. Yet, with or without the protections we are given, we are, indeed free by His power and declaration.
His glory fills the universe, and his power is stronger than any power of mankind.
Enjoy the fireworks tonight, but look beyond, to the heavens, that are declaring the glory of God.
The Colors of Our Flags
“Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children … and he made him a coat of many colours” – Genesis 37:3
Flags are seldom dull. They are full of color and we fly them proudly high. They inspire us and unite us.
They also make us targets for enemies as Joseph came to be perceived as the enemy of his ambitious and jealous brothers.
Like our nation’s flag, the colors accumulate various meanings whether originally intended or not. Joseph’s colors symbolized the favor and blessing of his father.
The colors of our flag symbolize the beauty and dignity of our nation, the sacrifices our founders and defenders, and the favor and blessings of God.
On July 4, 1776, some men gathered and signed “their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor” on a document that raised a flag of independence and liberty. Many paid a high price, but they did so proudly with a sense of God’s favor and blessing.
The announced their liberation from bondage.
As God blessed and prospered Joseph in a foreign land, He has blessed the immigrants who have formed this nation in this place. He has prospered wanderers who longed for freedom and clothed us with coats of many colors.
He has, furthermore, blessed us with a unique place of religious freedom and tolerance where we can exercise our faith and discover His grace. It is in this land, where many of us have seen the bright and colorful banner of salvation raised and have been drawn to faith in Jesus Christ.
Here, we have made our declaration of independence from sin and have pledged our allegiance to our Liberator, Jesus!
Have you flown your flag of liberation from the bondage of sin and death?
As you fly the great American colors today, do not forget to wave the flag of salvation and rejoice in the freedom to do so.
Peace that Keeps
Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. - Philippians 4:6-7
On July 4, 1776, a company of farmers, merchants, scholars, and business men gathered to ratify and sign a document to which they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor.
Most of these men paid a heavy cost for that signature. They were not crippled by undo caution or timid in the petition that they brought before the King of England.
In the realm of the Spirit, we have also been called to affix or signatures upon an invisible document of faith with visible repercussions. In it, we declare our absolute loyalty to Jesus Christ. We lay everything on the line without the constraints of care or caution, without reservation or regret, without whining or complaint.
We come in complete trust rejoicing, thanking, and bringing our petitions before God. And we find in God, not an insecure despot lashing out at us, but a loving Father whose greatest desire is that we come to Him.
As we come, He gives us His peace and that peace becomes the security of our lives standing guard over our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
In 1776, there was great conflict in store for the signers of the Declaration of Independence. In our day of declaration, we may also find conflict ahead, but in the midst, we are surrounded by the peace of God that is completely beyond our comprehension.
Let us boldly declare our liberty and surrender our hearts to the One who sets us free indeed.
The Law of Liberty
"So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty." -James 2:12
There is a high law, a higher law, the highest law of all.
It is the law of liberty. It is elsewhere described as the royal law of love.
It is the law that sets us free.
It is the law written on our hearts by the Holy Spirit in conversion. It is the law that does not require God to hold a hammer over our heads or nag us into submission.
We follow it because God loves us, because we love God, and because God has endowed us with love for our neighbors.
We are free to stray, but why would we ever want to do so? To whom would we go? What other life would satisfy?
This law is the essential obligation of our lives that informs our citizenship and people of the kingdom and as participants in nations and societies. It is the ethic at the heart of a nation that, from its roots said and then began to flesh out the sentiments of these words:
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—That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its Foundation on such Principles, and organizing its Powers in such Form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. – Excerpted from the Declaration of Independence
On this day, we celebrate that document and its philosophy, built upon eternal principles that govern us eternally. We honor is as the basis for our democratic republic and all of the institutions that are designed to work out its ideals.
As we celebrate, we recommit ourselves to those ideals and to speaking and living as people who will be judged by the law of liberty.
Proclaim Liberty
And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubile unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family. - Leviticus 25:10
It was a summer day in Philadelphia. The gathered congress was unofficial because they represented a nation yet to be born. They had debated long and hard, finally adopting the radical resolution that outlined the implications of self-evident truths.
The time came to sign below the words that we all cherish.
Once the signatures were in place, some requiring great personal sacrifice, there was another step: The message and document of liberty had to be made known. The announcement had to get to as many people as possible and years of revolution were in store to actualize it.
It was the time to proclaim liberty throughout the land to all the inhabitants thereof.
In Israel, the Year of Jubilee was a rare and festive occasion marked by a resetting boundary lines, renewal of land ownership, and release from debts. It was a time of liberation and it only happened every 50 years as a sabbath year after a series of seven sabbath years.
It was a national holiday that lasted for an entire year. Today, when we use the word, "jubilee," we spell it differently and have broadened its definition. Often it refers to anniversary, commemoration, festival, gala, carnival, jamboree, feast day, holiday, festivities, and even revelry.
It has the idea of joy and celebration built in.
Such is the spirit of liberty.
As you enjoy this holiday weekend with your family, take time to remember the principles and values that make it celebratory. Stop and give thanks for the dual freedoms you enjoy, that of a citizen of a free country and the greater freedom that we have in Christ who has liberated us from the bondage of sin and death.
Remember it and proclaim it throughout the land with a renewed commitment to use it wisely, boldly, and with deep appreciation for all who have forged it.
“Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.” – Galatians 5:1
On this July fourth, as I often do, I am thanking God for the freedom of religion that is guaranteed by our Bill of Rights. I am grateful for the Baptists of Virginia and Connecticut who lobbied for it and for the statement who championed its cause. But mostly, I am grateful to God for having the idea in the first place.
God created us in His own image with the freedom to choose Him or reject Him. Otherwise, we could not have come by faith, in love, and through conversion. God’s design presupposes freedom. Salvation requires the work of the Holy Spirit regenerating the human heart that receives Him willingly. Coercive conversions are no conversions at all. State sponsored religion creates an unregenerate church membership.
God has given men and women a deep desire for freedom. True freedom is only realized fully in Christ. If the gospel is to be proclaimed freely, it must not be supervised by human agencies. Nor can man dictate the way that God will work with a human heart.
Jesus said, “The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.” – John 3:8
That is the essence of soul freedom and the best guarantee that government can give for such freedom is to stay out of the way. And that is what our Constitution does for us and for that I am grateful.
Let us honor those foresighted fathers of our country who respected the inherent dignity of each person before God and fashioned our national liberties on that basis. As we ring the bells of patriotism this Independence Day, let us sing with renewed zeal,
Can we sing together some songs of the heart that point us toward Ultimate longings and reality?
Rudolf Otto coined the phrase, "Wholly Other" as he explored religious experience. He saw the intellectual world as having gone too far in leaning toward only rational thinking and emphasized the experience of the Other as something beyond that.
"Interfaith" is a tricky word in a world where many say, "I am not religious, but I am spiritual."
From my faith perspective, we are all spiritual in the sense that there is a spiritual essence to who we are.
There could never be an absolutely inclusive interfaith hymnal. We have different belief about important things.
Uniqueness always excludes, through self-exclusion at the intersection of beliefs.
However, inclusiveness of appreciation can be a wide embrace, and music is a common denominator expressing our common longings,
A criterion for a common hymnal might be a piece that points us inward, upward, or outward.
If I were to attempt such a hymnal, I might start with Harry Chapin's classic, "Circle", and the various covers that are covered by it.
Circle points in all three directions. Perhaps, 360 of them and infinitely more.
Could we sometimes sing from a common hymnal without abandoning our unique beliefs?
