June 28, 2023
Give Thanks and Celebrate! A Prayer for the Fourth
(Note: the opening lines of the prayer are drawn from a work by F. Buechner)
O Lord, from the sprawling, opulent South
of the stark red earth
and lazy skies,
to the lonely beauty of New England
with its prim certainty
of neat white houses and stone fences,
to the sweep of the Middle West
with little towns
set amidst
vast and rich prairies,
to the majestic mountains
of the West
and the brash glitter
of the brawling coast,
this proud nation stretches,
awesome
and free.
And we give you thanks, O Lord!
We thank you
for all the blessings
you have bestowed upon this land.
We thank you
for those who struggled to establish our freedom,
those who sacrificed to preserve it,
and those who continue to hold before us
the vision
of all we should be.
We thank you
for delivering us
unto this day.
And remind us, O Lord, remind us of all there is
to celebrate still;
remind us
of the goodness and generosity and kindness
still practiced
by more than a few;
and remind us too
of the values and virtues
still held dear
by those who still hold
this county
dear –
freedom and equality and justice,
truth and self-sacrifice and honor,
character and compassion and courage,
the very values and virtues
that make us what we are as a nation
and without which
the beacon of light
we are called to be
will grow dimmer,
until at last
it will shine no longer;
and remind us
that somehow we always find our way
to doing what we know
to be right,
even though we
try to ignore it,
try to fight it,
try to extinguish it,
that somehow
right finds its way to us,
and finally prevails,
is prevailing even now,
will prevail;
and above all,
remind us
that beneath and behind and beyond all that
has happened,
is happening,
will happen,
you have been and are and will be
present,
leading and pushing and provoking this nation
to do the righteousness you require, and that
in and through it all
you have not abandoned us
to our faithlessness and foolishness,
even though
there must have been days,
and maybe still are days,
when you felt like, feel like,
giving up on the whole show
and starting over,
but you have not,
are not,
and, we pray, will not,
loving us even when we have become strangers to you,
forgiving us our great follies,
saving us from ourselves again and again.
O Lord, help us to give thanks and celebrate!
And raise up
out of our thankfulness and celebration
a passion
to come together
as a nation;
the courage
to overcome
all that holds us apart from one another
and work together –
Black and White
and Hispanic and Asian and Native
American,
young and old and women and men and straight and gay
and liberal and conservative and Republican and Democrat
and believers and non-believers –
work together
to find solutions,
be the solution,
to the problems that so threaten this land;
and the strength to do the
right thing
right now;
to pry prejudice loose
from our fearful hearts,
right now;
to pressure the procrastinators we elect to office
to do justice,
right now;
to support,
right now,
police and protestors alike,
the best of both wanting the best;
to guard,
right now,
our tongues
that do so much damage;
to protect,
right now,
the beauty of our land
from the grip of greed;
and today,
right now,
show
right compassion,
right care,
right concern, for
all those battling illness and disease,
all those struggling financially and emotionally,
all those who mourn;
and for the people of the Ukraine
and the refugees who have nowhere to turn.
O Lord, we do give thanks and celebrate!
And we pray
that the day
will soon come
when at last
we are truly
one nation,
under you,
and there is
liberty and justice for all.
Grant us
vision enough, passion enough, love enough,
to help bring
that day. And
sustain us,
sustain us until that day comes,
sustain us,
O Lord
of all hopefulness.
Amen.