There have been times in our Nation’s history when as a people we have been called to stand for our highest ideals. On this day 162 years ago was one of those times. The people of Gettysburg, a small town of about 2500 under the leadership of a local lawyer David Wills the people decided they needed to create a national cemetery to honor the 7,000 Union soldiers who died in the Battle of Gettysburg in July 1863.
About 15,000 showed up to the dedication ceremony, including Abraham Lincoln who delivered a short address that has become a hallmark of who we are as a Nation. Some of the phrases are so familiar that, like old Bible verses, we do not really consider how radical they really are.
Reminding us that the Declaration of Independence stated that all men were created equal, an ideal now denigrated by certain government policies, Lincoln went on to tell us that our tribute to the honored dead should be that “this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” It is this call that should unite us in this day and time.
Prayer for the Day
Healing river of the Spirit, bathe our wounds and purge our pain,
Heal our sadness deep beneath your sacred springs.
Let our lives reflect your peace and bring us to that place
Where we are able to heal so we can move ahead.
Enable the past to empower us creating the faith
So we are able to move into the future with strength.
In the name of the One who gives us strength,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
My dream is of a place and a time where America will once again be seen as the last best hope of earth.
Abraham Lincoln, President (1809-1865)
Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much
Helen Keller, humanitarian (1880-1968)
Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many.
If the foot should say, ”Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,
That would not make it any less a part of the body.
And if the ear would say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,”
That would not make it any less a part of the body.
If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be?
If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be?
Paul’s First Letter to the Community at Corinth 12: 14-17