July 5, 2026 – Sixth Sunday after Pentecost
Isaiah 59.1
Amos 9.11-15
Philippians 3.17-4.1
What, to the Christian, Is The 4th of July?
Sixth Sunday after Pentecost
Nearly 175 years ago today, July 5 1852, writer and orator Frederick Douglass spoke at the Corinthian Hall in Rochester New York to the Rochester Ladies’ Anti-Slavery Society in honor of the 76th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. The title of his speech was “What, to the Negro, Is the Fourth of July?” Douglass, as you may recall, was a 19th century abolitionist who had escaped slavery, became what we would call today a civil rights advocate, supported women’s suffrage and advised President Lincoln during the Civil War. It was a lengthy speech, but I believe the following excerpt offers a clear idea of his thesis:
“What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer: a day that reveals to him, more than all other days of the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty an unholy license; your greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciations of tyrants, brass-fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery.”
And then he set his sights on the church: “Your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade and solemnity are to [the American slave] mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety and hypocrisy.”
Ouch. Ouch. And yet, Frederick Douglass was not wrong. In 1852 slavery was the law of the land, and how dare a nation celebrate liberty and justice when such a large part of its population was held in chains against their will. But Douglass concluded that July 5 address on a hopeful note, citing Isaiah 59: “Allow me to say, in conclusion, I do not despair of this country. There are forces in operation, which must inevitably work the downfall of slavery. ‘The arm of the Lord is not shortened,’ and the doom of slavery is certain. I therefore, leave off where I began, with hope.” This, I believe, was a very generous conclusion in 1852.
While slavery may be a thing of the past in America in 2026, I think Douglass’s words still resonate. We may still ask, What to the Negro, is the 4th of July? What, to the Native American, is the 4th of July? And, given the Supreme Court’s TPS decision on the last day of June, we might justifiably ask What, to the Haitian immigrant who was promised safe haven on our shores, is the 4th of July?
But this morning I want to ask a different question, one which might at first blush seem impudent, if not downright disrespectful: The question is this: What, to the Christian, is the 4th of July? Impudent because for a large swath of American Christianity things are going just swell, thank you very much. And disrespectful because it seems to equate the suffering and deprivation of marginalized populations with the comfortable luxury of the American church. But I believe it is that very comfort and luxury that compels us to ask the question.
The history of American independence is a mixed one. Our spirits soar at the language of the Declaration of Independence: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Yet we know that the author of these words, Thomas Jefferson, was a slave owner, as were many of the Declaration’s signers. More than a quarter of all United States Presidents held slaves. The lasting effects of slavery are still felt today; Native American heirs of the westward expansion remain relocated far from their ancestral homes; people who have emigrated to the United States and were naturalized as citizens are still being deported by their government. So yes, we celebrate the resounding ideals of Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness even as we recognize and confess that for many Americans, they remain but a distant dream.
The message of the Old Testament prophet Amos is direct and uncompromising: because of Israel’s social injustice and religious arrogance, God will punish them with disaster. Does the church of Jesus Christ stand under that same judgement today? It is true that a large slice of the church stood tall for manumission in the 19th century, and to this day the church not only maintains a muscular mission, but works with the heirs of slaves to establish an even social and economic playing field. Our own congregation sent a team of youth and adults to work with the Lakota Sioux, whose lush land was stolen from them when they were displaced to a small track of South Dakota that is arid and infertile. Many immigration social services and safety nets are organized and staffed by local congregations, who provide humanitarian aid, legal services, food, shelter and advocacy. Our faith history may include times of exile, lament and disappointment, and surely the church has fallen flat on occasions when it should have stood tall. But even in light of Amos’ judgement on Israel, there is always a word of hope and redemption: “I will repair your broken walls and restore your ruins… You will plant your vineyards and drink your wine, you will make your gardens and eat your fruit… says the Lord your God.”
As Americans, as Congregationalists, as members of the United Church of Christ, our spiritual ancestors came to this country as refugees from religious and social persecution, from famine and deprivation, from a shattered world to the hope of a new world. Many of our ancestors helped forge this nation whose founding we celebrate. Following the tradition of the psalms and prophets, we surely lament the sins of slavery, of dispossessed natives, of dehumanized and vilified aliens and immigrants. We reject a Christianity that worships the idols of self, of wealth, of nation, of self-aggrandizement, of building walls instead of bridges. We repent the times we have allowed ourselves these venial indulgences and we pledge to do better. And we confess that as people of faith, as followers of Jesus Christ, our allegiance is not to a flag, a President or Congress, a political party, nor even to a nation. Our allegiance is to a savior who stood for liberation and love, who consistently identified with the least and the lost, the marginalized and the maligned, the stranger and the sojourner, the outcast and the oppressed. As Jesus’ disciples we are called to see in our neighbors what God sees in them: sacred dignity, inherent worth, immeasurable value, and yes, the very image of God, in each and every human being.
At the end of the day, Frederick Douglass concluded on a hopeful note. He refused to turn his back on an America that had turned its back on him, and yet at the end of his years allowed him a route to inspire the hearts and imagination of America’s leaders. The apostle Paul wrote to the Christians at Philippi about the idolators and false witnesses of his age, “Their God is the belly, their glory is in their shame, their minds are set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we have a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ… Therefore, my brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, my beloved.” May the best days of our nation be ahead of us, and may the church of Jesus Christ be among the many faith expressions that lead the way.
America the Beautiful was originally written in 1893 and published in a journal called The Congregationalist in 1895; the author is Katharine Lee Bates. Bates was inspired by a trip to Colorado, and specifically by the vistas of Pike’s Peak. A professor of English at Wellesley, she was a dedicated social reformer, an antiwar activist and a fierce proponent for the rights of women. She also insisted that the best and highest form of patriotism is to hold your nation to its loftiest ideals. You can hear this insistence in the verses of the hymn we will sing shortly: “O beautiful for heroes proved in liberating strife / who more than self their country loved, and mercy more than life… America, America, God mend thine every flaw/ confirm thy soul in self-control, thy liberty in law.”
What, to the Christian, is the 4th of July? Hannah Santos, a First Amendment scholar and staff member for the United Church of Christ, offers one response: “It is a day of gratitude for the blessings of liberty. It is a day of repentance for the ways we have denied that liberty to others. And it is a day of renewed commitment to the unfinished work of building a nation that more fully reflects the dignity God has bestowed on every human being.”