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Let us continue in worship by giving attention to the reading of God's Word as it is recorded in the Gospel according to Matthew, the 14th chapter. I begin the reading at the verse which is numbered 22. "Then Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side while he

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dismissed the crowds. And after he had dismissed the crowds he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came he was there alone, but the boat by this time was many furlongs distant from the land beaten by the waves, for the wind was against them. And in the fourth watch of the night he came

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to them walking on the sea. But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea they were terrified saying, 'It is a ghost!' and they cried out for fear. But immediately he spoke to them saying, 'Take heart, it is I. Have no fear.' And Peter answered him, 'Lord, if it is you, bid me come to you on the water.' He said,

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'Come.' So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. But when he saw the wind he was afraid and beginning to sink he cried out, 'Lord, save me.' Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him saying to him, 'O man of little faith, why did you doubt?' And when they got into the boat the wind

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ceased and those in the boat worshipped him saying, 'Truly you are the Son of God.' And may God bless to us this reading from his word. Pray with me. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. In the darkest months of World War II, Winston Churchill sent a telegram to

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Franklin Delano Roosevelt in order to lift our national fortitude, purpose, and resolve. As part of that telegram he quoted some lines from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem about our ship of state. 'Thou too sail on, O ship of state. Sail on, O Union strong and great. Humanity with all its fears, with all the hopes of

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future years, is hanging breathless on thy fate.' On this Independence Day Sunday I would like to think with you about our ship of state, about its fortitude, its purpose, and its resolve. And I would like to tie my reflections to this story from the Gospel of Matthew which I have just read in your hearing. The disciples under

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the instructions of Jesus are crossing the Galilean Sea and a storm comes up. Such a tempest was not anticipated but suddenly they find themselves in the teeth of a gale and the waves and the winds are rising against them. The Scriptures note that Jesus was not in the boat and the boat begins to sink. And

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I would suggest to you this morning that our ship of state is sinking. And this is so because we have lost our national virtue. A long time ago the French philosopher Montesquieu wrote, 'It is virtue that makes things work in a democracy.' That same theme was picked up by one of our patriotic forefathers

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Samuel Adams when he wrote, 'It is not possible for a state to remain free where virtue is not supremely honored.' Abraham Lincoln in his second inaugural address announced the same theme when he called America to a new birth of freedom. And how did he define that freedom? With malice toward none and with charity for

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all. In other words, freedom is dependent upon virtue. At the same time that Lincoln was uttering those words, Julia Ward Howe wrote our greatest national hymn, the battle hymn of the Republic. And in it she has the line, 'As Christ died to make men holy, let us live to make men free.' Two trumpets you see, sounding

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simultaneously in duet and in harmony. Holiness and freedom. Virtue and freedom. And Jesus sums the matter most perfectly and most succinctly when he says, 'Ye shall know the truth and the truth will set you free.' And what is truth but lived virtue? So the testimony of our Christ, the testimony of our faith, the

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testimony of the histories of other lands, and the testimony of the history of our own land is this, 'Blessed is that nation whose God is the Lord, for it is out of virtue that freedom comes.' And America has lost its virtue. And so we find ourselves storm-tossed and adrift and awash and sinking. We had thought as

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a people that we could go it on our own, but we are not smart enough and not strong enough and not energetic enough to go without God. And so America has become apathetic and selfish and slovenly. Oh, we do have our good moments. There are times when national compassion is seen as when a little girl falls into

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a storm drain. There's time when our national caring is manifested as we extend, for example, the visas of the Chinese students who are presently studying in this country. There are times when our righteous indignation comes to the fore as when the people together hound from office the Speaker of the

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House. But shortly after these things, unrighteousness always takes the rudder again and we find ourselves in perilous waters and sinking. Believe me, I take no joy in saying this. I am one of those who is offended when our nation's flag is burned, and so I take no pleasure in holding up that flag when it is mud-

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splattered. But to deny that this is true is to be oblivious to the obvious. It is to suffer from a kind of historic amnesia in which we forget our history, which teaches us that no land can be free if it is not good. Deceit plagues our country. One cannot trust the pulpit, the schoolroom, the media, the agencies of

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communication, the government. Nine million crimes were committed in America last year. Only 12% of the perpetrators were arrested. Only 6% of those were convicted. The average length of term for a murderer in this country today is 10 years. White-collar crime went up 15% last year. Shoplifting went

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up 25%. 344,000 of our college students are fraudulently delinquent on their student loans. Hotels who serve the rich and not the poor announced that one out of every three of their guests steals something from the hotel before leaving. Hospitals calculate their losses and discover that medical

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personnel from top to bottom steal the equivalent of $1,000 per bed per year from the hospital, a cost that is then passed on to the patient. Clergy in Washington DC steal the money that they get from selling government food stamps. You know the litany. Colonel North tells us that lying under oath is patriotic.

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Watt tells us that influence peddling is good business. Rose defames the game that gave him his name. Kennedy sits and judges judges while wrapped all the time in the robes of his own shame. Swaggart weeps on camera and curses his church off-camera. Pierce serves a president who has no real concern for the homeless and

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the hungry and the poor and turns that agency most designed to help the suffering into nothing other than a trough for thieves. Boesky steals the money of a lot of little people, gets his hands slapped, and sits in prison now for a short time while his own vast fortune multiplies. A young lieutenant named

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Perry sells his country's secrets for a little Russian cash. Priests seduce alder boys, councilmen are on the take, police peddle the narcotics they confiscate, alcoholism rises, addiction rises, abortion rises, age rises, and America goes down. A long time ago Alexis de Tocqueville, traveling in this country,

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wrote "America is great because it is good and when America ceases to be good it will cease to be great." And we are living to see the truth of his words. "Thou too sail on, O ship of state, and what is our ship of state but a luxury liner sailing into uncharted waters with a band on the main deck playing jazzy

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tunes while all the time we leak below the waterline." The disciples there in that boat on Galilee are frightened by their circumstances and Peter, seeing Jesus, decides to abandon ship. I can imagine that some of the disciples cried out to him not to do so. "Peter, for God's sake,

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don't stand up in the boat. Peter, hang on to your oar. Peter, don't turn your back on your bailing bucket." You can hear their counsel. The other day I saw a bumper sticker. It had a little American flag and beside it these words, "These colors don't run." That's as ignorant and arrogant as most bumper stickers are.

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Someone would have stood up and said, "Only a rat runs, Peter!" But Peter abandoned ship. He opted for the water. He took the leap of faith and he was right in doing so. And so are all of those who abandon the ship of state for their Savior, who listen to Jesus when he says, "Come unto me and forsake any national

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allegiance." We have a saying, "America, love it or leave it." When America is sinking from its sin, it is time to leave it, yea, to walk on the water if that's what it takes to get to Christ. For patriotism is never a proper substitute for religion. The greatest historian of the 20th century, Arnold Toynbee, in

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volume four of his massive "A Study of History" writes, "Patriotism has very largely superseded Christianity as the religion of the Western world and it is difficult to conceive of a sharper contradiction of the essential teaching of Christianity that is embodied in this monstrous product." America, right or wrong,

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that is a blasphemy. When Jesus is not on board, the ship is sinking and it's time to go to him, even when he's in the water. Now notice that when Peter gets out of the boat and starts toward Jesus, he soon discovers that he is no more buoyant than the boat is. He begins to sink and we must be aware, even as we think on

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this theme of our own personal sin, whenever one gets closer to Christ, one becomes more aware of one's own iniquity. That's the reason the greatest saints describe themselves as the worst sinners. This is the reason Paul wrote, "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief." This is the

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reason that Peter cried out there that day on Galilee, "Lord, save me!" which is the prayer every Christian must pray every day of her life. The fact of the matter is that when we separate ourselves from sin, oft times pride enters in and so the Holy Spirit comes and the Holy Spirit reminds us of our

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own perversity. When we leave the ship of state, let there be no self-righteousness about us. I hope a moment ago when I listed those names, North, Watt, Rose, Kennedy, and all the rest, that you did not think to yourself, "None of my sins are as theirs." For the fact of the matter is that evil is in all of us. There is a

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story, and they say it is true, about George Bernard Shaw who once propositioned a movie star to sleep with him. He offered her $50,000 to sleep with him and she agreed. He said, "All right, then will you sleep with me for $1?" She said, "What do you think I am, a prostitute?" He said, "Madam, we have

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already determined that you are a prostitute. We are now just haggling over the price." Well, my friends, let us recognize that the conspicuous absence of virtue which I have illustrated with these names and circumstances of which we are all aware does not exclude us from the plague. The fact of the matter

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is we've been riding on this boat. We're part of the company on this luxury liner filled with self-indulgent prejudiced and people who do not feel shame over disparity. We're infected like everybody else in the crew. That's the reason even as the moment comes when we leave the ship of state we have to cry out, "Lord,

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save me!" If there's a modicum of honesty in us, we have to announce that that flag is splattered, that red, white, and blue is stained, not just because of others but because of us. We have fallen prey to the very thing we so quickly condemn, and so we have failed Christ, and so we have failed America. Now, of course, many would

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wish that the story concluded here, that Peter would make it to Jesus, that he would have certitude while the boat is still floundering, that he would have personal contentment while the others are still filled with fright and dismay. There are a lot of people who would like to have this story end with Peter saying,

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"Well, Jesus, let's walk off into the sunset together and leave these others far behind." There are some who so understand the faith, but notice that's not the way the story ends. The way the story ends is that Christ takes Peter by the hand and leads him back to the boat.

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The central goal of the Christian faith, you see, is not the salvation of one's own soul, but the salvation of others. Our model from the Old Testament is Moses, who said, "Lord, let me be damned if my people might be saved." And our model from the New Testament is Paul, who says, "Lord, let my name be damned if my people might

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be saved." The fact is that when the Christian thinks duty, honor, country, he understands that his first duty is to God, and that duty is to honor Christ, and he does that by bringing Christ to his country. America, love it or leave it, is wrong on two counts. For we must love our Lord before we love our land, and that

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means we must sometimes leave the land. But it is in second error because having left the land, we then must come back again with the Christ who is ours to do everything within our power to save it. And so my 4th of July message is this. We must not underestimate God and we must

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not overestimate evil. Sometimes we look about us and do not see God doing anything. That does not mean that God is inactive. Even though evil is rampant, that does not mean that the strategies of the divine are being frustrated and that we have no part in fulfilling them. We must hold fast to the love of God and

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the Word of God and to God himself. The task of confronting evil in this country is immense, and especially so because we ourselves are infected by it, but we must never forget that this evil is not uncontrolled. God is still in charge. That's the reason we must cling to his spirit, examining ourselves and

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being witnesses to his Word of Truth in this place and in this time. There are three great hallmarks of our Presbyterian believing. The first is righteousness. The Presbyterian believes that he must be right with God and that being right with God means that he is right with other people. He therefore

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pursues reconciliation. He pursues justice. He is not at peace with God as long as any suffer. The second mark of Presbyterianism is frugality. The faithful Presbyterian understands that all things that we have are gifts that come from God, and we esteem the material just as we esteem the spiritual, and that

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means that we believe that ambition is not wrong, and industry is not wrong, and success is not wrong, as long as these things are not idolized. We are to work as hard as we can, to make as much as we can, to bless others as much as we can. And the third mark of Presbyterian tradition is holiness. The Presbyterian

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understands that she must depend upon prayer and scripture and devotion and the sacraments. There is a kind of discipline to the dedicated life of the serious Presbyterian who understands that worship on Sunday morning simply doesn't give one enough power to live out the life of faith in a world as evil

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as this. That the power that is necessary must be claimed each and every day in a life which is disciplined and turned toward God as any healthy living thing turns toward the Sun. So in a time when there is such national confusion, it is especially important that we understand our own identity, that we are

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Presbyterians, that it was one of our clergymen and no clergyman of any other faith who signed that Declaration of Independence, that it was Presbyterians who financed the American Revolution, that the colonists rifles were wadded with pages torn from Presbyterian in books, that the English described the

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American Revolution as a Presbyterian uprising. We of all people ought to know here, for the officers, the founding people in this congregation all served in the armies of George Washington. We as Presbyterians contributed more to the winning of national independence than any other faith in the land and as we

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fought to win independence, so we must now fight to win dependence, dependence upon God, to bring to America once again the virtue it has lost, the virtue that made it great, righteousness, frugality, holiness. When the Tennessee Valley Authority was being developed, it was necessary to move the cabins of many

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mountain people for the waters were rising and there was one old stubborn mountaineer who would not move his cabin. They offered him five times what his land was worth and he wouldn't accept it. They built him a new stone home and they took him to show it to him, superior in every way to where he lived, and he would

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not move. And they asked him why and he said, "Because my great-grandfather lighted the fire that's on our hearth and he made our family promise that we would never allow that fire to be extinguished." And so the engineers got together and they came to him and they said, "Look, if we pick up that fire just

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as it is and carry it from your home where you are now and put it in your new home so that those ancient flames still burn but burn now in a new place, will you then move?" And he thought about it for a moment and then he said, "Yes, for all I desire is to help keep alive the fires of my fathers." And that is our task, to

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keep alive the fires of our fathers. Righteousness, frugality, holiness, it is noted in this story of what happened on Galilee that when Peter and Christ got back into the boat, the winds abated. Let us pray that it might be so again that those of us who love America enough to leave it will love Christ

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enough to come back to lead our land to the feet of our Lord. Then we might be able to say with full and grateful hearts the words with which Longfellow completed his poem, "Sail on, nor fear to breast the sea. Our hearts, our hopes are all with thee. Our hearts, our hopes, our prayers, our tears, our

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faith, triumphant, or our fears, are all with thee, are all with thee." Let us pray. Oh God, set abroad in us a divine discontent, let us not for one moment be satisfied with the state of our ship of state. Let us get our priorities as they

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are determined by the Spirit, our ultimate allegiance to our Christ and his kingdom, and then having left some foolish, naive patriotism long enough to kneel before our Savior, then let us in his name come back and by our word and by our work and by our worth call America to that virtue, to that obedience

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before God and Christ and by the Holy Spirit, which will make her free again to the blessing of all humankind. Amen.