This Sunday is our God and Country service in which we will be celebrating the way the Lord has blessed America. We will have one service that morning in the sanctuary at 11 am. A potluck lunch will follow in the gym. During the service, we will remember our veterans and the sacrifices that they made on our behalf. Ours is a great country and we have so many reasons to be thankful to God.

The fact that democracy has worked so well for us is truly amazing. After all, if America is a "government of the people, by the people and for the people," then how can this government succeed when the people are sinful?

There is no question that we are sinful. Contrary to the modern view that we humans are innately good, the Bible claims that the center of a person's life is bent on sin and wickedness. In describing the heart Jeremiah declared, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" (Jeremiah 17:9). And David declared, "Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me" (Psalm 51:5). Paul insisted that "all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). In our natural state, human beings by our very nature are self-centered and prone to pride.

So how can democracy work when it consists of sinners? When the French man Alexis de Tocqueville visited the United States in the 1830's, he wondered how our democracy could survive when self-interested individuals compose our democracy. Tocqueville answered this question by writing:

"I have toured America, and I have seen most of what you offer. I've seen the richness of the fields and the wealth of your mines. I've seen your industrial might, the beauties of the rivers, the streams, the lakes, and the grandeur of the mountains. I've noticed the abundance of the forests and the marvelous climate with which you are blessed.

In none of these things did I see the cause for the greatness of America. It wasn't until I went into your churches that I saw the reason for America's greatness. America is great because America is good; and as long as America is good, America will be great. If it ever ceases to be good, it will cease to be great."

Tocqueville observed that the churches of America promoted certain "habits of the heart" that combated the self-centeredness individualism that would destroy a democracy. In essence, Tocqueville was pointing to the power of the gospel and transforming work of Holy Spirit. Through the preaching and teaching of the Bible, the Holy Spirit changed the hearts of the people of God who in turn transformed society as they functioned as salt and light. Such was the case in the 1800's as the good news of Jesus Christ penetrated American culture.

Two hundred years later, we are embroiled in the ongoing argument about the relationship of church and state. Here we ought to remember Tocqueville's observation about the importance of churches to our democracy. And it is here that we rededicate ourselves to being the church, the people of God who function as salt and light in the service of our Lord.

In Christ's love,

Pastor Jim