Readings for Independence Day
This sermon was preached at Christ Episcopal Church in Eureka CA on July 5, 2026.
In celebration of our nation’s 250th anniversary, we read today the Propers for Independence Day, which means we take a break from reading the story of Abraham in the book of Genesis. However, our reading from the Epistle to the Hebrews offers us an eagle’s-eye view of this same beloved patriarch and his most celebrated attribute, an attribute that we are invited to emulate today: that is, his faith; Abraham’s faith in the grace and generosity of God even amidst confusion, unknowing, barrenness, division, and apparent death. Abraham considered God to be faithful to His promises, even when the fulfillment of those promises seemed far beyond the realm of possibility and even when those promises did not come to fulfillment in his lifetime. Abraham died without receiving all that he was promised, but because he had faith, he was able to see their fulfillment from a distance and greet them. According to the Epistle, Abraham’s exemplary faith was propelled by his desire for a better country.
This weekend, we are spurred and fortified by the faith of biblical patriarchs like Abraham and by the faith of our nation’s founding fathers (like George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton) as we persist in our desire for a better country. Of course, we look with hopeful anticipation towards the heavenly country which God prepares for us, but we also pray for God’s reign—God’s Kin-dom—to come here on earth as it is in heaven, to come here to Eureka as it is in heaven. And, by God’s grace, we experience and help manifest tangible signs of that heavenly country in our community and our nation whenever we care for the orphan and the widow, provide food and clothing for the hungry and the poor (Deuteronomy 10:17-21), and whenever we love the stranger, even when the stranger might appear to be our enemy (Matthew 5:43). As we sang in our Sequence Hymn, “Here is what holds us together: Mercy, love, community. We’re to seek to care for neighbor in a just society. If we fail to help the needy and to build a land that’s just, we will simply be a byword as the world looks on at us.”[1]
When we celebrate our nation’s birthday, we are celebrating the ideals upon which our nation was founded – liberty and justice for all – while also acknowledging the ways that we have fallen woefully short of embodying these ideals, remembering that “patriotism without criticism has no head and criticism without patriotism has no heart.” I often repeat this quote, which is attributed to American historian Allen C. Guelzo, who echoes a sentiment expressed by others like author and activist James Baldwin who said, “I love America more than any other country in this world, and exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually;”[2] and Bob Dylan, who said, “I like America, just as everybody else does. I love America, I gotta say that. But America will be judged.”[3] The Episcopal Church is not a Christian Nationalist church, but we are a church whose roots are deeply intertwined with those of our nation. Several signers of the Declaration of Independence in 1776 at Independence Hall later became writers of the first Constitution of the Episcopal Church in 1789 at Christ Church Philadelphia, just a few blocks away. Indeed, the American ideals of democracy and equality informed our church’s founders and our church’s polity, and they continue to guide our church leaders today.
In the Gospel for Independence Day, Jesus calls us to be perfect while also reminding us that our heavenly Father causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and unrighteous (Matthew 5:45, 48). As a nation, we are far from perfect; indeed, some might even call us “evil.” Therefore, we humbly repent. When we pray the prayer of General Confession, we confess more than just our individual sins and more than just the collective sins of everyone gathered here. We are confessing the sins of our entire nation, past and present. So, we humbly repent as we also pray for our nation’s leaders and give thanks for God’s scandalous grace, that it may strengthens us “to maintain our liberties in righteousness and peace” (as we prayed in our Collect) and that God’s grace may lavishly crown our country, for the better, like the indiscriminate rain, from sea to shining sea.
In closing, I will confess that I’m not naïve to the differences of political opinions and persuasions within this community and within this gathering here. Some might be thrilled with the state of our country while others might be terrified. Some might feel uncomfortable and even aggravated with the use of patriotic symbols and songs here in church while others want them to be used more frequently. Our social media echo chambers, news networks, and political pundits seem to be hellbent on keeping us divided and siloed in our cul-de-sacs. In his book, No Man Is an Island, Thomas Merton discusses Jesus’s teaching in our Gospel today, in which he says, “Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). For Merton, this perfection is wrapped up, not so much in us avoiding all mistakes, but rather in learning to see the good in the other, especially in those whom we might be tempted to see as our enemies.[4] Indeed, according to Merton, “The saints are what they are, not because their sanctity makes them admirable to others, but because the gift of sainthood make it possible for them to admire everybody else.”[5] Eleanor Roosevelt said, “Good leaders inspire people to have confidence in their leaders. Great leaders inspire people to have confidence in themselves.”
With faith like Abraham, we desire a better country; and we can help bring that better country here on earth as it is in heaven by strengthening our faith in the goodness of one another, especially among those with whom we disagree, trusting that God’s grace will bring our love to perfection.
Let us pray. In this time, O God, restore us to the land we’re called to be—where all people here among us know your blest community. May we seek to be that city [on a hill, that better country], not with pride but as a prayer. May we love and serve you humbly, in our land and everywhere. Amen.
[1] Carolyn Winfrey Gillette, “In This Time of Great Reflection” (2026).
[2] James Baldwin, Notes of a Native Son (1955)
[3] November 26, 1979, Tempe, Arizona. Wanted Man, ed. John Bauldie (1990).
[4] Merton, No Man Is an Island, 170.
[5] Merton, New Seeds of Contemplation, 57.
DANIEL DeFOREST LONDON 