This year we are celebrating the 250th anniversary of the United States of America–for many of us, our cherished country. But anniversaries are not merely a time for nostalgia and celebration. As Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore wrote: an anniversary “calls us to consider not only who we have been, but who we are becoming…and by God’s grace, who we are called to be.” With that in mind, I offer you this prayer.

God and gracious God, as we celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, we offer you this prayer for our country, a country that is good, beautiful, and beloved… and a country that is wounded, flawed, and always in need of your help.

We are grateful for the ideals expressed in the Declaration of Independence… that all people are created equal… that they are endowed by You, our Creator, with certain unalienable rights… among these rights are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. May we never take these rights for granted or forget the responsibilites these rights bestow upon all of us, especially the need for our vigilance and our participation to preserve these sacred rights into the future.

We thank you, Creator God, for the countless natural gifts of this land we call home: for rivers and lakes, mountains and valleys, forests and farmlands, oceans and grasslands and the wide diversity of animal life these resources support and sustain. Help us to remember this proverb from our Native American brothers and sisters: “We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.” May we continue to work untiringly for the preservation of our precious natural gifts for generations to come.

We thank you for the people who were here long before most of our direct ancestors set foot on this land. We are grateful for their rich spiritual traditions and their deep respect for “the land.” And we ask forgiveness for the grave injustices these people endured–and in some places, still endure–from those of us who came much later to this land.

We thank you for the wide diversity of peoples who immigrated to this country throughout our 250 years–and who continue to come today. They came here fleeing religious persecution, wars, famine, and violence of all kinds. They came here seeking a better life for themselves and their families. And sadly, we remember those who were brought here in shackles, enduring brutal and inhumane conditions. We ask forgiveness for what some have called our country’s “national original sin,” the sin of slavery. And we ask your help to continue to remove barriers that prevent some of us from enjoying the rights our Constitution assures for all of us. May we as a nation incarnate more and more that word “United” in the official name of our country, the United States of America.

We thank you for the unique gift of our republic, our democracy, whereby the leaders of government derive their just powers from the consent of the governed. We are justly proud of all those leaders throughout our history who served our country with personal integrity, courage, wisdom, justice, compassion and with a cooperative spirit. We ask for these same qualities in those who serve us in leadership today.

We thank you for the so-called “common man,” that is, for the countless ordinary men and women throughout our history who displayed qualities we like to say define “the American spirit,” qualities such as diligence, resilience, courage, hopefulness, generosity, and care and concern for one another. May we who follow them in time, follow them in spirit by continuing the hard work of insuring the rights of all.

We pray also for all other nations today. May we always remember that our nation is part of a world community, a global community. We are grateful for the ways our country in the past has worked hand-in-hand with other countries to preserve peace, to build beneficial partnerships, to care for our common planet, and to provide aid to those nations plagued by poverty, illness, food shortages and violence. May we continue our tradition of reaching out and sharing our wealth with our global community.

And finally, God, we pray that we may become the nation we pledge our allegiance to: “The United States of America: one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” Amen.

For reflection:

Is there anything that stands out for you in this prayer?

If you’re an American, what do you love the most about the USA?

If you could ask God for one thing for the USA today, what would it be?

How do you plan to celebrate this 250th anniversary?

PS: I will NOT post a blog next week on Monday June 29. My next post will be Monday July 6.

PS #2: Thank you for your prayers for the retreat last week for the SSJ’s in Erie. Special thanks to the retreat team, (Nancy, Mary Ann, Susan, and Linda) for helping to make the retreat such a blessed experience!

I chose “American the Beautiful” for our song today, a hymn written in 1905. It is based on a poem by Katharine Bates, an English professor at Wellesley College, a women’s college in Massachusetts. Samuel Ward, an organist and choir director at Grace Episcopal Church in Newark, New Jersey, composed the music. About 75 other composers set Bates’ poem to music, but Ward’s soon became the favorite. Bates and Ward never met. He didn’t live long enough to see how popular the song became, but Bates did. Bates always said she was inspired to write her poem as she traveled by train from Massachusetts to Colorado. Along the way she was mesmerized by the beauty of the country–the greenery, the tall buildings of Chicago, the rivers, the wheat fields, and the mighty Rocky Mountains. I chose this version below because it has all four verses plus the lyrics.

I welcome your comments below.