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Please pray with me and for me, Father God, we are here this morning because somehow, in some way, in Your wisdom you planted a seed in our hearts and minds. When we were sleeping-just focusing on ourselves, just dozing through another sermon, You somehow got to us; You planted a seed within us in Your wisdom. May we feel that seed growing within us, Your presence Father God. Amen What I am about to share is not a political stance or challenge. This past week I listened closely as I always do in practicing our freedom of speech as American Citizens as our president, President Obama spoke at Cairo University. I went on-line and printed out the president’s speech to make sure of what I had heard. What I am going to share with you stood out and connected with my heart and soul as President Obama ended his speech at the Cairo University: “All of us share this world but for a brief moment in time. The question is whether we spend that time focused on what pushes us apart or whether we commit ourselves to an effort, a sustained effort to find common ground, to focus on the future we seek for our children and to respect the dignity of all human beings. It’s easier to start wars than to end them. It’s easier to blame others than to look inward. It’s easier to see what is different about someone, than to find things we share. But we should choose the right path, not just the easy path. There is one rule that lies at the heart of every religion that we do unto others, as we would have them do unto us. This truth transcends nations and peoples, a belief that isn’t new, that isn’t black or white or brown, that isn’t Christian or Muslim or Jew. It’s a belief that is pulsed in the cradle of civilization and that still beats in the hearts of billions around the world. It’s a faith in other people. And it’s what brought me here today. We have the power to make the world we seek, but only if we have the courage to make a new beginning, keeping in mind what has been written. The Holy Quran tells us, Mankind, we have created you male and a female. And we have made nations and tribes so that you may know one another. The Talmud tells us, the whole of the Torah for the purpose of promoting peace. The Holy Bible tells us, Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. The people of the world can live together in peace. We know that is God’s vision. Now that must be our work here on earth.” On this U.S. Flag Day 2009, I am reminded that we are blessed to be citizens of the United States of America. A nation that was founded by individuals who came to this land seeking religious freedom from the country where they were persecuted/threatened for practicing their religious beliefs. Individuals who came to this land that we know as home like the parable in today’s Scripture Lesson, Mark 4:26-29 (the parable of the growing seed.) I invite you to open your Bible to Mark 4:26-29, as Jesus continues sharing His parables, Jesus also said, “The Kingdom of God is like a farmer who scatters seeds on the ground. Night and day, while he’s asleep or awake, the seed sprouts and grows, but he does not know how it happens. The earth produces the crop on its own. First a leaf blade pushes through, then the heads of wheat are formed, and finally the grain ripens. And as soon as the seed is ready, the farmer comes and harvests it with a sickle, for the harvest time has come.” Our forefathers and foremothers who left everything in their home country came to this land in faith knowing that the Word of God is a powerful growth agent. They came from across the world keeping their eyes on the great harvest yet to come. The belief that in this land we know as the United States of America they would have the freedom to openly practice their faith, to spread the seeds of their beliefs in a land of freedom. Jesus said the “kingdom of God” the kingdom of God is not ‘land’, as we would think of the United States of America. The kingdom of God is our hearts, “our hearts are like the farmer who scatters seeds on the ground. Night and day, while we are asleep or awake, the seeds sprout and grow in our heart and we do not know how it happens. The heart produces the crop on its own. First a seed pushes through our hardness and the image of God grows within our heart until our heart is ready to serve God and God harvests its richness. A long line of men and women have taken refuge in America since Plymouth Rock. Barred from their homelands as enemies of the state, descendents have come to America so that their voices will not be silenced. Looking for a better life for themselves and their families, most immigrants have seen America as a promised land. Searching for safety over four million people have come to America since WWII. Drawn to the possibilities of a free society they have come to flourish in a land of opportunity. Living in the United States of America where the seed has been planted and may openly flourish and grow instead of being stamped out and killed. His name is Roger Williams; he is one of the first great figures in what would become to be known as the United States of America. Williams believed because no one knows which religion is “acceptable” to God, everyone should have the right to freely worship, something Williams called “soul liberty.” Williams, who founded Rhode Island in 1636, put the practice into effect and Rhode Island became a safe haven for Quakers, Jews, and other “dissidents.” The issue is not one’s nationality or where they live or what language they speak. The issue is the Word of God is a powerful growth agent. We never know whom we may touch and or make a difference in their lives by our actions verbal and non-verbal when we step out in faith for what we believe in. From the book: Chicken Soup for the Veteran’s Soul and written by Vietnam Veteran John McCain about a fellow POW named Mike Christian: the location is a prison in North Vietnam. Mike was a Navy bombardier-navigator, who had been shot down in 1967, about six months before I arrived. He had grown up near Selma, Alabama. His family was poor. He had not worn shoes until he was thirteen years old. Character was their wealth. They were good, righteous people, and they raised Mike to be hardworking and loyal. He was seventeen when he enlisted in the Navy. As a young sailor, he showed promise as a leader and impressed his superiors enough to be offered a commission. What packages we were allowed to receive from our family often contained handkerchiefs, scarves and other clothing items. For some time, Mike has been taking little scrapes of red and white cloth, and with a needle he had fashioned from a piece of bamboo, he laboriously sewed an American flag onto the inside of his prison blue shirt. Every afternoon, before we ate our soup, we would hang Mike’s flagon the wall of our cell and, together, recite the Pledge of Allegiance. No other event of the day had as much meaning to us. The guards discovered Mike’s flag one afternoon during a routine inspection and confiscated it. They returned that evening and took Mike outside. For our benefit as much as Mike’s, they beat him severely, just outside our cell, puncturing his ear drum and breaking several of his ribs. When they had finished, they dragged him bleeding and nearly senseless back into our cell, and we helped him crawl to his place on the sleeping platform. After things quieted down, we all lay down to go to sleep. Before drifting off, I happened to look toward a corner of the room, where one of the four naked light bulbs that were always illuminated in our cell cast a dim light on Mike Christian. He had crawled there quietly when he thought the rest of us were sleeping. With his eyes nearly swollen shut from the beating, he had quietly picked up his needle and thread to begin sewing a new flag. To some it may be just a piece of cloth. To Americans, those who have served, who are serving, who shall serve this country as veteran’s of the U.S. Military those colors of red, white and blue mean so much more. The Red, White and Blue stripes of thirteen represents the link to the original thirteen states of which the United States is built upon. And the fifty stars represent the union of the fifty states that make up the United States of American. Charles Thompson, secretary of the Continental Congress stated of the United States flag: A piece of cloth that we do not worship but respect, honor, and cherish as a part of who we are as Americans but represents what our forefather’s and foremother’s stood for and what we as Americans still stand for in this melting pot known as the United States of America.Red represents hardiness and valor The soul reason the founders of the United States of America came to this land that we call home was so that the words of Galatians 3:28, that they believed in their faith, could not only be believed but lived with no fear of persecution and or death in the United States of America: There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. The United States of America is a Christian melting pot of religions, beliefs and practices. And while we as Americans love the colors of the Red, White and Blue we also as Christians love and cherish that Jesus did not wad up his cloth, his napkin, when He was finished after the Last Supper. No, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ folded a piece of cloth, his napkin, and laid it on the table which in Jesus’ time meant “I will return.” TO GOD BE THE GLORY! Let us live today in gratefulness for what we are blessed to have in our lives. The freedom to worship openly, freedom of speech, freedom to vote and have medical care and education for men and women alike. Freedom that we all can have when we are free on the inside for we are walking with Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. Father God, as we enter into prayer, GOD BLESS AMERICA, GOD BLESS THE RED, WHITE AND BLUE, that is significant to whom we are as Americans. Even more, thank you for Your Son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, for taking a piece of cloth after He was finished at the Last Supper and folding it up as we now wait with great expectation for Jesus return. Amen |
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