I love the Fourth of July. Next to Christmas I think it’s my favorite holiday. Why? Well, one reason is that by nature, I’m a patriotic guy. I love to celebrate America’s birth as a free nation. Another reason: July 4th always makes me nostalgic. There are a lot of things I don’t like about our modern culture, and remembering Independence Days past takes me back to simpler times.
 
I remember Dad grilling hot dogs in the back yard, and no one lectured him about carcinogens in the charcoal! Mom always made her special potato salad—with real mayonnaise! When the sun went down, we lit sparklers and ran around, waving wild patterns in the dark. I remember sitting on our porch, high above the city, watching far-off displays of fireworks, followed by a sleep-over with my friends--in the front yard!

Simpler times. No 24-by-7 news stories about terrorism, global warming, or bird flu. No cable TV scream-fests or Internet overload. In fact, when we got tired of watching one of only three network TV channels then on the air, kids like me typically turned to our other major source of entertainment: comic books. And of all the action figures and super-heroes that populated the pages of Marvel or DC Comics, my favorite by far was…Spider-Man.
 
I think Spidey was my favorite because I could really relate to his everyday identity. The guy under the mask was a teenager named Peter Parker, and I related to him because Peter was terrible at sports and totally inept with girls—he’s a dork….until one day, when he’s bitten by a radioactive spider which had escaped from a science experiment. This gave him the proportionate strength, speed, and reflexes of a spider, plus the ability to sling webs and crawl up walls.
 
In the movie version of this comic classic, young Peter is struggling with what it means to possess such amazing powers when he has a run-in with his long-time tormentor, a brawny jerk named Flash Thompson. Before he knows it, Peter has mopped up the floor with Flash and gets kicked out of school.
 
This and other strange new behavior troubles Peter’s Uncle Ben, who has raised Peter since his father died. Uncle Ben doesn’t know about Peter’s unnatural powers, but he can tell that his nephew is changing in some ominous way. So Peter’s wise old Uncle Ben tries to give him some advice.

“With great power comes great responsibility.” That line has always stayed with me. Maybe it’s the minister in me, but it sounds very biblical. Perhaps it reminds me of Father Abraham being so blessed by God that he, in turn, will be a blessing to many nations. Maybe it sounds like Jesus, telling us that much will be required of servants who receive much from their masters—especially their trust.

“With great power comes great responsibility.” It seems to me that this would be good to remember, as we celebrate the birth of our nation this Tuesday. Because the Fourth of July is a particularly proper time to consider what truly makes our nation great, and even more so, what could make it greater. Especially in the eyes of those of us who claim the title of “Christian.”

Put another way, if the Fourth of July is going to mean anything more to us than a day off and lots of furniture sales, what should we celebrate about America? Moreover, how does our faith shape that celebration?
 
Most Americans, if asked what makes their country great, would probably respond with one word: freedom. But freedom to do what? Freedom from what? In January 1941, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt answered those questions, but not just from America’s standpoint. World War II was well under way and would soon engulf the United States. “In the future days, which we seek to make secure, “ he said, “we look to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms.”
 
“The first is freedom of speech and expression—everywhere in the world.”
 
“The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way—everywhere in the world.”

“The third is freedom from want—which…means…secur[ing] to every nation a healthy peace time life for its inhabitants—everywhere in the world.”

“The fourth is freedom from fear, which…means a world-wide reduction of armaments to such a point…that no nation will be in a position to commit an act of physical aggression against any neighbor—anywhere in the world.”

Most of us, I think, would gladly celebrate an America--indeed a world-- framed in those four freedoms. But I have to wonder: in the 65 years since he said those words, have we gotten any closer to FDR’s vision of such a world?

When people exercise their freedom of expression on hot topics like abortion and gay marriage, are we any more tolerant of views that differ from our own?

When it comes to respecting freedom of worship, are battle lines being drawn along religious lines any less than they used to?

When we look at the gap between rich and poor, are any more people at the lower end of the income scale being freed from want?

And when nations gauge their freedom from fear of physical aggression, does the world feel like a safer place?

Perhaps we still have some work to do before our celebration of freedom can be complete.
What else would people say makes America a great country? Many might suggest its economic vitality, which we often hear described as economic power. Twenty years ago some experts predicted that the economy of Japan would steam roll that of the United States. They were wrong. With the largest Gross Domestic Product in the world, the U.S. economy is nearly three times larger than Japan’s, at number two. Germany, the U.K., and France win third, fourth, and fifth prize, respectively; the sixth largest economy in the world is…anyone know? California.

That’s a lot of economic power. But with great power comes great responsibility. Have we Americans used our economic power responsibly? Well, one lens through which to examine that question might be our charitable giving. And 2005, with the Asian tsunami, the earthquake in Pakistan, and hurricanes Katrina and Rita, provided a perfect test ground.
There’s good news on that front. American generosity set a record in 2005: we gave over 260 billion dollars, including 7.3 billion just in response to those natural disasters. That’s a significant increase from the prior year, and far more than any other single nation.
Generous giving to those in need is urged throughout the Bible, and we should celebrate that use of American economic power. But if we’re honest with ourselves, we’ll acknowledge that, again, more work is needed before our celebration can be complete.

Case in point: hunger. And for the moment I’m not talking about far away places like Haiti or Sudan. Last Sunday Don Messer reminded us that hunger remains a real problem right here in America. Thirty-six million Americans live below the federally-defined poverty line, including thirteen million children: one out of every six. Four million of those families are hungry to the point of skipping at least one meal per day.

“With great power comes great responsibility.”

And so, this July Fourth we might raise a glass to our country’s freedoms and economic vitality. But no discussion of American greatness would be complete without considering something that’s been in the news so much lately: U.S. military power.

The United States spends more on defense than the next twenty-three countries combined. Along with most Americans, I believe that the dedication of our servicemen and women, along with the quality of their training and equipment, are second to none.

But with such military power comes an awesome responsibility, for as Jim Wallis writes, “Religious wisdom suggests that the more overwhelming the military might, the more dangerous its capacity for self- and public deception.” 230 years ago, Edmund Burke said it even more simply: “The greater the power, the more dangerous its abuse.”

If you buy that, then you’re probably also focused on the responsible use of America’s political power, for as Karl Von Clausewitz said, war is nothing more than the continuation of politics through other means.

The murky intersection of war and politics is starkly portrayed in America’s campaign against terrorism. Constant headlines remind us that issues of national security, civil liberties, religious intolerance, and economic priorities are woven together in a complicated tapestry.
In trying to sort it all out, we are stung by findings such as those released last week by the Pew Research Center, that a significant majority of people in non-Western countries consider Americans to be predominantly selfish, immoral, and greedy. We hear such criticism and, perhaps, instead of searching our souls, we harden our hearts.

“With great power comes great responsibility.”

On the Fourth of July, it bears remembering that our nation’s founders also faced a political landscape shaped by military contours. But back then, Americans were on the other side of the power curve.

Nowhere is this more poignantly portrayed than in one of my favorite paintings: “The Prayer at Valley Forge” by Arnold Friberg.

The winter of 1777 was especially cold and cruel. George Washington and his out-gunned, bedraggled and starving troops were encamped in this stark Pennsylvania valley. Legend has it that a young Quaker boy named Isaac Potts caught a glimpse of the general in a grove of barren trees, kneeling by his horse in solitude, praying.

In contrast to later portraits of Washington as a confidant and well-fed president, Friberg purposefully painted him as a lean man, driven to his knees by desperate circumstances, seeking solice in his last strength and refuge: Almighty God.

Friberg said he hoped that this portrait “will once again whisper the spirit of Valley Forge, of suffering and devotion, of liberty, and the hand of God in the affairs of man.”

“With great power comes great responsibility.” How can we, as disciples of Christ, support the responsible use of America’s power? How can we exercise our freedoms to make America an even greater country than it is now?
We can ask our leaders to escalate the arms race--in the war on poverty. We can support their efforts to seek out and destroy weapons of mass destruction—remembering that the worst WMDs in the history of the world are hunger and disease. We can use our national power and resources to address the grievances that terrorists exploit to recruit the angry and desperate for their hideous purposes.

We can have faith that, like Peter Parker, we all have a chance to do heroic things, but instead of looking for radioactive spiders, we can believe it is really God who transforms us and empowers us.

What makes America great? I couldn’t say it better than Dwight Eisenhower:
“I sought for the greatness and genius of America in her commodious harbors and ample rivers—and it was not there. . .in her fertile fields and boundless forests—and it was not there. . .in her rich mines and vast world commerce—and it was not there. . .in her democratic Congress and matchless Constitution—and it was not there. Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits flame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because she is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.”

I invite you to ponder those words as we enjoy more scenes and music from the choir’s trip to Normandy. [Video]