Happy I-have-no-creative-descriptor Saturday, friends!
It’s just a cool (not quite cold yet) November Saturday morning in Amarillo and I have nothing on the schedule until this evening.
Sometimes during the week I have a thought (surprisingly) and I think to myself, “This would be a good thought to unpack in my Saturday pondering.”
On extremely rare occasions, I follow up with that on Saturday.
This is not one of those days.
The typical Saturday pondering is prompted by whatever my morning hymn text and Bible reading inspire—with a little influence by my activities of the past week.
It’s not that much different from what I do Monday-Friday (most of the time) with Dr. G’s Daily Cup of Encouragement. It’s just usually a little longer and more intentionally “pondery.”
This morning, my hymn text was “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee” by Baptist minister and journalist Samuel F. Smith.
Smith originally titled this 1831 hymn simply “America.” Eventually it became known by the opening phrase of the first stanza: “My country, ‘tis of thee, Sweet land of liberty, Of thee I sing.”
Its tune is almost 100 years older than the words and is sung as the national anthem of the United Kingdom (adopted 1745) as “God Save the King” (or Queen, when the monarch is female).
No irony there.
When I read the words to stanza 4 this morning, I had a memory of my recent visit to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.
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The photo I used for the background is one I took of the great hall where more than 12 million immigrants passed between 1892-1954.
These lyrics prompted my pondering today:
“Our fathers’ God, to Thee, Author of liberty, To Thee we sing: Long may our land be bright With freedom’s holy light; Protect us by Thy might, Great God, our King!”
“Our fathers’ God” – God is not the God of this country only. Many of those immigrants’ ancestors worshipped the same God I do. Many of their countries had vibrant Christian communities long before this country existed.
And unless we are descended from Native Americans, our ancestors all came here from somewhere else.
We need a broader and deeper vision of our fathers’ God.
“Author of liberty” – Freedom, liberation, and wholeness originate in the purposes of God. Jesus (God in the flesh, John 1:14) came to proclaim liberty to those in bondage—AND to deliver that liberation.
If OUR liberty creates bondage for someone else, it’s not liberty. One of the inconvenient truths of the sinful human condition is how easily the formerly oppressed become the oppressors when the power dynamic shifts.
“To Thee we sing” – This stanza is not a celebration of country and patriotism; it’s a prayer. It’s a reminder that our patriotism must be rooted in dependence on the God who is bigger than our little corner of His world.
“Long may our land be bright with freedom’s holy light” – If the light of freedom is only for a select few who we deem worthy, it ain’t holy.
At the Statue of Liberty I read the well known poem “The New Colossus” written by Emma Lazarus in 1883 during a time of strong anti-immigration sentiment.
It appears on a bronze plaque on display in the museum housed in the pedestal of the statue.
The most famous lines:
“Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
Sit with that for a moment.
That’s what I did on my visit.
“Protect us by Thy might, Great God, our King!” – Is it possible that the danger from which we most need God’s protection is US?
Is it possible that WE are the greatest detriment to what God truly desires to do among us?
Is it possible that—like ancient Israel—we have forgotten that our greatest blessing is in BEING a blessing?
My prayer today:
Great God, our King, protect us from self-centered, prideful ignorance of Your amazing ways and Your amazing world.May we recognize only one King and only one Kingdom.May we love Your world as you do.Amen.
My encouragement for you:
Be amazing today, my friend.
