Today in the Mission Yearbook - Independence Day

Against the wind

July 4, 2024

“For I was hungry, and you gave me food; I was thirsty, and you gave me drink; I was a stranger, and you took me in; I was naked, and you clothed me; I was sick, and you visited me; I was in prison, and you came to me.”

As a kid, I grew up fishing and sailing on Lake Pontchartrain. I learned to respect the weather. One summer afternoon as I was standing near the Coast Guard Station at the mouth of the harbor, a vicious summer squall came roaring in. As I sat in the safety of the car, I watched a sailboat fight for survival. It was making a run to the safety of the harbor when the storm hit. It sat floundering in the high waves and brutal cross winds just at the entrance of the jetty that protected the harbor entrance. A few more feet and it would have found smooth water. Unfortunately, it was on the wrong side of the entrance.

Sometimes, life feels like it is lived against the wind. You take one step forward and four steps backward. The winds of life that swirl around you is against you, pushing you back. It takes so much energy just to stay where you are and not lose ground. Sometimes life is lived against the wind. Where do we find hope?

 Matthew 25 reminds us that no one should ever stand alone. It is our calling to be the people who find the strength, faith and courage to continue to fight another day. We are not called to stand by and watch as others get pushed by the winds of life; when the winds begin to push, we must help others push back. One person standing alone doesn’t always have the strength to fight back. Like the boat at the entrance of the harbor, without hope lives can sink if people are left to stand alone. But many people working together, pooling their physical, emotional, financial and spiritual resources, have the collective power to resist, stand firm, stand together and then push back against the swirling winds of life.

The Fourth of July serves as an annual reminder of a time when standing together provided hope in challenging times. Our nation’s road to independence was long and not without significant cost. There were times when many wondered if the winds of victory were on the horizon as the war raged throughout the colonies. But by standing together, the tide turned and the winds that initially pushed against us propelled the nation to its independence, and our country took its place in the world.

On July 4, take time to give thanks to those who have walked with others when life’s winds pushed and pulled and for the support they offered along the way. Celebrate our nation’s independence and freedom with a prayerful spirit of thankfulness for those whose vision helped others see and gain a better future.

Rev. Dennis Hysom is a retired Army Chaplain and now serves as the Executive Director of the Presbyterian Federal Chaplaincies. For more information on chaplaincy in the Federal Bureau of Prisons, Veterans Affairs or the military, go to info@presfedchap.org.

Today’s Focus: Independence Day

Let us join in prayer for:

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Elizabeth Little, Church Consultant, Charlotte, NC, Board of Pensions  
David Loleng,  Vice President, Church Financial Literacy & Leadership and Stewardship Education, Presbyterian Foundation 

Let us pray

Lord, as our Savior loved us enough to sacrifice his life for us, may we love others enough to sacrifice for them. We lift to you our Veterans Affairs, Federal Bureau of Prisons, and military chaplains serving far and abroad, asking you to guide them in their daily giving for you. Amen.

Today in the Mission Yearbook - There has been a more challenging July Fourth

This Independence Day, may we continue to pursue equality

July 4, 2020

I have heard the groaning of the children of Israel, wherewith the Egyptians have oppressed them, and I have remembered my covenant (Exodus 6:5).

Has there ever been a more challenging Fourth of July? With a worldwide pandemic, COVID-19 deaths well above 100,000, and a new realization that our nation remains a flawed and racist society, one can understand why we may not want to celebrate the red, white and blue this year.

But to answer the question, yes, there has been a more challenging July Fourth. When the sun rose over the Union on Independence Day 1863, it found a nation ripped apart by secessionists, with tens of thousands of citizens having been killed in the Civil War.

In Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, the bloodiest battle of the war had concluded the previous day, and Gen. Robert E. Lee’s army was on its way back to Virginia. But no one knew what lay ahead.

And Vicksburg, Mississippi, the fortified city that kept supply routes open for secessionist states, had resisted conquest for over six months.

President Abraham Lincoln was so concerned for the Union on that July Fourth, he declined any public appearances. Instead, he awaited news of the battles that were critical to the survival of our nation.

Finally, on July 7, the news of Vicksburg’s surrender arrived in Washington, D.C., and the extent of the victory at Gettysburg was becoming clear.

Ulysses S. Grant

That evening, the president emerged from the White House and addressed the crowd that had gathered, buoyed by new hope and seeking his appearance. Lincoln stated: “I do most sincerely thank Almighty God for the occasion on which you have called. How long ago is it — eighty odd years — since on the Fourth of July for the first time in the history of the world a nation by its representatives, assembled and declared as a self-evident truth that ‘all men are created equal.’”

Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, having presided over the fall of Vicksburg and then hearing of the victory at Gettysburg, remarked that he now knew the Union would be preserved. The war slogged on for many more months, but eventually our nation was preserved, and the institution of chattel slavery was abolished within our borders.

Later, in a passage in his memoirs, Grant commented on the victory for the preservation of the Union and the abolition of slavery: “The justice of the cause which in the end prevailed, will, I doubt not, come to be acknowledged by every citizen of the land, in time. For the present, and so long as there are living witnesses of the great war of sections, there will be people who will not be consoled for the loss of a cause which they believed to be holy. As time passes, people, even of the South, will begin to wonder how it was possible that their ancestors ever fought for or justified institutions which acknowledged the right of property in man.”

 On this July 4, 2020, both Grant and Lincoln would be dismayed by the institutions that remain that conspire to deny the equality of all. More than 100 years after that challenging July Fourth, may we pursue their vision until this nation manifests the Godly truth that all people are created equal in all that we think, say and do.

Lyman Smith, CAPT, CHC, USN, Retired, Director, Presbyterian Federal Chaplaincies

Let us join in prayer for: 

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff

Anisha Hackney, Administrative Services Group (A Corp)
Maggie Harmon, Presbyterian Foundation

Let us pray:

Lord, as we remember Independence Day 2020, we give thanks to you for the noble efforts of those who have sought not only to preserve our union but to make it better. With your help, may we pursue a society in which all people are not only created equal but permitted and encouraged to live in the freedom and peace that you so desire.

As we are imperfect people, encourage us by the actions of imperfect people who years ago made a commitment to provide opportunity, peace and freedom for all.

Guide us through the current challenges and encourage us to seize the opportunities before us. May we give thanks always that we engage in these struggles as we faithfully serve through your grace and love. Amen.