|
|
JULY 4th
Independence Day In the USA
A Civic and Secular Holiday
A Time To Pray For Our Nation In Its Needs
"Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, 'If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.'"
John 8.31-32
PRAYERBOOK PRAYER FOR JULY 4TH IN USA
—(adapted closing for inclusive language)
Eternal and Holy God Almighty, in whose name the founders of this country won liberty for themselves and for us, and lit the torch of freedom for nations then unborn: Grant that we and all the people of this land may have the grace to maintain our liberties in righteousness and peace; through the One whose truth sets us free. Blessed are You and blessed is your Kin-Dom. Amen.
—The Book of Common Prayer, 1979.
PRAYER FOR JULY 4TH IN USA
—(by G Lake Dylan © 2022)
Eternal and Holy God Almighty, in whose name we have taken this land from the indigenous peoples and claim it as our own. We brought new strains of disease and illness that cost too many their life and livelihood. We brought an enslaved people to this continent and built our society upon their backs and our oppression. We have also claimed that our nation is one of freedom and liberty for all, when in fact men have delegated women and children to a second-class of citizenry.
Though out our history we have worked to make progress in social justice and peace-making ways. However, that movement has been slow and cumbersome.
We have allowed dissenting voices and the desire of success in wealth and power to distract us from that goal. We have clearly accomplished much more to make and keep white males in places of privilege while allowing that very thing to rob and rape others of their God given dignity and personhood.
Even in this day, we continue to be in conflict and strife over recognizing all people as equal and leveling the access to all resources in equity. In denial and ignoring the way we have come to this moment, we continue to name our enemies by their race or color of their skin, their being created by God as LGBTQ+ persons, by their gender and naming non-males as second class people, practicing ableism with those with a disability, and excluding people who do not fit their mode of masculinity.
In all of this we have erred and strayed from your way, O God, to follow our own selfish and individual paths that lead only to destruction. We have neglected to do the good we ought to have done, and we have done that which we ought not to have done. We are bound—heart, mind, body, and spirit—to the failings and brokenness of our diseased humanity. We cannot free ourselves.
We have harmed. We are harmed. We do not seem to know how to find a different way. Even though Jesus gave many directions on how-to walk-through life as God's people, we claim to be a Christian nation while that reality is mostly in words and not in actions. To simply ask for forgiveness seems so trite. We confess our sins only to turn around and continue in the same ways that destroy and steal from others and ourselves our true selves and the hope and the joyful meaning that is to be known in our days.
You alone, O God, can liberate us as you make all things new. Help us. Heal us. Redeem us. Reconcile us, to our true selves, to one another, and to all people everywhere. Transform all your creation into the community of peace and justice that is your Kin-Dom. For to you is the power, the glory, and the realm of sovereignty, for ever. Amen.
A READING—Proverbs 8. 22-36
Wisdom’s Part in Creation
22). “The Holy One created me at the beginning of before time,
the first act of God from long ago.
23). Ages ago I was set up,
at the first, before the beginning of the earth.
24). When there were no depths I was brought forth,
when there were no springs abounding with water.
25). Before the mountains had been shaped,
before the hills, I was brought forth,
26). when the Holy One had not yet made earth and fields
or the world’s first bits of soil.
27). When God established the heavens, I was there;
when the Holy One drew a circle on the face of the deep,
28). when God made firm the skies above,
when the Holy One established the fountains of the deep,
29). when God assigned to the sea its limit,
so that the waters might not transgress the Holy One's command,
when God marked out the foundations of the earth,
30). then I was beside the Holy One, like a master worker,
and I was daily God's delight,
playing before the Holy One always,
31). playing in God's inhabited world
and delighting in the human race.
32). “And now, my children, listen to me:
happy are those who keep my ways.
33). Hear instruction and be wise,
and do not neglect it.
34). Happy is the one who listens to me,
watching daily at my gates,
waiting beside my doors.
35). For whoever finds me finds life
and obtains favor from the Holy One,
36). but those who miss me injure themselves;
all who hate me love death.”
A READING—Psalm 111
Praise for God’s Wonderful Works
1). Praise be to God!
God is worthy of our thanksgiving and praise!
I will give thanks to the Holy One with my whole heart,
in the company of the upright, in the congregation.
2). Great are the works of God,
studied by all who delight in them.
3). Full of honor and majesty is the Holy One's work,
God's righteousness endures forever.
4). The Holy One has gained renown by wonderful deeds;
the Holy One is gracious and merciful.
5). God provides food for those who worship the Worthy Oner;
God is ever mindful of the covenant.
6). God has shown the Holy One's people the power of divine works,
in giving them the heritage of the nations.
7). The works of the Holy One's hands are faithful and just;
all God's precepts are trustworthy.
8). They are established forever and ever,
to be performed with faithfulness and uprightness.
9). The Holy One sent redemption to the people;
the Holy One has commanded the covenant forever.
Holy and awesome is God's name.
10). The giving of thanks and praise to God is the beginning of wisdom;
all those who practice it have a good understanding.
God is worthy of our thanksgiving and praise!
God's praise endures forever.
A READING—James 1.5, 3.13-18
Wisdom In the Making Of Peace
5). If any of you is lacking in wisdom, ask God, who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly, and it will be given you.
13). Who is wise and knowledgeable among you? Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom.
14). But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not be arrogant and lie about the truth.
15). This is not wisdom that comes down from above but is earthly, unspiritual, devilish.
16). For where there is envy and selfish ambition, there will also be disorder and wickedness of every kind.
17). But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy.
18). And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.
A READING—Luke 2.39-52
The Wisdom Of God As Jesus
39). When Mary and Joseph (Jesus' parents) had finished everything required by the law of God, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth.
40). The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom, and the favor of God was upon him.
41). Now every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the festival of the Passover.
42). And when he was twelve years old, they went up as usual for the festival.
43). When the festival was ended and they started to return, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but his parents were unaware of this.
44). Assuming that he was in the group of travelers, they went a day’s journey. Then they started to look for him among their relatives and friends.
45). When they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem to search for him.
46). After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.
47). And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers.
48). When his parents saw him they were astonished, and his mother said to him, “Child, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously looking for you.”
49). He said to them, “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in God’s house (the house of my heavenly Parent?”
50). But they did not understand what he said to them.
51). Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was obedient to them, and his mother treasured all these things in her heart.
52). And Jesus increased in wisdom and in years[l] and in divine and human favor.
A PRAYER
Everlasting God of righteousness and grace, as our nation celebrates this Independence Day, remind us of our complete dependence upon you. We look to you for your wisdom and mercy as important issues are discussed. On this day, we ask you to keep this nation, and all nations, under your care, that we may be peoples who are at peace, and who are a blessing to others in this earth. Grant our nation's leaders wisdom, that there would be times of peace and justice in our land and in our world. Amen.
A THOUGHT
In the United States this year it has been a time of ongoing lies perpetuated by national and local leaders who sold out to what they believe is the American Dream. It was not a desire for such dream to be shared, but rather, for the wealthy and mostly male power holders to have at any cost without so much as a thought regarding the discrimination and suffering of others. In such a pursuit there has been a rise in doubt, deceptive behavior, injustice, and violence. There has been the collateral damage continuing from the January 6th Insurrection, the expression of fascist politics, white nationalism, racism, and anti-LGBTQ+ movements. Most recently, our nation has seen the Supreme Court expressing the perjury of four justices and a misogynistic reversal of women's rights—namely to have the freedom and ability to make decisions regarding her healthcare and her body. Rather than advancing the cause of Christ, the church has been horrendously compromised with sexually assaults among its mostly male clergy, an ongoing sham of the prosperity gospel, schism with disrespect and power-hunger, and the heresy and idolatry of supporting the secular politics claiming them to be the desire and work of God.
Our nation has in many ways more against the politics of Jesus than following in the way of peace with justice. Our love for others has too often been exchanged for I have the right to get what I want and when I want it. The years of pandemic proved our lack of empathy or care for others. Scientific fact was cast aside as an impinging on our personal freedom. The process of outlawing abortion has rightly been met with the cry of "there is freedom in the USA only for those play the political games and support ultra-conservative GOP policies.
How can we celebrate our independence and freedom when we hold so many people in the bonds of inequality, disunity, poverty, racist policies, and subjecting reason and rationality to the dishonesty that continues to hide within the cloak of the end justifies the means.
If nothing else, our observance of July 4th should be a time of self-examination and a continued revolution of resistance and reparations. May God have mercy and lead us into all truth and just peace.
PRAYER FOR JULY 4th FROM THE PC(USA)
—(adapted closing for inclusive language)
Almighty God,
you have given us this good land as our heritage.
Make us always remember your generosity
and constantly do your will.
Bless our land with honest industry,
sound learning,
and an honorable way of life.
Save us from violence, discord, and confusion;
from pride and arrogance,
and from every evil way.
Make us who come from many nations
with many different languages
a united people.
Defend our liberties
and give those whom we have entrusted with the authority of government
the spirit of wisdom,
that there might be justice and peace in our land.
When times are prosperous, let our hearts be thankful;
and, in troubled times, do not let our trust in you fail.
Blessed are You and blessed in your Kin-Dom, forever. Amen.
—Book of Common Worship, 1993.
A PRAYER FOR PEACE WITH JUSTICE
—G Lake Dylan © 2022
Almighty God,
we have taken this land to be our own
even though it was the land of the indigenous peoples.
Make us to always remember your generosity
even as our mindset is that of empire and our actions are not of generosity, but of acquisition and accumulation.
Help us to constantly do your will,
acknowledging our sinful past and present in which true penance would be reparation.
Bless this land with honest industry,
caring for Mother earth and the environment,
and sharing its resources and our profit in equality and equity.
Grant us sound learning,
teaching the reality of our history,
not banning books but widening our education with the truth of our taking what was not ours,
enslaving a people stolen from another nation and sold at a price,
placing women in a role of second class citizen with less rights and income.
Help us to live an honorable way of life,
known in justice for all and the freedom of peace that is all-inclusive.
Save us from violence, discord, and confusion;
and the harmful relationships that end in destruction, violence and warfare.
Keep us from pride and arrogance,
being a people of hospitality where everyone's dignity is honored
and the humanity that is ours in creation would be the ethic by which we care for one another.
Deliver us and from every evil way,
especially when our words and actions are but pieces of the truth and outright untruthfulness.
Make us who come from many nations
with many different languages,
a united people,
where diversity is celebrated as a gift from you,
that each life no matter how different is a blessing
of your creating, redeeming, and perfecting love.
Defend our liberties
that we may extend liberty to all.
Give those whom we have entrusted with the authority of government
the spirit of wisdom,
to discern truth from untruth, virtue from vice, and ethics from immorality.
When times are prosperous, let our hearts be thankful;
knowing we do not have such by our own merit,
but that it is in the common good.
And when in troubled times, do not let our trust in you fail,
or fail one another,
forgetting that when one person hurts, we all hurt;
when one person is oppressed, we are all oppressed;
when one person is in poverty, we are all impoverished;
when one person is discriminated against, we are all diminished;
when one person is harmed, humankind as a whole is harmed,
and we all become less than human.
For blessed are You and blessed is your Kin-Dom, forever. Amen.
|
