Each week in our community prayers, we lift to God all those celebrating milestone anniversaries. These milestones are not only cause for celebration but an invitation to look back in gratitude and humility. This coming Fourth of July, we mark the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, and as we gather in celebration, we look back on our nation’s complex history and look forward to ways in which we might better live into the aspirations set by our forefathers all those years ago.
Just as the people of this nation never cease in their pursuit of liberty and justice for all, we as a church never cease in our pursuit of loving God and loving neighbor. Loved by God, we love others courageously – that is our mission at Nativity. Freed and transformed by the gospel of Jesus Christ, we commit to building a beloved community where all are welcome and to the holy work of listening, learning, and growing together. In this way, we live into our identity as followers of Jesus, constantly rising to new life by the grace of God.
This July 4th weekend, we invite you to join in worship, in person or via livestream, as we wrap up our “All are Welcome” series in the book of Acts. We will hear the story of the Council at Jerusalem from Acts 15, wherein the growing church continues to wrestle with the changing landscape of its members. And we will ponder together the challenge and the beauty of how both the church and our nation have necessarily changed over time to reflect the growth and change of the community that continually builds it.
Whatever celebrations your July 4th weekend might hold this year, wherever you may be, we offer this prayer for our nation on its 250th anniversary:
Triune God, you show us the splendor of diversity and the beauty of unity in your own divine self. As the United States of America marks its declaration of independence, make us a united people that delights in our many different gifts and identities. Give those we have entrusted with authority the spirit of wisdom, and curb every abuse of that trust, so that both here and abroad, justice, humility, and peace may flourish. In Jesus’ holy name we pray, Amen.
(Adapted from ELCA United States Semiquincentennial Worship Resources)