On Independence Day this year we celebrate our freedom as a nation and the tremendous gift which is America’s 250th anniversary as “one nation under God,” as our Pledge of Allegiance declares.
We mark our national conception from the signing of the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia on July 4, 1776. Our Declaration of Independence famously acknowledges that all human persons are “endowed by their Creator” with natural and unalienable rights including “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” America’s founding generation sacrificed immensely, with “a firm reliance on Divine Providence,” so that "we the people" could continue to honor and worship God, that Christian faith could remain at the center of public life, and with the hope that, as a country and by God's grace, America could forever be a place where self-rule, public morality, and personal virtue would rightly guide our enjoyment of freedom.
As citizens, we reflect on the blessings of our nation and our way of life, and we give thanks to God for his gifts of faith and freedom. Today, just as in our earliest days, the goodness and strength of our country and the right exercise of our freedom depend upon our willingness as people of faith to proclaim the Gospel and order our lives and our nation by the Lord’s saving message. As America commemorates this momentous 250th anniversary, may we continue to trust and rely upon God, and strive to live according to what is right and just as a nation and as brothers and sisters.
May God forever bless the United States of America.
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