Shining City Upon a Hill i

Joyful, joyful we adore thee. How glorious is your name, your presence, your spirit, your Son, your love. Simply thinking of your majesty brings joy to my soul.

My greatest love is for my Father, my creator, my God. Below that is the love I have for my mother, my father, and my brother here on earth. One of my other great loves, though, one which I am passionate about, is the love I have for the country in which I live. When I think of the United States of America, I remember to when my first ancestors came over across a sliver of land from modern-day Russia, later to be called Native Americans. I think of others who came on boats from Portofino, Italy; from Malahide, Ireland; from Killarny, Ireland; from Southern England. They all came at different times, in different courses of American history. The first before any else knew there was an America, so much that they were named “Indians” by their discoverer. Some others who came in the late fifteenth century to find San Salvador and claim this land for Spain. Some others who came throughout the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries to settle the British colonies across the eastern seaboard. Some others during a potato famine in Ireland. Some others to escape the poverty of the Industrial Revolution in England. My history is beautiful, and in many ways typical of most Americans. I am proud of it, and excited of the stories that it brings. One day I hope to visit where all of my roots have come from.

All of my ancestors came to a place for a better life. For adventure. For love. For a higher quality of life. For joy. When they first saw this country, they were filled with excitement for what awaited. I can just imagine the faces of my ancestors from Southwest Ireland catching their first glimpse of the Statue of Liberty as they arrived in America. Hope was in their faces, in their hearts.

Today, I sit here the product of these many adventures. Only one other person in the world shares this same story – my little brother, whom I love dearly. We love our country the same. Two hundred and twenty-nine years ago today, a group of men gathered in a room to take the biggest leap of faith they would ever take. They defied a king. They sought freedom from tyranny. They sought a new way of life, where freedom was every man’s right. Where liberty, justice, and brotherhood was abundant. For many of them, this leap of faith was part of a much larger faith – their faith in God. This was a spiritual journey for some of them. Their prayer for America was to be free from England. To be our own nation.

That we are. England is no longer our leader – rather in many ways, we now lead England. We are no longer a colony, but in just eleven score and nine years, we have become the most prosperous nation on the earth. In the words of one of our greatest leaders, a “shining city upon a hill.”

My prayer as I sit here today, reflecting upon where I have come from, and where I have been, is that we truly live up to this great leader’s description of our homeland.

In the place that I call home, forty years after Rev. King’s dream, the most segregated place you can find is no longer the water fountains. It is no longer the seats on a bus. It is no longer the places of schooling for children. Rather, it is the places of worship for all. In the United Methodist Church, we speak ‘under the table’ of the “black churches” and the “white churches”. Many of both are dying because of little enthusiasm. Why not truly live up to our name – “united” – and make one church, filled with excitement and fervor for God almighty?

In the nation which I love so dearly, whose history is as colorful as it is beautiful, why do we set aside one faith and call it “barbaric” and fear coming near our brothers who worship differently from how we do? Muslims are not ravages. Muslims are not terrorists. Muslims are our brothers. Whether or not we want to admit it openly, God created them just as He created us. And, in the words of Brian McLaren, please allow be to believe that the same God that created the earth and the heavens may also have the wisdom to teach different cultures to worship Him in different ways.

Distant relatives of mine have been ever-present in the shaping of this nation. From congressmen in the first and second Continental Congress, to military leaders, to presidents. My prayer is that they may help America realize the dreams of those who led before them. Reagan wasn’t talking about shiny weapons to greet our brethren. He was talking about being a faithful nation believing in God, and shining by sharing their love – His love – with all of the nations.

We call ourselves a “Christian nation”, more so than any other culture upon the earth. Jesus – the leader of the Christian faith – taught love. Call me a hippie if you’d like, without the marijuana, but I really believe that we’ve lost the love. Black Eye Peas must also agree with this through their song, “Where is the love?”

In sharing the same spirit of my forefathers eleven score and nine years ago, I long and desire to see a revolution. I desire to see a nation that spreads His love to all of the nations, and truly becomes a shining city upon a hill. A nation under God, with liberty and justice for all of the world.

-gcm . july 2, 2005
west end, grand bahama island