Blessings!

My topic today will be: Blessings!

I begin with Genesis Chapters 12 and 22.

In the beginning, Sarah and Abraham had no religion.

One day God came into their lives and said, “If you turn away from sin and believe in me I will give you two blessings: First of all, I will make you a great nation and secondly your nation will be a blessing for all the other nations. Through you, all the nations on earth will be blessed.” Abraham and Sarah put their faith in God and they were rewarded. They received both blessings and they were pleased.

In 1620 the Mayflower was sailing across the Atlantic Ocean.

It was supposed to land on the shores of the Hudson River and there the pilgrims would be governed by the laws of the Virginia Colony.

But a severe storm blew the ship off course. So, they had to create their own set of laws - which they did - before they landed at Cape Cod. Their rule of law was called the Mayflower Compact. And it made sure that everyone in the colony would be cared for in times of great need…… Everyone…. Including those who had no religion.

John Winthrop arrived in Massachusetts ten years later. He became the first governor of the Massachusetts Colony and his document for governance was called “A City on a Hill.” It was based on biblical principles and the title came from the words of Jesus in His Sermon on the Mount. John’s hope was that his community would be a light that would show other communities how to have a successful government. In other words, he was hoping that his theory of government would be a blessing for his nation and other nations as well.

So far I have looked at two early American documents that provided background material for the writing of the Declaration of Independence. The  first said that a government should benefit its citizens and the second said that the government should be a City on a Hill benefiting the whole world.

The authors of the Declaration of Independence said that they could achieve both goals if they were liberated from the imperial rule of King George III. They believed that God has given us the “Blessings of Liberty” and we want to use self-governance to bring those blessings to our people.

In today’s First Reading the prophet says that the Messiah will bring blessings to his people. The prophet says that God will catch you by surprise because he will not ride a warhorse when he comes into Jerusalem. Instead, he will be riding on a donkey…. A gentle, slow moving, peaceful animal. Why? Because the Messiah will be the Prince of Peace. The prophet says that the Messiah will create a Kingdom of Peace. And on Palm Sunday we learn that Jesus is that Messiah because he comes into Jerusalem on a donkey. He is gentle and humble of heart and he comes into town to set up the Kingdom of Peace.

Jesus has his own document for governance and it is called the Sermon on the Mount. His document will bring the spiritual blessings of liberty to his people just as the Declaration of Independence brings political blessings of liberty to our nation.

So, what are those spiritual freedoms? Those freedoms are twofold. We have FREEDOMS FROM and FREEDOMS FOR. Jesus has set us free FROM the power of sin.

Sin no longer has power over us unless we give it power. We are no longer controlled by the powers of pride and selfishness and laziness and gluttony and jealousy and envy and resentment unless we give them power. We also have FREEDOMS FOR. Freedoms for doing what is right and good. We are free to pray many times each day and free to work for the common good and free to see God’s goodness in each person. We are free to defend the rights of the weak and vulnerable persons in society and free to include everyone in our circle of friendship. We are free to serve those who were suffering from poor health and free to make friends with the outcasts of society.

Today we have all of those spiritual freedoms and we have them to the degree that we follow Jesus on his gospel path.

During this weekend we thank God for the Blessings of Liberty. We thank God for the freedoms that we have in our country and the freedoms that we have in Christ.