In search of motivating and inspiring sermons, I went on You Tube once again and found one by the Reverend Canon Jan Naylor Cope of the Washington National Cathedral. She spoke of Christ’s first days as God’s messenger of the Word…His baptism, how the Holy Spirit entered Him, His days in the Wilderness, His recruitment of His first four disciples, how His authority as God’s Son set Him apart from all others in the synagogue, and His first healing miracle.
After four years of unrest with the Trump presidency, our country is still unsettled, fractured, divided, and in many cases, more violent than before he became president. Isaiah 58 reminds us that we need to be repairers of the breach, healing the broken parts of ourselves and others, and remembering that in order to move forward, we need to listen to true prophets who inspire us to seek new thinking and new purposes.
Reverend Cope posed three questions: “Who are we following? Who are we listening to? Who are we as a nation?” If Christ is the answer to the first two questions, then we are on the right road. If not, then we can expect little positive movement forward. In following Christ, we know who we are; we are faithful Christians, longing for Christ’s light to make our paths brighter and our lives more loving.
No president, no administration, no Judiciary, and no Congress is the savior of our country. We pray for our leaders and representatives to be given the wisdom to lead us on the right paths, but it is every American’s responsibility to help bring us together. The adage, “I am because we are,” is in play once again. Although there is a separation of church and state ruling in our Constitution, we need to find our grounding in the tenets of the Ten Commandments. There is only one God, and we are not it. We should not make graven images or idols out of our citizens. We should not take the name of the Lord our God in vain, and we should keep the sabbath day holy. We should honor our fathers and mothers, and we should not kill. We should not commit adultery, and we should not steal. We should not bear false witness against our neighbors, and we should not covet our neighbors’ things. Where do you stand on any one of these tenets? Can you honestly say you have never betrayed one of them?
Our lives are challenging, many are hurting, many are broken, and we are all worried about our present circumstances and our future progress. Despite His brutal death on a cross, Christ is still with us today, and He asks us to follow Him. Opening our hearts to the One who offers us Eternal life, we will walk in the light and not in the darkness that is fighting for our nation’s soul. On Inauguration Day this year, a young, twenty-two year old, Black American woman gracefully addressed the nation with her poem, “The Hill We Climb.” Amanda Gorman lovingly and courageously pointed out, “There is always light if only we are brave enough to see it, if only we are brave enough to be it.” I want and need the light, and I will try to be brave enough to seek it out in every avenue of my life. What will you do?
Anna Hartt
