Simple is Better – Happy Birthday America!

Galatians 5:13-15 – My friends, you were chosen to be free. So don't use your freedom as an excuse to do anything you want. Use it as an opportunity to serve each other with love. All the Law says can be summed up in the command to love others as much as you love yourself. But if you keep attacking each other like wild animals, you had better watch out or you will destroy yourselves.

While we have all probably been to plenty of birthday parties, today is a first for many of us. I’m not sure any of us have been to a 250th birthday party before. For those of us who call the United States of America home, we are celebrating the 250th birthday of our country today.

I’ll leave the history lessons and the significance of how this day came about to more skilled historians than I am. There are plenty of them, along with plenty more history lessons in the last 250 years. Let’s be honest. While the United States has so many wonderful moments in her history, there are also some that make many Americans uncomfortable. This is how it should be. Our lived reality. People make mistakes, and yes, Americans have made them as well.

Anticipating today, I was drawn back to this same day 50 years earlier. When the United States turned 200 years old. It feels to me that there was more hoopla and preparation for the 200th birthday celebration. Maybe it was a surprise that this country had actually made it 200 years. Maybe people realized the significance of this. Nonetheless, I remember specifically how my family and I prepared for this country’s 200th birthday.

Some influence is tied to the fact that the little town where I grew up decided to throw a big 200th birthday celebration in 1976. At the time, I was 9-years-old. Old enough to remember it. A group of local people planned a weekend of celebration including a parade, fireworks, a softball tournament, chicken BBQ, a carnival, and much more. They planned a special Kiddie Parade for the day before the big parade. The winner of the Kiddie Parade would participate in the big parade the next day.

My sister, Debbie, was 7. Weeks in advance, we planned to participate in the parade. My mom made us special dresses that were intended to replicate what young girls would have worn 200 years earlier. Our church had a special worship service more akin to a worship service in 1776. People were encouraged to wear period-appropriate attire and why Debbie and I had the dresses we’re wearing in the photo. I’m not sure the pastel colors were found in 1776, but the style seemed to be like what our school history books indicated. We decided to wear these same dresses for the Kiddie Parade and push our dolls in buggies through the parade. Mom made our dolls dresses to match our dresses. We made “Happy Birthday” signs and our entry was complete.

On Saturday morning, we completed chores early on our dairy farm so that we could get cleaned up and to town before the start of the Kiddie Parade. The parade started right in front of our church. We walked three blocks to the nursing home where residents sat outside under shade trees so they could see the entries. I have no idea how many entries there were or who won. All I remember is that we were not a finalist. Nonetheless, we proudly pushed our doll buggies down the street with our handmade signs. It was the first time Debbie and I had ever been in a parade. We felt pride in being able to celebrate our nation’s birthday in such a special way as did so many other people. People used the word “freedom” regularly and we were encouraged to value and appreciate our freedom.

While parades and BBQ’s and fireworks are standard fare for 4th of July celebrations, I pray that we will pause and ponder what the word “freedom” really means when we say that we believe in God. The relationship between religion and the founding of this country is tricky. Rather than looking at this understanding of freedom, I encourage us to dig deeper and try to understand how God views freedom.

When we see ourselves as members of God’s family, we experience freedom. God has already taken care of the admission for us to be part of God’s kingdom. When we call ourselves part of God’s family, we have the deepest experience of freedom available. We are warned not to abuse this freedom, take it for granted or use it to oppress others. Instead, we are to use freedom to serve one another.

Serve one another. Not just the people who look like us. Or the ones we are like-minded with. Or the people we like or live in our community. In God’s Kingdom, serving one another takes on a much bigger and broader understanding. Our love for others should be rooted in God’s love for us and how we love ourselves. This is a selfless love that is defined by God rather than our limited understanding of love. God’s love is so much bigger, broader, deeper and wider than we can ever understand, which means that God’s freedom also has these same characteristics.

When we look at freedom from this perspective, I pray we see how much freedom God allows for us. Too often we want to put boundaries on God’s love. We want to limit it and put guardrails on it. As I read the words from Galatians, I am reminded that God’s freedom is so much more than I can ever imagine. This, my friends, is the type of freedom God promotes. Lives. Embodies.

As the United States celebrates a big birthday this weekend, we’ll hear plenty about freedom. I pray that we consider that true freedom is found foremost in God and embrace God’s very generous understanding of freedom. Once we experience this freedom in God, I pray we yearn for others to know and experience this as well. How does this happen? When we serve them.

I’ll be back in the little community where I grew up this weekend for the 50th celebration of our hometown celebration. The Kiddie Parade is no more. The line-up of activities has changed significantly over the past 50 years. Actually, Debbie and I will be riding in the big parade. We’re helping lead the community worship service. Yes, there will be fireworks, BBQ chicken other celebrations. Yet, I pray God’s concept of freedom will be foremost in my heart and mind. And may this freedom motivate and encourage me to serve others as God has taken care of and loved me.

Blessings –

Dianne

Holy God – Thank you for this broader definition of freedom. May I embrace this understanding daily. Amen.

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