On Saturday we will begin the three-day weekend that Congress created combing the birthdays of both Abraham Lincoln, born on this day in 1809 and George Washington born on February 22, 1732. Rather than being a remembrance of our two greatest presidents, the Presidents’ Day Weekend becomes a massive shopping frenzy
The 2012 Spielberg film Lincoln catches the essence of Lincoln’s sorrow for he wanted to be a man of peace, and he is portrayed as a man of war. The 1939 film had Henry Fonda give a different image of Lincoln as a young lawyer who believes in the cause he argues, a man wrongfully accused of murder, and Raymond Massey’s 1940 Lincoln had a script written by Robert Sherwood, who also was FDR’s speechwriter.
Lincoln was a man who transcended his time regarding the beliefs about Black Americans, moving from being antislavery to political and social equality. He reflected many of the struggles for change we all undergo. Each of us had had some limitation we needed to transcend. That’s part of human growth and development. It is what makes us human, and lacking in many of our political leaders of today.
Prayer for the Day
Striving to move beyond the boundaries of our minds,
We come to you, O Lord, asking for your liberating Spirit;
Confronted by new realities, we are unsettled
And look to you to open us to new visions of the world;
Save us from the temptation to search for certainty
And restore in us a faith that opens our minds and hearts;
As given us by the One we follow,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
He who would be no slave must consent to have no slave. Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves; and, under a just God, cannot long retain it.
I leave you, hoping that the lamp of liberty will burn in your bosoms until there shall be no longer a doubt that all men are created free and equal.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865)
Give ear, O my people, to my teaching; incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings from of ole,
Things that we have heard and known, that our ancestors have told us.
We will not hide them from their children; we will tell to the coming generations
The glorious deeds of the Lord, and of God’s might, and the wonders done.
Psalm 78: 1-4