Eastern Shore Chapel Episcopal Church
Virginia Beach VA
July 3, 2005
The Seventh Sunday After Pentecost

1776
The Rev. Canon William A. Kolb

Gospel:Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30

Jesus said, “I have come that you may have life and have it abundantly.” “The Glory of God is a human being, fully alive,” said the philosopher Iraneus in the year 185 B.C. For the sake of discussion, let’s also say, The Glory of God is a country, fully alive.

This past week I’ve been reading David McCullough’s new book, 1776. The author describes in compelling detail the revolutionary battles against great odds carried out at Boston, New York and other historic sites. The book makes clear that at most junctures of the war, the superiority of the British forces, numerically and otherwise, was so great that it’s almost miraculous that we won our independence.

One of the themes of the book is how Congress, George Washington and his army changed and evolved over the course of the years-long conflict. In 1776, when General Washington commanded about eight thousand troops at Boston, the troops were described as “ragtag farmers,” many of whom had never experienced battle. Congress too was inexperienced; they’d not fought for independence before, and their constant bickering and squabbling about maintaining and funding an army often left Washington standing in the lurch, pleading for basic supplies so that his troops could effectively fight the best-trained, far-more-experienced, much-better-supplied and best-financed military force in the world of its time.

I was especially moved as I read an account of the American soldiers at Boston, enduring a months-long standoff; the Colonials surrounded from around and above a far-superior occupation force down in the City of Boston. Both armies were aware of a mountain-top site in Dorchester which, if taken, would be a key position giving a commanding view from a strategic promontory looking down at the entire city of Boston and its harbor. Occupying it could turn the tide for either side, but neither side attacked during that long period-–the Americans hesitant to expose themselves to withering fire from far more guns and men than they had; the British reluctant to attack from below in so many directions.

Late in the standoff, Washington had secretly brought a large number of cannons from the deserted Fort Ticonderoga over land and sea, a distance of three hundred miles, to Boston. The Brits did not know of this courageous and difficult operation. Under cover of darkness and a diverting barrage of firepower on the city of Boston, thousands of American troops moved with cannons in tow to the hill at Dorchester. When the royals awoke the following morning and General Howe, commander of the English forces, saw the guns and the troops looking down on them, they were totally stunned. Within 24 hours, Howe gave the command to evacuate his entire force to Halifax. It was a grand and amazing victory.

Later in New York, Washington would read aloud to his soldiers the words of the Declaration of Independence: “All men are created equal and they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” I can just imagine him standing on the commons, his troops hanging on his every word as he read, "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 the 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.”
The ecstatic and somewhat unruly, cheering crowd then raucously marched down the street and toppled the statue of King George III and chopped his head off.

But of course, hard times were yet to come. This early victory was to be followed by years of attrition in the continental forces. Disease and death, lack of clear support and focus hounded the colonials. And yet, the morale of the troops was more often strong and uplifted than it was discouraged. Many believed that God helped them along. Sometimes I hear people talk about how God chose this nation and brought it into existence. It seems to me that God did not exactly take sides, but that the way in which God took part in the birth of our nation was in changing our people as the war progressed--their hearts and their dreams and the way they viewed themselves. Careful study of the path to victory shows how the ragtag soldiers of 1776 became the great army that “turned the world upside down” at Yorktown: the tougher things got, the more they were able to accomplish. Each time they were set back, each time they feared that the dream of freedom might be lost, the more their character and courage grew and then prevailed.

God chose to change people. But the circumstances that came together and were aligned in order for this nation to come into existence, were unlike any other in the history of the world. The Colonials found themselves with the desire and the wisdom and the determination to make the sacrifices necessary to establish themselves, and their new country, as a beacon of liberty and freedom. It was a crucial moment in the history of the world; it was a moment like no other. And they did it. They fought, they wrangled, they disputed bitterly, they sacrificed, and they believed that there was something at stake larger than themselves, something critically important for those who would come after them. On the 2nd of July in the year 1776, as the Continental army marched from Boston through Connecticut on their way to another encounter with the British at New York, their General said to them, “The fate of unborn millions will now depend, under God, on the courage and conduct of this army.”

George Washington was reflecting on the moral imperative of his time. Each generation is called upon to do the same. Ours, of course, is to maintain freedom and the responsibilities that go with it, but in ways that apply to the here and now.

One of those ways in this age is to know our history. I believe there are many of us who do not know the exciting details of our own revolution (I must admit that if I ever knew these things I had forgotten them until reading this great book), and I believe this is a wonderful time to hear about them.

Another of our responsibilities is for us to guard our country against failure and falling. No country, not even ours, not even as blessed by God as we are, is guaranteed continuation into perpetuity. History tells us of the country known as Sparta, and we are told that Sparta had a short lifespan. But Sparta existed for more than four hundred years. This is our 229th birthday. Nothing guarantees that we will be here to celebrate number 400. And so we have work to do.

“Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.” Indeed. And that includes not only vigilance that watches out for external enemies; it also includes making sure that we maintain our freedoms, our openness to new ideas, our welcoming of those from other countries, and our defense of the rights of all citizens in a free society.

In the Bill of Rights we read “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

Today we are challenged by the threat of terrorism against our way of life here and throughout the world. We are seriously imperiled. And so we face one of the greatest, if not the greatest test of our determination to continue to be a free people blessed with liberty, no matter what the pressures pushing us to restrict our freedoms.

I wonder sometimes what our Founding Fathers would have thought of our present peril. Would they have drawn up different rules? Would they have suspended liberty and freedom until the present danger was over? Well, we don’t know, but we do know that we have thrived these two-plus centuries and have maintained our way of life. We do know that we have never abridged our constitutional rights when threatened externally or internally, with rare exception. When we denied the rights of Japanese-Americans by interning them under the stress of perceived threat at the time just after Pearl Harbor, we lived to regret it; we ended up apologizing for it and reimbursing that population for loss of property and opportunity and freedom.

Today we need, I think, to guard against some of what we find happening in our land. For example, we need to find a way to return to caring about others. I am referring to our great appetite as consumers that has us using much of the world’s oil supply to the detriment of our economy and security. Our determination to have what we want when we want it seems to have overtaken any significant concern for the cost of getting what we want.

We need also to find a way to restore subtlety and good taste to our culture. Sometimes it seems that whatever has changed cannot be reversed. But surely the vulgarization of our society can be reversed. Not by limiting freedoms but by speaking out, by expressing our outrage at the precipitous decline in public morality in our nation.

And we need to take religion out of politics. In recent times there has been a rapid growth in statements by many in office and influence, that make us sound like we are a Christian nation and that Christianity is the preferred faith for religious Americans. I find this so offensive. The Constitution is intentionally vague about religion, while being crystal clear about faith in God. Our Founding Fathers fought and died to establish not a Christian nation but a nation in which it is possible to be Christian, but also to be Jewish or Muslim or Atheist without any suggestion that one group is superior to the other or inferior to the other in the eyes of the government.

In England the Anglican Church, the Church of England, is joined at the hip with the government; it is the state religion. It is seen as the official religion of the country of England. We left there to escape that and all the implications of it.

Our laws governing us on issues such as abortion and homosexuality should be influenced not by the tenets of any given religion but by the articles of our Constitution, by the concerns addressed by the Bill of Rights, such as the welfare of the people, and the rights and liberties of all Americans – not by the doctrines of any religion.

Religion and faith in America can only prosper and be truly effective when it is set free from political connections, and when any religion is as respected and free to operate and express its beliefs as any other. As we worship today and observe the birthday of our country, let us resolve to make America all she can be by what we do, by what we say and by what we remember of all that we are called to be. Amen.

Copyright 2005 The Rev. Canon William A. Kolb

Gospel Reading: Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30
"But to what will I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to one another, 'We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we wailed, and you did not mourn.' For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, 'He has a demon'; the Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, 'Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!' Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds."

At that time Jesus said, "I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. "Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."
NRSV (New Revised Standard Version)

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