Tagged: Unity

Dream Prayer

I DARE you to pray this today-

Prayer:

Now is the time to make real the promise of democracy.

Now it the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of
segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice.

Now it the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial
injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.

Now is the time to make justice a reality to all of God’s
children.
Dear Lord, let the dream of little children one day living in
a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin
but by their character come true.
Lord Jesus, let freedom ring, let it ring from every
tenement and every hamlet, from every state and every city, help us to speed up that day when all of Your children,
black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and
Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of
the old spiritual, “Free at last, free at last. Thank God
Almighty, we are free at last.”

In Jesus name,
Amen

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Preamble Principle #1 More Perfect Union

“We the people of the United States of America, in order to form a more perfect union…”

Initially, the delegates at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787, no doubt were concerned that the 13 little countries that were the states would cooperate better under a single Federal government that would be more secure and more efficient than the fragile “league of perpetual friendship” offered under the original Articles of Confederation.

But it’s also the point of our original national motto found on the Great Seal of the United States; “E pluribus unum” which in Latin means, “out of many, one.”

We are not all Germans, or Spaniards or Magyars (Hungarians). We are a nation of immigrants. We are English, Dutch, French, Russian, Italian, Polish, Greek, Lithuanian, Senegalese, Chinese, Portuguese, Korean, Malaysian, Nigerian, Somalian, and don’t forget Sioux, Navajo, Inuit and Cherokee. Americans are by our very definition, a blend, a mix, a hybrid.

We need to come together in spite of our differences, political, religious, philosophical, linguistic, cultural, gender, age and economic. Singles have different interests than couples and families. Retirees have different interests than children or those of working age. Civilians have different needs than military personnel. Rural has different needs than urban. Urban different than suburban.

But somehow we still need to overcome out differences, hash-out and negotiate compromises until we settle on common-ground so that we can coexist and better yet work together toward common goals… goals like, oh I dunno, just grasping for anything here… “justice, domestic tranquility, common defense, the general welfare,” and just maybe “the blessings of liberty.”

United we stand, divided we fall. There’s power in numbers. We’re all in this together.

Sure we all want to be independent, but to remain independent, we need to lean into our interdependence for the sake of our common goals and interests.

I’ll tolerate debate and discussion about degrees of sharing and balance, but be careful when toying with concepts like nullification, interposition and especially secession because Americans gave their last full measure of devotion to help maintain this union.