Our Land
“This land is your land
This land is my land
From California to the New York Island
From the redwood forest to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and me.”
From the time the Declaration of Independence set in motion the United States of America to the present day when we celebrate that declaration, the expansive boundaries of our land have invited people of the world to come and participate in this movement of freedom. Our history contains dark moments and moments when freedom’s torch burned with brilliance.
In our work and our leisure on this Thursday after another July 4 holiday, take some time to think about the multitude of blessings that you experience in this land. Today is also a day to spend time asking yourself questions about how you can make this land of opportunity a better “melting pot” for all people. And may today also be a day to give thanks for founding fathers, for dedicated women and men, for leaders who carry forth the drumbeat of freedom.
This is a day that God has made! Let us rejoice and be glad in it.
--Ben Keckler
07.07.11
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Daily Devotion - Wednesday, July 6
America, the Beautiful
Can’t help but think of Pikes Peak today as some of my family prepares to leave the foothills of this magnificent mountain and head back to their Midwestern homes. Have you ever been to Pikes Peak? On a clear, clear day the Peak is visible on the western horizon for almost two hours before you get there. In 1893, Katharine Lee Bates was so inspired by the view from the peak that she wrote some beautiful lyrics and then kept revising them until 1911.
“O beautiful for spacious skies, for amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties above the fruited plain.
AMERICA! AMERICA! God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood from sea to shining sea.
“O beautiful for Pilgrim feet, whose stern, impassioned stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat across the wilderness!
AMERICA! AMERICA! God mend thine every flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control, thy liberty in law!
“O beautiful for heroes proved in liberating strife,
Who more than self their country loved, and mercy more than life!
AMERICA! AMERICA! May God thy gold refine,
Till all success be nobleness and every gain divine!
“O beautiful for patriot dream that sees beyond the years,
Thine alabaster cities gleam undimmed by human tears!
AMERICA! AMERICA! God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood from sea to shining sea!”
A prayer for today: God whose blessing we experience in more ways than we can imagine, continue to watch over us and shed your grace upon our land. Amen.
--Ben Keckler
07.06.11
Can’t help but think of Pikes Peak today as some of my family prepares to leave the foothills of this magnificent mountain and head back to their Midwestern homes. Have you ever been to Pikes Peak? On a clear, clear day the Peak is visible on the western horizon for almost two hours before you get there. In 1893, Katharine Lee Bates was so inspired by the view from the peak that she wrote some beautiful lyrics and then kept revising them until 1911.
“O beautiful for spacious skies, for amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties above the fruited plain.
AMERICA! AMERICA! God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood from sea to shining sea.
“O beautiful for Pilgrim feet, whose stern, impassioned stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat across the wilderness!
AMERICA! AMERICA! God mend thine every flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control, thy liberty in law!
“O beautiful for heroes proved in liberating strife,
Who more than self their country loved, and mercy more than life!
AMERICA! AMERICA! May God thy gold refine,
Till all success be nobleness and every gain divine!
“O beautiful for patriot dream that sees beyond the years,
Thine alabaster cities gleam undimmed by human tears!
AMERICA! AMERICA! God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood from sea to shining sea!”
A prayer for today: God whose blessing we experience in more ways than we can imagine, continue to watch over us and shed your grace upon our land. Amen.
--Ben Keckler
07.06.11
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Daily Devotion - Tuesday, July 5
A Thought from Washington
Two hundred twenty-nine years ago, one Revolutionary Army officer wrote George Washington a letter suggesting that a country with Mr. Washington as king was more preferable than “a nation under a republican form of government.” George wrote a letter that included these words:
“If I am not deceived in the knowledge of myself,
you could not have found a person to whom your schemes
are more disagreeable--………
Let me conjure you then, if you have any regard for your country—
Concern for yourself or posterity—
Or respect for me, to banish these thoughts from your mind…”
--George Washington
November 1782
The temptation of powerful kingdoms is really great. The father of this nation realized that true strength would come as people patiently work to create a republic where sharing by all could mean scarcity for none. Most of us are quite affluent, especially when we look at the majority of the world. I feel like we have a long way to go to make this the kind of homeland it was dreamed to be. I pray that I can and that you can be people working diligently to create a stronger, more unified republic.
Long may this land be bright with freedom’s holy light!
A prayer for today: God of our leaders and our God, build within us a deepening respect for our brothers and sisters in this land. Empower us to work for greater and better tomorrows in your global village. Amen.
--Ben Keckler
07.05.11
Two hundred twenty-nine years ago, one Revolutionary Army officer wrote George Washington a letter suggesting that a country with Mr. Washington as king was more preferable than “a nation under a republican form of government.” George wrote a letter that included these words:
“If I am not deceived in the knowledge of myself,
you could not have found a person to whom your schemes
are more disagreeable--………
Let me conjure you then, if you have any regard for your country—
Concern for yourself or posterity—
Or respect for me, to banish these thoughts from your mind…”
--George Washington
November 1782
The temptation of powerful kingdoms is really great. The father of this nation realized that true strength would come as people patiently work to create a republic where sharing by all could mean scarcity for none. Most of us are quite affluent, especially when we look at the majority of the world. I feel like we have a long way to go to make this the kind of homeland it was dreamed to be. I pray that I can and that you can be people working diligently to create a stronger, more unified republic.
Long may this land be bright with freedom’s holy light!
A prayer for today: God of our leaders and our God, build within us a deepening respect for our brothers and sisters in this land. Empower us to work for greater and better tomorrows in your global village. Amen.
--Ben Keckler
07.05.11
Daily Devotion - Monday, July 4
Spirit Fireworks!
The rhythm of another week begins. Freedom’s songs will be sung and played today. They will continue to be heard as long as we continue to give attention to the tasks of liberty that our ancestors envisioned. Tonight we’ll gaze at fireworks exploding before our eyes and behold their awesome grandeur. Today provides an opportunity to look inward and allow the fireworks of spirit renewal to create an inner beauty that rivals the magnificence of that which we will see tonight. To help us in achieving this, I share with you this prayer of Caitlin Matthews, found in a prayer book on my shelf, Prayers for Healing.
“From the depths of holy silence,
I give thanks for the joy and energy of life.
May all beings enjoy the vitality of their existence.
“I remember all that suffer great pain and long-term illness,
especially (add names).
May the Healer of Hurts breathe balm and restoration into all wounded lives.
“May all negative, angry and harmful attitudes,
especially my (add what you need to)
that I harbor within me be transformed into new available life.
“The dance of a summer day calls my steps:
May I respond to the rhythm and melody of its music.”
--Ben Keckler
07.04.11
The rhythm of another week begins. Freedom’s songs will be sung and played today. They will continue to be heard as long as we continue to give attention to the tasks of liberty that our ancestors envisioned. Tonight we’ll gaze at fireworks exploding before our eyes and behold their awesome grandeur. Today provides an opportunity to look inward and allow the fireworks of spirit renewal to create an inner beauty that rivals the magnificence of that which we will see tonight. To help us in achieving this, I share with you this prayer of Caitlin Matthews, found in a prayer book on my shelf, Prayers for Healing.
“From the depths of holy silence,
I give thanks for the joy and energy of life.
May all beings enjoy the vitality of their existence.
“I remember all that suffer great pain and long-term illness,
especially (add names).
May the Healer of Hurts breathe balm and restoration into all wounded lives.
“May all negative, angry and harmful attitudes,
especially my (add what you need to)
that I harbor within me be transformed into new available life.
“The dance of a summer day calls my steps:
May I respond to the rhythm and melody of its music.”
--Ben Keckler
07.04.11
Friday, July 1, 2011
Daily Devotion - Friday, July 1
A Holiday Weekend
I can’t help but wonder if it is still possible to get the feeling that Samuel Smith might have had as he penned these words 179 years ago. And, I can’t help but wonder if these words can still generate a sense of patriotism like they did when they were first heard in a public performance July 4, 1832 in Boston.
My country ‘tis of thee
Sweet land of liberty: of thee I sing
Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim’s pride
From every mountainside let freedom ring.
My native country—thee
Land of the noble free thy name I love:
I love thy rocks and rills, thy woods and templed hills
My heart with rapture thrills like that above.
Let music swell the breeze
And ring from all the trees sweet freedom’s song.
Let all that breathe partake, let mortal tongues awake
Let rocks their silence break, the sound prolong.
Our fathers’ God to thee
Author of liberty, to thee we sing.
Long may our land be bright, with freedom’s holy light
Protect us by thy might, Great God, our King.
It seems to me that nationalism which lacks a reverent fear of the Holy One is very hollow. May our priority be the discovering and honoring of the quiet center of our lives. If we struggle with that priority, America will truly be blessed.
A prayer: God of this world, create a sensitive and seeking spirit within me and within all my brothers and sisters who live in this nation. Amen.
--Ben Keckler
07.01.11
I can’t help but wonder if it is still possible to get the feeling that Samuel Smith might have had as he penned these words 179 years ago. And, I can’t help but wonder if these words can still generate a sense of patriotism like they did when they were first heard in a public performance July 4, 1832 in Boston.
My country ‘tis of thee
Sweet land of liberty: of thee I sing
Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim’s pride
From every mountainside let freedom ring.
My native country—thee
Land of the noble free thy name I love:
I love thy rocks and rills, thy woods and templed hills
My heart with rapture thrills like that above.
Let music swell the breeze
And ring from all the trees sweet freedom’s song.
Let all that breathe partake, let mortal tongues awake
Let rocks their silence break, the sound prolong.
Our fathers’ God to thee
Author of liberty, to thee we sing.
Long may our land be bright, with freedom’s holy light
Protect us by thy might, Great God, our King.
It seems to me that nationalism which lacks a reverent fear of the Holy One is very hollow. May our priority be the discovering and honoring of the quiet center of our lives. If we struggle with that priority, America will truly be blessed.
A prayer: God of this world, create a sensitive and seeking spirit within me and within all my brothers and sisters who live in this nation. Amen.
--Ben Keckler
07.01.11
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