It’s the third Sunday in Advent, and once again, we have been blessed with a foot of the purest, most beautifully white snow. I’m not really sure why the snow reminds me of so many things, times, and people, but I do know my heart is yearning for peace, a peace that will bring hope and love to all of the hurting people of this world, of our country, and of our communities. It just seems like 2021 needs to end soon before any more troubles erupt and any more of our loved ones pass. As Max Lucado said this morning, “God’s answer to today’s life is His grand home. Heaven is the answer to our pain here.” (Heaven: God’s Grand Answer-12/12/21) If we believe in Him, “our best life is yet to come, with a perfect home, a perfected people, and a perfect Lord.” (Same as above)
As I listened to Pastor Lucado, I wondered how many Christians are really willing to fight for their religious freedom because it can be very lonely for anyone who believes in Jesus Christ today. Sometimes, it’s hard to obey God’s will when so many others don’t understand our values and will do anything to undermine what we believe in. Faith in Jesus Christ is relative to a person’s circumstances. To those who are given much, much will be required of them. Once our religious freedom and values are taken away, it will be hard to get them back, or maybe, we have to lose them before we realize what we have lost.
I’m sure that Christians believe in the truth, the light, and the way because that’s what we learned as children; that wisdom has guided me fore many years. If we allow our harshest critics to discredit our founding fathers’ beliefs in religion as a strong tenet of American democracy, then those critics are discrediting our religious faith. Even without the Constitution, God gave us our freedoms, our rights, not those non-believers who seek to drive religion our of every aspect of American life. It is a known fact that George Washington praised God for the birth of our nation and all who wished citizenship here. Did you know, however, that in the dome of the Washington monument in Washington, D.C., is a plague that states, “Laus Deo,” or “Praise Be to God?” I hope and pray that “In God We Trust” will forever be what America stands for.
Who are our harshest critics? They are those who label Christians as anti-social, anti-rational, and anti-science. They believe that Christians are separatists, elitists, and racists. People who are anti-religion often foster intolerance and divisiveness among many Americans and are willing to storm our nation’s capitol buildings to keep the worst president in our nation’s history in office rather than let a religious man become our president.
Our country was built on principles of truth, not falsehoods. There is a statue entitled “Freedom” in the capitol building that was built in 1861 just before the Civil War broke out by Phillip Reed, a slave. Waiting to be freed in 1863 by Abraham Lincoln, he said, “Any country that can free the slaves is worth fighting for.” As long as the government’s reach into our homes, our schools, and our churches continues unchecked, our freedoms are in jeopardy. Every stone of our monuments in Washington, D.C. represents sacrifices and blood. What value are you willing to take a stand for? We are still a government of, by, and for the people. In my mind’s eye, I see the pure white snow of Valley Forge, Pennsylvania colored with the red blood of our ancestors, and I am so grateful that I can still write about my faith in Jesus Christ, that I can wear a cross around my neck without accusations, and that our flag still flies strong against the azure blue skies. In the words of another Revolutionary War flag, “Don’t Tread on Me,” I say, “Don’t Tread on My God.”
Anna Hartt
