We LOVED our "Excellent European Adventure" and ... there's no place like home!
Back home for what is arguably my favorite Sunday of the year ... Independence Day @ All Saints Church -- when we start with "O beautiful for spacious skies" and end with "Lift Every Voice and Sing" ... and inbetween we celebrate what Ed Bacon has named as part of the DNA of All Saints Church:We are boldly political without being partisan. Having a partisan-free place to stand liberates the religious patriot to see clearly, speak courageously, and act daringly."The service included this versicle and response:
Minister: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all people 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.And the Collect of the Day for Independence Day:
People: 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.
Lord God Almighty, you have made all the peoples of the earth for your glory, to serve you in freedom and in peace: Give to the people of our country a zeal for justice and the strength of forbearance, that we may use our liberty in accordance with your gracious will; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.And this year the flag presented during the offertory was brought forward at 9:00 by a WWII Tuskegee airman vet and at 11:15 by a Viet Nam vet -- and the "put your faith into action" action on the lawn was supporting comprehensive immigration reform.
Like I said ... there's no place like home!
3 comments:
While we are in communion with Canterbury, we have always been and still are an abberation in the Anglican Communion, since our very existence came from rebellion to the English Crown, whereas the other provinces of the Communion developed within the framework of English colonialism. We are, in fact, the reason there is an Anglican Communion, as opposed to a worldwide Church of England, and Parliament had to change the law of the land to effectuate the consecration of the first American bishops to resolve an issue that was not a problem with the first Canadian or Australian bishops.
We should not discount or belittle our historic connections to Canterbury. Neither should we forget that our forebears, both in politics and religion, took enormous personal risks to blaze a new pathway for themselves and, 234 years later for us, both in politics and religion.
Happy Independence Day!
What is it about All Saints that makes so many of us tear up ?
When I saw the flag and read in my bulletin the significance my eyes were leaking, and when I looked at Ed I think his were too.
God Bless you all who bring so much passion and faith to those of us in the pews!!!!!
Welcome home, Susan and Louise.
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