Happy 4th of July! We are 250 Years Old!

I remember the Bicentennial when I was 14, watching the fireworks show around the Statue of Liberty on television while growing up in Corpus Christi. I think it was one of the earliest moments in my life in which I realized the country I live in and its fundamental value of freedom. It wasn’t just a birthday we were celebrating but it was also a value system deeply embedded in my world, my life.

Freedom is one of my most cherished values. I believe God created us to be free, reflecting who God is as we are made in His image. It is not a freedom to do whatever you want, but a freedom to fully participate in my family, my community, my church, my world. I am free to claim my spot at the table as one of God’s children. I am also free not to claim it which, to me, is one of the worst things we can do.

The problem is that most of us don’t want freedom, we want power. We don’t want to sit down at the table and discuss the best way forward. We want you to do what I tell you to do. We want power. We want control. That desire for power, for control over others, though, is disrespectful not only of others, but disrespectful of our God who made the other just as free as he made me.

250 years ago, there was a breakthrough in the history of our world. 250 years ago, we took a huge step forward in understanding and realizing the freedom in which we are made as children of God. 250 years ago, power took a backseat to freedom. It is still such an amazing gift.

We are free. We are loved. That is God’s plan for us. The tyranny that exists is not God’s plan. When we hear that one group must have domination over another group, that one group of people must be put in their place, that is a lust for power speaking, not freedom. Our freedom is on full display when all sides are present at the table, when we engage each other faithfully and thoughtfully, and we find a way forward that we can all buy into at the moment.

We have the freedom to open the door of our lives to the presence of Jesus Christ, who embodies God’s desire for us. We have the freedom to do what is loving and just. We also have the freedom to do what is hateful and wrong (which is why we have penitentiaries). We live in a country that values and enables such freedom. We will always have to fight the desire for power and tyranny but we can do that. We are God’s children and we are free.

Happy 250th birthday, America!