Independence Day 2024

 During our training, all priests take classes in liturgy. Some history of liturgy, some theory surrounding liturgy, and some practical coursework to help our ability to plan worship in the wild. And every so often in these classes, someone would ask the professor about one thing or another and he would say something like, “no, you absolutely should not do that…but I’m going to teach you how to do it so that when you do it anyway it won’t be that bad.” So hopefully, my professor would agree with me that my transfer of a non-transferrable feast falls under the umbrella of “not that bad”.

There are only two feasts that you can both transfer from the day it falls on to a Sunday and have it “take precedence” over a Sunday, meaning their readings and prayers take the place of what was originally “scheduled” by the church calendar: All Saints, which is November 1st, is celebrated on the following Sunday, and the feast of the parish’s patron. So for us, St Matthew’s Day is September 21 but we will mark the day on the 22nd this year. Most feast days, if they land on a Sunday, you can transfer to the next available week day because every Sunday is a Feast of Our Lord. Most of the days that would take precedence are already Sundays, like Easter or Pentecost, so we have very few opportunities to experience a day that “bumps” a Sunday.

The Episcopal Church recognizes two national holidays in its liturgical calendar: Thanksgiving Day and Independence Day. Neither one takes precedence over a Sunday, which is, of course, not an issue with Thanksgiving. Both Thanksgiving and Independence Days have become increasingly tricky as we as a nation have been reckoning with our lack of perfection and the fear of acknowledging our sins. And with the current political climate, everything about patriotism seems to be “off limits” for fear of confrontational fall-out.

Independence Day as a church holiday has always been controversial in the Episcopal Church. At the 1785 General Convention - the very first General Convention of the Episcopal Church where we were officially named “The Episcopal Church” - they directed that a service be drawn up for Independence Day, and “That the said form of prayer be used in this Church, on the fourth of July, for ever.” The Proposed Book of 1786 contained “A Form of Prayer and Thanksgiving to Almighty God for the inestimable Blessings of Religious and Civil Liberty” to be used on the Fourth of July. The presiding officer, William White, was opposed to the service since many of the clergy had been Loyalists and were against the Revolution, which is not particularly surprising when you consider that, as part of being ordained in the Church of England, the vows taken by clergy included an oath of allegiance to the King. The General Convention supported Bishop White, and the service was not included in the Book of Common Prayer. Propers for this day were eventually published in the 1928 Book of Common Prayer, but it was not a major feast. By the 1979 BCP, Independence Day was included as one of the “Other Major Feasts,” and a collect for the day was provided, which we prayed earlier in today’s service.

What to do about Independence Day remains a hot topic in liturgical circles. I struggled myself with what to do, because the Prayer Book is quite clear that it is not to be transferred and even if it were to fall on a Sunday, we are still to use the appointed lessons for that Sunday. I believe that those rules in the Book of Common Prayer are what we all agreed to when we decided to be Episcopalians. At my ordination, I vowed to conform to the doctrine, discipline, and worship of The Episcopal Church. But there are always pastoral considerations. To borrow a phrase from Miriam, an Orthodox Jew who shares about her life on social media, “we live by the laws, not die by them.” And I think that’s what my professor was getting at when he said he’d teach us to break the rules in the least bad way. That we’ll understand the rules, the theology and community considerations behind them, and then, if we’re still going to break them, to do so in a way that is respectful to those considerations and is still mostly in conformity to the worship of The Episcopal Church.

I don’t think a special Eucharist for Independence Day on Thursday would’ve been a hot ticket to get. But I think these scripture lessons are important. The committee who put together the proper, the set lessons, for Independence Day decided these were the messages we needed to hear as we contemplate and celebrate our independence as a nation. A reminder that the christus victor, the Christ victorious, was not victorious in battle but in obedience. That Abraham was not rewarded by God for his might, but, again, for his obedience. Part of why ancient Jews were sometimes given special permission by their conquerors to continue worshiping their God was because that was such an oddity, to continue worshiping your gods when that god had, by the theology of the time, been proven inferior by losing the battle. The conquerors were so confused as to why they would want to worship this obviously weaker god that they just kind of threw their hands up and said, “I guess if you want this loser god, knock yourselves out, just pay taxes”. These lessons read today remind us that the Lord was and is known not by his conquering might but by his loving-kindness, constancy, and mercy.

Psalm 33, which is the psalm set for Morning Prayer on Independence Day, says, “The Lord brings the will of the nations to naught; he thwarts the designs of the peoples. But the Lord’s will stands fast for ever, and the designs of his heart from age to age.” A reminder that the one whose will reigns is the Lord’s, not whatever king is in power at any particular time. In Lesser Feasts and Fasts, the book where all of our saints’ commemorations can be found, it gives the readings, collects, and the summary of each saint’s life to celebrate their calendar day. It also provides a proper preface for use at the celebration of the Eucharist. Whenever the saint is a king or queen or some other type of royalty, the preface is the one for Baptism, which is so clever. It reminds us that we are all first and foremost citizens of the kingdom of God, with equal privileges (and responsibilities) regardless of our social or economic status in this life. We will pray that same preface today for the same reason: “Because in Jesus Christ our Lord, (God has) received us as (his children), made us citizens of (his) kingdom, and given us the Holy Spirit to guide us into all truth.”

Maybe the Church doesn’t need to celebrate Independence Day, but rather this holiday needs the Church. That we need the Church to guide us in remembering the magnitude of what we are celebrating as Christians and how we are to act accordingly. Today’s texts remind us that we have been training our entire existence as people of God to care for those with the least amount of power in our society. To welcome the stranger, to execute justice for the widow and orphan, and to love and feed and clothe all of them. We are called to do these things not because we are Americans, but because we are Christians. We are to hold ourselves to a higher standard than the standard of power and of empire. We are to obey our God and King - when Colleen and I were discussing hymns for today, I commented that for a final hymn I would like to go for the least subtle “Jesus is king” hymn she could find. We are to follow the example of Jesus, who, “though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death - even death on a cross.” (Philippians 2:6-8)

In the midst of a rise in Christian nationalism, our texts for Independence Day remind us that God deals with us where we are and cares for us because of who God is, not who we are. By remembering this, we can maintain a humble pride in the United States, a right relationship with God, and a focus on the privileges this allows us to share with others, not in superiority, but with equal standing before the Lord. (Fr David Lucey) The apostle Paul offers this on the nature of Christian freedom: “You were called to freedom; but be careful, or this freedom will provide an opening for self-indulgence. Rather, serve one another in works of love, since the whole of the law is summarized in a single command: ‘you shall love your neighbor as yourself’.” Amen.