It’s almost your birthday, 48 Contiguous States plus Alaska and Hawaii.
I would say “Happy birthday America” but some years ago I learned that there are other Americas. (It is a lesson I should have learned earlier.)
I would say “Happy Birthday to the US” but we don’t seem to be united. (And when there are people in our country who are seemingly okay with discrimination and violence and something adjacent to tyranny, I don’t feel a call to be united with every single person, so that’s cool.)
For my part, on our country’s 250th birthday, I want to hear from some truth tellers. And, because my faith is important to me and because there is so much of religion that gets twisted into politics that it makes me literally ill….I want to hear from some faithful truth tellers.
I am thinking of the words of Dr. King, in Memphis, in his last public speech. I want this country to “be true to what you said on paper” like he did. Our earliest “official” documents talk about equality and about justice and about liberty, I want us to truly pursue that.
Maybe because it was his last speech, maybe because Memphis was home for me for several years, maybe because several years ago I heard a reflection from one of the sanitation workers who marched with Dr. King… for whatever the reason, this speech of his is one that I keep coming back to. As he said toward the end of the speech, “Let us rise up tonight with a greater readiness. Let us stand with a greater determination. And let us move on in these powerful days, these days of challenge to make America what it ought to be. We have an opportunity to make America a better nation.”
I believe we still have an opportunity to make this country a better one, but it is something we have to be intentional about.
In April 2025, Dr. Rev. William Barber referenced Dr. King’s speech in his own impassioned rally of the people, and encouraged us to “stand tall” and to lead with love and repent of apathy. It does so often seem like people are apathetic to the injustices around us. Aside from Rev. Barber’s powerful delivery, I appreciate that he gives us tasks we can do. We don’t just have to feel apathetic or frozen from the trauma happening around us.
Christians for Social Action is an organization with resources for how we can stand together and take action with people, especially people our systems have marginalized and made vulnerable.
The American Friends Service Committee is another group that I trust and whose work is grounded in a belief that we have to simultaneously challenge injustice and work for peace.
I am going to wrap up here with a reference to Sojourners, an organization I have been learning from for about 30 years now (eek). They have a piece by Jamar Tisby, entitled “After 250 Years, Christians Owe America the Truth”.
Amen, amen, amen.
Teaching (toward) the Beloved Community 