On July 4 we celebrate the birthday of our nation when we became free from Britain’s tyranny. More than that, we celebrate the freedoms that are the bedrock of our society. As our Declaration of Independence states, all people are “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” In the USA we enjoy offer freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of the press, and freedom of assembly, among other freedoms. They are enshrined in our Constitution.

Our freedoms have always lured others to become American citizens, including my grandparents. Sadly, today, people who are fleeing oppression and seeking freedom in America are finding the opposite. They are being turned away and even imprisoned. We forget or ignore the invitation offered on the Statue of Liberty:

 “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

On July 4 we also remember those who suffered or even gave their lives to protect our free country. The Korean War Memorial reminds us that freedom isn’t free. Still today it requires sacrifice, not only by men and women in our armed forces, but by us. It takes courage, time, and passion to speak up and act to safeguard and defend our precious freedoms.

God and Freedom

God is in favor of freedom.  After all, far from a tyrant, he created us with a free will. We are free to oppose him. Then when Satan had held our human race captive, God freed us by the sacrifice of Jesus. God wishes that we live freely and happily. Someone defined freedom as “the ability to swing your arm up to the point where the other person’s nose starts.”

As we enjoy fireworks, picnics, and patriotic music this July 4, let’s hope and pray that freedom will ring out throughout our land and for everyone. This is what we sing in the song America:  “From every mountainside, let freedom ring.”  Freedom here is compared to a bell—like the Liberty Bell.

The American Flag

On June 14, 1777 the Continental Congress passed the Flag resolution. The flag was to be thirteen red and white stripes with thirteen stars in a blue field, representing a new constellation. (The colonies’ flag had similar stripes, but in the corner was the British Union flag.)

According to legend, Betsy Ross, an upholsterer in Philadelphia who made uniforms, tents, and flags for the Continental army, made the first American flag. She created five-pointed stars instead of the six-pointed ones Washington envisioned. This legend was fueled by the Charles Weisgerber’s 1893 painting “Birth of Our Nation’s Flag.”

A 17-year-old designed the flag we fly today. In 1958, Ohio high schooler Robert G. Heft created the 50-star design for a class project, anticipating that Alaska and Hawaii would soon join the Union. His teacher gave him a B minus. When Congress chose Heft’s design two years later, the grade was changed to an A!

This latter fact and 10 interesting facts about are flag are on the National Flag Foundation‘s website. It offers even more information about the flag such as how to fly it.

“My Country ‘Tis of Thee”

Samuel F. Smith, a Baptist minister who composed more than 150 hymns, wrote “America” while he was a seminarian. In just a half hour on a rainy day, he produced this famous national hymn. The first three verses inspire pride in our nation, and the last verse asks God to favor and protect it.

Here is one version with lyrics:

What is your favorite patriotic song?

Which freedom of ours do you particularly cherish?

How will you celebrate the Fourth of July?