A Few Words On A Few Words

Someone I read this week expressed objections to Americans celebrating the birth of their nation as “the Fourth of July,” rather than “Independence Day.”  

“We celebrate an event,” she said, “not a date on the calendar.”

She makes a good point. July 4^th was really more the official announcement of the birth of a nation, rather than the birthing itself. That birthing occurred in a flurry of moments, words, and actions, great and small, over a number of years. Still, that announcement marked the Moment when history took a sharp and utterly unexpected turn and all the geopolitical standbys were upended for – well, for the next 250 years or so, anyway.

In particular, on this day, we reacquaint ourselves with what one historian recently deemed “The Greatest Sentence Ever Written.” That’s a bit of a stretch; Thomas Jefferson was a gifted writer, but on his best day, he never came close to John 3:16, or 1 Corinthians 13. Even restricting the competition to American shores, Abraham Lincoln was no slouch at stitching fine words and enduring thoughts together, either.

Still, in the political realm, there’s no overstating that what Jefferson scribed in a cramped upper room during the blazing summer of 1776 seized the imagination of a people in transition, and of countless men and women, slave and free, in every earthly kingdom then and since:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men 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.”

Those 35 words have been studied within an inch of their lives across 25 decades now, and I’m willing to spare them an excess of additional analysis now. But I will say that a handful of those sacred words shimmer even against the remarkable rest, and bear special remembrance, in this great moment and in the difficult days sweeping toward us once the celebrations are through.

“We hold these truths …” 

The wisdom of freedom has been placed in our hands. We are responsible, as individuals, and as a nation, for keeping a firm grip on these eternal verities.

“… to be self-evident …”

We don’t have to convince ourselves that the ensuing assertions are true. If anything, we must work very hard to delude ourselves that they’re not.

“… that all men are created equal …”

The emphasis is usually on the “equal,” but it really belongs on “created.” Equality is not a political construct. It’s a natural fact, etched into our souls by the One who formed us.

“… that they are endowed by their Creator …” 

An endowment is a gift; in this case, from God. Like His grace, and our faith, it’s something we can never earn. Americans have never been, and cannot be, good enough to deserve the mercies, victories, and freedoms He has given us.

Those who believe our sins – as individuals and as a nation – cancel out all that is wonderful and worth celebrating fail to understand, refuse to understand, that we are delighting, this day, in God’s goodness … not our own.  

“… with certain unalienable rights …” An unalienable gift is one that cannot be taken away. All the politics in the world can’t tear America out of God’s hands, nor change the enduring Rights He’s entrusted to us. Those rights can be neglected, ignored, abused. But they can’t be destroyed.

“… that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Isn’t “among these” an interesting phrase? In his determination to identify our three greatest blessings, Jefferson neglects to document other rights entrusted to us. It’s the Bill of Rights that specifies those – and so it’s this word, “among,” that binds the Declaration to the Constitution, as the two great testaments to our priceless heritage and identity as Americans.

Our 250^th comes at a difficult time. Divisions deeper than any since the Civil War gnaw and tear at the unity that war did so much to secure for all Americans. We live in age where, increasingly, the loudest voices belong to those who cherish the power of hate more than the joys of love and understanding.

Not everyone, it seems, feels like celebrating today. Still, what Paul says of Christians, in 2 Corinthians 4:7-9, applies equally well to Americans, should we choose to remember it:

“… we have this treasure in earthen vessels,” that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed …” 

After the parades and the flyovers, the speeches and the fireworks, will come the fight. The political winds now rising carry contempt for all that the Declaration affirmed, and an arrogance that denies the self-evident.

Those of us, few or many, who understand the truths we hold, and our responsibility to defend them, are just beginning to fathom the forces of evil pouring over the approaching horizon. May the Lord “grant us wisdom, grant us courage,” that we fail not Him, or each other.