Give Thanks and Celebrate! (A Prayer for the Fourth)
(Wednesday, July 1, 2020)
(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,
even in the midst of crisis and chaos,
remind us
of what the news of the day –
the behavior of the few,
the ugly and cruel words of the few,
the heartlessness of the few,
the self-absorption and thoughtlessness
of more
than a few,
the sheer stupidity
of lots more than a few,
lot more –
causes us to forget;
remind us
of the goodness and generosity of the many,
the kindness and thoughtfulness of the many,
the care and consideration of the many;
and remind us too
of the values
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
that make us what we are as a nation
and without which
the beacon of light
we are called to be
will grow dimmer,
as it is even now growing 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
of all nations;
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
Americans,
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 start supporting,
right now,
police and protestors alike,
the best of both wanting the best;
and start guarding,
right now,
our tongues
that do so much damage;
and start protecting,
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 the coronavirus,
all those who mourn the loss of someone to the virus,
all those struggling financially and emotionally,
and today, not tomorrow,
show right consideration for others
and do the right things
to protect them and
our families and
ourselves.
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.