On my bookshelf is a two-volume set of sermons I purchased at the Valley Forge National Park bookstore in 2001: Political Sermons of the American Founding Era, 1730-1805. The first volume itself runs to 1,000 pages, and thankfully has a digital version.
But shouldn’t preachers stay out of politics? Doesn’t the Constitution free us from religion? Aren’t religion and politics two totally separate things, the former private, the latter, public? And, what is “political”?
These early preachers were not running for office or endorsing candidates. They were proclaiming the gospel and applying Biblical principles to their times. They called their congregations back to Creation Order and their stewardship as creatures made in the image of God, realizing that the world was made by an intelligent law-giver.
Just as the discipline of physics explores and works within nature’s established laws, theology does the same. The law of gravity will never be repealed, and best we can tell, the speed of light is still constant. So also, there are moral laws of sowing and reaping, human freedom, individual responsibility, and the need for government in a fallen world.
Those are the “politics” these preachers proclaimed. They did not use their pulpits to promote factions, or secular ideologies masked in religious jargon. They sought to build up, not destroy, to unify, not divide. That is our legacy, namely, applied biblical principles.
The U. S. Constitution allowed freedom OF religion, but did not promote freedom FROM religion. And while many of the key founders were not Christians, they did believe in a Creator who had endowed His creatures with “certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
On this rather troubled birthday celebration of our nation’s founding, it’s good to keep all this in mind. Those who are defacing monuments and pulling down statues not only betray their humanity, but show their contempt for law of any kind.
The very first thing tyrants do is try to erase the memory of their predecessors by demolishing their monuments. In truth, there is no breaking with the past. As in our own personal experience, we either learn and profit from it, or deal with the consequences of ignoring it.
Let’s pray our nation has many more, happier birthdays. It’s far from perfect, but on earth, is there a better place? Ask yourself why, and you will know why the oppressed of the world clamor to be here. At the same time, be diligent to pray that the same rights and liberties you know will be enjoyed by all citizens, whatever their heritage.
“Father, we thank you for this nation, and we pray for its leaders. We ask your wisdom for them, and trust that you always are at work in your world, even in the midst of the storms. In Jesus name, Amen.”