Community Church Sermons

Year C

May 26, 2013

First Sunday after Pentecost

The Beauty of America

Romans 5:1-8

Rev. Martin C. Singley, III

Senior Pastor

Memorial Day.

The day we remember – and honor – those who have given their lives in the service of our nation. The inscription on the beautiful stone out on our Veterans Plaza puts it as simply as it can be stated.

“Never forget.”

And yet, sometimes we do forget. For many people, Memorial Day is nothing more than the unofficial start of the summer season. For others, Memorial Day is a time for celebrating the dedicated service of our veterans and all those who have served in our armed forces. For others still, Memorial Day is a day for decorating the graves where our loved ones have been laid to rest.

And Memorial Day IS all those things.

But it is so much more.

And it is this “so much more” that we sometimes forget.

There are many stories about the beginnings of Memorial Day, all of them tracing back to the Civil War. In many cities and towns throughout the South women especially went out to decorate the graves of fallen loved ones. Countless “Decoration Days” came into being and many are still observed today. These Decoration Days generally are believed to be the inspiration for what later became our official Memorial Day holiday.

One of the earliest Decoration Days took place in Savannah, Georgia in 1862, just a year after the start of the Civil War. Citizens of Savannah claim their city as the birthplace of Memorial Day, but many other places make the same claim, too. However, I’m drawn to this particular Savannah observance simply because of the year.

1862.

Why, that’s the very same year our church organ was born.

Henry Erben – a very well-known organ builder – crafted the pipes and mechanics of this marvelous musical instrument. It was installed into a Catholic Church in Brooklyn, New York. And you know the rest of the story – how many, many years later the organ was rescued when that church was torn down and demolished. Many of its pipes and mechanics were saved, stored away, and were later purchased by members of our church who wanted us to at least have the option of having a pipe organ in our new Sanctuary. We adopted that option and the Cornel Zimmer Organbuilders of Denver, NC took care of the rest – restoring the 1862 pipes and parts, combining them with new pipes and parts, and creating this beautiful design that one of my friends says reminds him of angels’ wings.

What a wonderful gift of the past and present blended so beautifully together. And I think it’s cool to know that while the women of Savannah, Georgia were planting some seeds of Memorial Day way back in 1862, mourning their dead and decorating the graves of fallen Confederate and Union soldiers, the 2,500 pipes of our organ were singing the hymns of our faith in Brooklyn, New York.

And maybe that helps us make an important connection. You see, Memorial Day has something about it that is far greater than the start of the summer season, the dedicated service of Veterans, and even the respect we pay to the graves of our dead.

Memorial Day is at its core about our faith. The roots of Memorial Day are found in the essential principles of the Church.

People sometimes ask me if I think America is a Christian nation.

I do.

But not in the sense that America was founded exclusively for Christians or for government-sponsored Christianity.

Yes, it’s true, many of the early settlers of America were Christians seeking freedom to practice their faith. But along with them came a lot of atheists, rascals, criminals, and ne’er-do-wells booted out of their countries of origin. And these settlers certainly displaced the native American population that was already here. Our Founders were not all Christians, and some who were Christian didn’t represent Christ all that well. And among our most influential Founding Mothers and Fathers were many Deists who we would today call Unitarians who hardly identify themselves as orthodox Christians.

But being a Christian nation has nothing to do with what religious uniform you happen to be wearing, or what religious label you happen to be bearing.

Being a Christian – according to our passage in Romans 5 - has everything to do with what you are willing to lay down your life for.

And that’s what we sometimes forget about Memorial Day. That Civil War - out of which Memorial Day was born - was about a profoundly religious issue.

It was about slavery.

It was about the great dream of emancipation and freedom from a terrible system of dehumanizing evil. We fought that war – and thousands died - to disempower the institution and practice of slavery.

That’s what we sometimes forget.

People – and nations - are not perfect, nor do we always have a clear vision of God’s will. Sometimes we find ourselves caught up in systems of culture and economics and institution that are contrary to the purposes of God and through them we unwittingly participate in great evil against others. We are born into ideas, and grow up into families and community lifestyles that are sometimes ungodly. And the religious among us are pretty good at finding passages in the Bible or other scriptures that seem to support and justify our ways, sinful though they may be.

In the early days of America, many – maybe even most – believed slavery was an institution ordained by God and that to dismantle it would be to deny the Bible and the Christian Faith.

But…

I believe there IS a godly conscience that grips the soul of our nation. And that conscience played upon the hearts of people to the degree that, one-by-one, people stood up in opposition to slavery. And when the conflict came to war, tens of thousands laid down their lives.

What are you willing to die for? That’s a question that exposes our true faith.

Genesis tells us that all human beings are created in the image of God.

Jesus said, “I have come that you may have life and have it abundantly!”

“For freedom Christ has set us free!” proclaimed the apostle Paul. “Never again submit to a yoke of slavery.”

At the center of our faith is the declaration and celebration of human worth and dignity. Christianity says, “YOU are a child of God – loved by God – valued by God – created in goodness for the glory of God and the reconciliation of the world.”

Like the little poster says – below the picture of a little, mischievous-looking, dirty, ragamuffin kid – “I know I’m somebody ‘cause God don’t make no junk!”

And people of faith in every place and every generation have caught this vision of human worth. And when and where it has been stripped from the lives of others, people of faith have stood up and laid down their lives to restore it.

That’s why we have this Memorial Day.

In a few moments we’re going to sing “America the Beautiful.” When we do, I hope you’ll pay close attention to the lyrics – most especially of the last verse:

O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!

Do you see the vision of America? A nation whose renewed cities are undimmed by human tears. A nation reflecting human worth and dignity. A nation of joy and peace and freedom.

Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!

Why that sounds like Revelation 21, doesn’t it? It’s the vision of the new world God is creating:

21 Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,”^[a] for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. ² I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. ³ And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ⁴ ‘He will wipe away every tear from their eyes….”

“Thine alabaster cities gleam, undimmed by human tears…”

Can you catch God’s vision for America?

You see, at the heart of America – whether we realize it or not - is the Good News of the Gospel - the non-negotiable declaration that every human being is created good, with unlimited potential, and in the very image of God.

America believes that “all men are created equal, and that we have been endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

Our Declaration of Independence says that Governments are formed to protect these rights.

The Gospel calls us to be willing to lay down our lives to attain these rights for each other.

And when that happens, America becomes truly beautiful – and truly Christian in its very spirit.

That’s why we fought that war – and that’s why we have Memorial Day – and that’s why today in 2013 we join our voices with those from long ago – and blast air through organ pipes from past and present of every size and shape and tone - and lift up the song about a diverse and beautiful nation striving to become a land undimmed by human tears.

That’s why we sing, “America the Beautiful.”