Lessons and Songs for Independence Day
This is a long post.
In the parish I serve presently and the one before it I've introduced a liturgy of Lessons and Songs for Independence Day on the Sunday closest to July 4. The Rev. Elizabeth Kaeton originally developed this idea as far as I know. The lessons and music change from year to year as our attention is drawn to new ideas and points of view. Here is the basic liturgical framework along with this year's selection of lessons and music as offered at Trinity Episcopal Church, Iowa City.
This year we traded out the Declaration of Independence for two excerpts from the pamphlet war between Alexander Hamilton and Samuel Seabury. The change was motivated by interest in the musical Hamilton. In it, Seabury, who was a British loyalist, is portrayed as a buffoon. In fact, he was a respected and influential clergyman in Connecticut who was considered one of his era's finest prose stylists. He published three pamphlets criticizing the revolution under a pseudonym to which Hamilton responded. Their exchange played out over 1774-75. When Seabury's identity was discovered, local supporters of the revolution wrecked the shop and printing press of the tradesman who had published his pamphlets. Seabury himself was jailed for six weeks and forbidden to return to his parish following his release. He obtained work as a chaplain to the British forces. After the war ended, unlike many British loyalists, Seabury became a citizen of the new United States and was instrumental in the survival and growth of the Anglican Communion in the new nation. His brother David, one of the 60,000 refugees produced by the war, moved to Canada. In the text below you'll find that we have maintained the 18th century spelling of a word or two from Seabury and Hamilton's writings.
For the first time this year our service included equal numbers of lessons drawn from the writing and oratory of women and men. The research for lessons revealed that women made few recorded speeches in the 19th century. We included the Seneca Falls Declaration for the first time this year. Its form follows that of the Declaration of Independence. The women's rights convention at which it was presented was organized primarily by women affiliated with the Society of Friends. Its meetings were one of the few venues in which women of that time were permitted to speak publicly.
All of the previous versions of this liturgy in which I've participated have included the Gettysburg Address of Abraham Lincoln. This year we traded that for a letter written by Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross, to her cousin on the eve of the second day of the Battle of Fredericksburg. As the record of the Civil and Crimean Wars and the Vietnam War reveals, nurses offer a unique voice to the account of warfare.
Many Americans are familiar with Helen Keller's extraordinary accomplishments in the face of adversity. Fewer are aware that she was a socialist. For several years I've looked for a uniquely American take on the nation's participation in World War I, but never found quite the right source. Her speech to American workers is remarkable in its scope and fervor.
In previous years this service has always included the "I have a dream" speech by Martin Luther King, Jr. This year, the order in which lessons were discovered and added suggested that we find a woman's voice from the Civil Rights Movement. I was astonished to learn that history has recorded so few speeches by women in that cause. There's a gap of twelve years between Fannie Lou Hamer's speech to the Democratic National Convention in 1964 and Barbara Jordan's keynote in 1976. Both of these speeches are closely tied to the events of their respective conventions and were not a great fit for this service. It turns out that one woman spoke at the March on Washington: entertainer and French Resistance veteran Josephine Baker. Mahalia Jackson and Marian Anderson sang, but Ms. Baker was the only woman to give a speech. We excerpted her address which is informal and deeply personal.
As we have for three years now we concluded with Justice Kennedy's eloquent opinion in Obergfell v. Hodges. In prior years I had included Hillary Clinton's UN speech on gay rights in this liturgy. The Obergfell opinion was published only a week or two before the liturgy and it was a perfect addition.
Here are the lessons and songs for 2017.
Song: Blue Book 719 O beautiful for spacious skies
A Bidding Prayer
Celebrant As Christians who are Americans, we gather this day to thank God for the gifts of our freedom and liberty, to honor those whose vision, wisdom and sacrifice secured these “unalienable rights” for us and every generation, to confess that while we believe that all are created equal, we have not always allowed others to enjoy that freedom or those rights; we ask God’s forgiveness and call upon God’s unconditional love and boundless mercy to grant that we may be given the strength and courage to live more fully into our faith and beliefs.
Celebrant Let us pray.
O Lord our Governor, bless the leaders of our land, that we may be a people at peace among ourselves and a blessing to other nations of the earth.
All Lord, keep this nation under your care.
Celebrant To the president and members of the cabinet, to governors of states, mayors of cities, and to all in administrative authority, grant wisdom and grace in the exercise of their duties.
All Give grace to your servants, O Lord.
Celebrant To senators and representatives, and those who make our laws in states, cities, and towns, give courage, wisdom, and foresight to provide for the needs of all our people, and to fulfill our obligations in the community of nations.
Celebrant To judges and officers of our courts give understanding and integrity that human rights may be safeguarded and justice served.
All Give grace to your servants, O Lord.
Celebrant And finally, teach our people to rely on your strength and to accept their responsibilities to their fellow citizens, that they may elect trustworthy leaders and make wise decisions for the well-being of our society; that we may serve you faithfully in our generation and honor your holy name.
All For yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all. Amen.
Celebrant Let us now remember our history, that our past may inform our future.
All sit for the Lessons.
Lesson I : Excerpts from the “Pamphlet War” between The Rev. Samuel Seabury and Alexander Hamilton
A reading from Free Thoughts on the Proceedings of the Continental Congress by The Rev. Samuel Seabury, Rector of St. Peter’s Church, West Chester, New York, 1774.
Permit me to address you upon a subject, which, next to your eternal welfare in a future world, demands your most serious and dispassionate consideration. The American Colonies are unhappily involved in a scene of confusion and discord. The bands of civil society are broken; the authority of government weakened, and in some instances taken away: Individuals are deprived of their liberty; their property is frequently invaded by violence, and not a single Magistrate has had courage or virtue enough to interpose. From this distressed situation it was hoped, that the wisdom and prudence of the Congress lately assembled at Philadelphia, would have delivered us. The eyes of all men were turned to them. We ardently expected that some prudent scheme of accommodating our unhappy disputes with the Mother-Country, would have been adopted and pursued. But alas! they are broken up without ever attempting it: they have taken no one step that tended to peace: they have gone on from bad to worse, and have either ignorantly misunderstood, carelessly neglected, or basely betrayed the interests of all the Colonies.
Shall we attempt to unsettle the whole British Government--to throw all into confusion, because our self-will is not complied with? Because the ill-projected, ill-conducted, abominable scheme of some of the colonists, to form a republican government independent of Great-Britain, cannot otherwise succeed?--Good God! can we look forward to the ruin, destruction, and desolation of the whole British Empire, without one relenting thought? Can we contemplate it with pleasure; and promote it with all our might and vigour, and at the same time call ourselves his Majesty's most dutiful and loyal subjects? Whatever the Gentlemen of the Congress may think of the matter, the spirit that dictated such a measure, was not the spirit of humanity.
Can we think to threaten, and bully, and frighten the supreme government of the nation into a compliance with our demands? Can we expect to force a submission to our peevish and petulant humours, by exciting clamors and riots in England? We ought to know the temper and spirit, the power and strength of the nation better. A single campaign, should she exert her force, would ruin us effectually by the same Navy that she keeps in readiness to protect her own trade.
Your Representatives know perfectly the state of the unhappy breach between our mother country and us. They want no information in this point. The more you trust them at this time, the more you will put it in their power to serve you; and the greater obligation you will lay them under to serve you faithfully, and effectually. Only beseech them to heal this unnatural breach; to settle this destructive contention; that peace and quietness, and the firm protection of law, and good government, may again be our happy lot. Would the several counties, or towns in the province, conduct themselves in this manner, God, I am confident, would bless, and give a prosperous issue to so good a work.
A reading from A Full Vindication of the Measures of the Congress, by Alexander Hamilton, 1774.
It was hardly to be expected that any man could be so presumptuous, as openly to controvert the equity, wisdom, and authority of the measures, adopted by the congress: an assembly truly respectable on every account! But, however improbable such a degree of presumption might have seemed, we find there are some, in whom it exists. Attempts are daily making to diminish the influence of their decisions, and prevent the salutary effects, intended by them.
The only distinction between freedom and slavery consists in this: In the former state, a man is governed by the laws to which he has given his consent, either in person, or by his representative: In the latter, he is governed by the will of another. That Americans are entitled to freedom, is incontestable upon every rational principle. All men have one common original: they participate in one common nature, and consequently have one common right. No reason can be assigned why one man should exercise any power, or pre-eminence over his fellow creatures more than another; unless they have voluntarily vested him with it. Since then, Americans have not by any act of their’s impowered the British Parliament to make laws for them, it follows they can have no just authority to do it.
The evils which may flow from the execution of our measures, if we consider them with respect to their extent and duration, are comparatively nothing. In all human probability they will scarcely be felt. Reason and experience teach us, that the consequences would be too fatal to Great Britain to admit of delay.
She must either listen to our complaints, and restore us to a peaceful enjoyment of our violated rights; or she must exert herself to enforce her despotic claims by fire and sword. To imagine she would prefer the latter, implies a charge of the grossest infatuation of madness itself. Our numbers are very considerable; the courage of Americans has been tried and proved. Contests for liberty have ever been found the most bloody, implacable and obstinate. The disciplined troops Great Britain could send against us, would be but few, Our superiority in number would over balance our inferiority in discipline. It would be a hard, if not an impracticable task to subjugate us by force.
I caution you, again and again, to beware of the men who advise you to forsake the plain path, marked out for you by the congress. They only mean to deceive and betray you. Our representatives in general assembly cannot take any wiser or better course to settle our differences, than our representatives in the continental congress have taken. If you join with the rest of America in the same common measure, you will be sure to preserve your liberties inviolate; but if you separate from them, and seek for redress alone, and unseconded, you will certainly fall a prey to your enemies, and repent your folly as long as you live.
May God give you wisdom to see what is your true interest, and inspire you with becoming zeal for the cause of virtue and mankind.
Song Let tyrants shake their iron rods
And Slav’ry clank her galling chains,
We fear them not, we trust in God,
New England’s God forever reigns.
Howe and Burgoyne and Clinton too,
With Prescot and Cornwallis join’d
Together plot our Overthrow,
In one Infernal league combin’d.
When God inspir’d us for the fight,
Their ranks were broke, their lines were forc’d,
Their ships were Shatter’d in our sight,
Or swiftly driven from our Coast.
The Foe comes on with haughty Stride;
Our troops advance with martial noise,
Their Vet’rans flee before our Youth,
And Gen’rals yield to beardless Boys.
What grateful Off’ring shall we bring?
What shall we render to the Lord?
Loud Halleluiahs let us Sing,
And praise his name on ev’ry Chord.
Lesson II
When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one portion of the family of man to assume among the people of the earth a position different from that which they have hitherto occupied, but one to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes that impel them to such a course.
We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men and women are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights governments are instituted, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. Whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of those who suffer from it to refuse allegiance to it, and to insist upon the institution of a new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they were accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their duty to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security. Such has been the patient sufferance of the women under this government, and such is now the necessity which constrains them to demand the equal station to which they are entitled.
The history of mankind is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations on the part of man toward woman, having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over her. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has never permitted her to exercise her inalienable right to the elective franchise.
He has compelled her to submit to laws, in the formation of which she had no voice.
Having deprived her of this first right of a citizen, the elective franchise, thereby leaving her without representation in the halls of legislation, he has oppressed her on all sides.
He has made her, if married, in the eye of the law, civilly dead.
He has taken from her all right in property, even to the wages she earns.
He has made her, morally, an irresponsible being, as she can commit many crimes with impunity, provided they be done in the presence of her husband. In the covenant of marriage, she is compelled to promise obedience to her husband, he becoming to all intents and purposes, her master--the law giving him power to deprive her of her liberty, and to administer chastisement.
He has so framed the laws of divorce, as to what shall be the proper causes, and in case of separation, to whom the guardianship of the children shall be given, as to be wholly regardless of the happiness of women--the law, in all cases, going upon a false supposition of the supremacy of man, and giving all power into his hands.
After depriving her of all rights as a married woman, if single, and the owner of property, he has taxed her to support a government which recognizes her only when her property can be made profitable to it.
He has monopolized nearly all the profitable employments, and from those she is permitted to follow, she receives but a scanty remuneration. He closes against her all the avenues to wealth and distinction which he considers most honorable to himself. As a teacher of theology, medicine, or law, she is not known.
He has denied her the facilities for obtaining a thorough education, all colleges being closed against her.
He allows her in Church, as well as State, but a subordinate position, claiming Apostolic
He has created a false public sentiment by giving to the world a different code of morals
for men and women, by which moral delinquencies which exclude women from society, are not only tolerated, but deemed of little account in man.
He has usurped the prerogative of Jehovah himself, claiming it as his right to assign for her a sphere of action, when that belongs to her conscience and to her God.
He has endeavored, in every way that he could, to destroy her confidence in her own powers, to lessen her self-respect, and to make her willing to lead a dependent and abject
Now, in view of this entire disfranchisement of one-half the people of this country, their social and religious degradation--in view of the unjust laws above mentioned, and because women do feel themselves aggrieved, oppressed, and fraudulently deprived of their most sacred rights, we insist that they have immediate admission to all the rights and privileges which belong to them as citizens of the United States.
In entering upon the great work before us, we anticipate no small amount of misconception, misrepresentation, and ridicule; but we shall use every instrumentality within our power to effect our object. We shall employ agents, circulate tracts, petition the State and National legislatures, and endeavor to enlist the pulpit and the press in our behalf. We hope this Convention will be followed by a series of Conventions embracing every part of the country.
A letter from Clara Barton to her cousin Vera on the eve of the Battle of Fredericksburg, December 12, 1862.
My dear Cousin Vera:
Five minutes time with you; and God only knows what those five minutes might be worth to the many-doomed thousands sleeping around me.
It is the night before a battle. The enemy, Fredericksburg, and its mighty entrenchments lie before us, the river between - at tomorrow's dawn our troops will assay to cross, and the guns of the enemy will sweep those frail bridges at every breath.
The moon is shining through the soft haze with a brightness almost prophetic. For the last half hour I have stood alone in the awful stillness of its glimmering light gazing upon the strange sad scene around me striving to say, "Thy will Oh God be done."
The camp fires blaze with unwanted brightness, the sentry's tread is still but quick - the acres of little shelter tents are dark and still as death, no wonder for us as I gazed sorrowfully upon them. I thought I could almost hear the slow flap of the grim messenger's wings, as one by one he sought and selected his victims for the morning. Sleep weary one, sleep and rest for tomorrow’s toil. Oh! Sleep and visit in dreams once more the loved ones nestling at home. They may yet live to dream of you, cold lifeless and bloody, but this dream soldier is thy last, paint it brightly, dream it well. Oh northern mothers wives and sisters, all unconscious of the hour, would to Heaven that I could bear for you the concentrated woe which is so soon to follow, would that Christ would teach my soul a prayer that would plead to the Father for grace sufficient for you, God pity and strengthen you every one.
Mine are not the only waking hours, the light yet burns brightly in our kind hearted General's tent where he pens what may be a last farewell to his wife and children and thinks sadly of his fated men.
Already the roll of the moving artillery is sounded in my ears. The battle draws near and I must catch one hour's sleep for tomorrow's labor.
Good night near cousin and Heaven grant you strength for your more peaceful and less terrible, but not less weary days than mine.
Yours in love,
Clara
Song Mine eyes have seen the glory
A reading from Helen Keller’s speech to the Women's Peace Party and the Labor Forum, January 1916
The future of the world rests in the hands of America. The future of America rests on the backs of 80,000,000 working men and women and their children. We are facing a grave crisis in our national life. The few who profit from the labor of the masses want to
We are not preparing to defend our country. We have no enemies foolhardy enough to attempt to invade the United States. The talk about attack from Germany and Japan is absurd. Germany has its hands full and will be busy with its own affairs for some generations after the European war is over.
Yet, everywhere, we hear fear advanced as argument for armament. Congress is not preparing to defend the people of the United States. It is planning to protect the capital of American speculators and investors in Mexico, South America, China, and the Philippine Islands. Incidentally this preparation will benefit the manufacturers of munitions and war machines. Our flourishing industry in implements of murder is filling the vaults of New York's banks with gold.
Every modern war has had its root in exploitation. The preparedness propagandists want to give the people something to think about besides their own unhappy condition. They know the cost of living is high, wages are low, employment is uncertain and will be much more so when the European call for munitions stops. No matter how hard and incessantly the people work, they often cannot afford the comforts of life; many cannot obtain the necessities.
All the machinery of the system has been set in motion. Above the complaint and din of the protest from the workers is heard the voice of authority. Will the workers walk into this trap? Will they be fooled again? I am afraid so.
The clever ones, up in the high places know how childish and silly the workers are. They know that if the government dresses them up in khaki and gives them a rifle and starts them off with a brass band and waving banners, they will go forth to fight valiantly for their own
The kind of preparedness the workers want is reorganization and reconstruction of their whole life, such as has never been attempted by statesmen or governments. It is your duty to insist upon still more radical measure. It is your business to see that no child is employed in an industrial establishment or mine or store, and that no worker in needlessly exposed to accident or disease. It is your business to make them give you clean cities, free from smoke, dirt and congestion. It is your business to make them pay you a living wage. It is your business to see that this kind of preparedness is carried into every department of the nation, until everyone has a chance to be well born, well nourished, rightly educated, intelligent and serviceable to the country at all times.
Strike against all ordinances and laws and institutions that continue the slaughter of peace
Song: Blue Book 597 O day of peace that dimly shines
Lesson V
A reading from Josephine Baker’s speech at the March on Washington, August 1963
Friends and family…you know I have lived a long time and I have come a long way.
When I left St. Louis a long time ago, the conductor directed me to the last car. And you all know what that means. But when I ran away, yes, when I ran away to another country, to France, I didn’t have to do that. I could go into any restaurant I wanted to, and I could drink water anyplace I wanted to, and I didn’t have to go to a colored toilet either, and I have to tell you it was nice, and I got used to it, and I liked it, and I wasn’t afraid anymore that someone would shout at me and say, “go to the end of the line.”
After a long time, I came to America. When I got to New York way back then, they would not let me check into the good hotels because I was colored, or eat in certain restaurants. And then I went to Atlanta, and it was a horror to me. And I said to myself, My God, I am Josephine, and if they do this to me, what do they do to the other people in America and that made me mad.
And when I get mad, you know that I open my big mouth. And then look out, ‘cause when Josephine opens her mouth, they hear it all over the world. So I did open my mouth, and you know I did scream, and when I demanded what I was supposed to have and what I was entitled to, they still would not give it to me. So then they thought they could smear me, and the best way to do that was to call me a communist. And you know, too, what that meant. Those were dreaded words in those days, and I want to tell you also that I was hounded by the government agencies in America, and there was never one ounce of proof that I was a communist. But they were mad. They were mad because I told the truth. And when I screamed loud enough, they started to open that door just a little bit, and we all started to be able to squeeze through it. Now I am not going to stand in front of all of you today and take credit for what is happening now. I cannot do that. But I want to take credit for telling you how to do the same thing, and when you scream, friends, I know you will be heard. And you will be heard now.
I am not a young woman now, friends. My life is behind me. There is not too much fire burning inside me. And before it goes out, I want you to use what is left to light that fire in you. So that you can carry on, and so that you can do those things that I have done. Then, when my fires have burned out, and I go where we all go someday, I can be happy. You know I have always taken the rocky path. I never took the easy one, but as I get older, and as I knew I had the power and the strength, I took that rocky path, and I tried to smooth it out a little. I wanted to make it easier for you. I want you to have a chance at what I had. But I do not want you to have to run away to get it.
Ladies and gentlemen, my friends and family, I have just been handed a little note. It is an invitation to visit the President of the United States in his home, the White House. I
He am greatly honored. But I must tell you that a colored woman—or, as you say it here in America, a black woman—is not going there. It is a woman. It is Josephine Baker. This is a great honor for me. Someday I want you children out there to have that great honor too. And we know that that time is not someday. We know that that time is now. I thank you, and may God bless you. And may He continue to bless you long after I am gone.
Song: Blue Book 599 Lift every voice and sing
Lesson VI
A reading from the opinion of the United States Supreme Court in the matter of Obergefell v. Hodges, delivered by Justice Anthony Kennedy
The constitution promises liberty to all within its reach, a liberty that includes certain specific rights that allow persons, within a lawful realm, to define and express their identity. The petitioners in these cases seek to find that liberty by marrying someone of the same sex and having their marriages deemed lawful on the same terms and conditions as marriages between persons of the opposite sex.
No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice, and family. In forming a marital union, two people become something greater than once they were. As some of the petitioners in these cases demonstrate, marriage embodies a love that may endure even past death. It would misunderstand these men and women to say they disrespect the idea of marriage. Their plea is that they do respect it, respect it so deeply that they seek to find its fulfillment for themselves. Their hope is not to be condemned to live in loneliness, excluded from one of civilization’s oldest institutions. They ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law. The Constitution grants them that right.
Song : Blue Book 603 When Christ was lifted from the earth
The Gospel Matthew 10:40-42
The service continues with The Peace, The Offertory Anthem, Lady of the Harbor by Lee Hoiby, and the Holy Eucharist.
“Let tyrants shake” (tune: Chester): Words and Music by William Billings (1746-1800). Chester was a popular song during the American Revolutionary War. Billings was the first notable American composer.
“In unity we lift our song” (tune: Ein Feste Burg). Words by Ken Medema. Music by Martin Luther (1483-1546); harmony from The New Hymnal for American Youth. This version is from The Faith We Sing. Words: copyright Briar Patch Music, 1994. Permission for use has been requested.
“Mine eyes have seen the glory”: Text by Julia Ward Howe. The tune is of 19th c. American folk origin. The text and tune are in the Public Domain. Reprinted from “Hymns of Promise: a large-print songbook” (Hope Publishing Co., 2015)
“This is my song”: Text: Stanzas 1 and 2 by Lloyd Stone (1912-1993), © 1934, 1962, Lorenz Publishing Co., stanza 3 by Georgia Harkness (1891-1974), © 1964, Lorenz Publishing Co. Tune: Finlandia by Jean Sibelius (1865-1957). Reprinted under OneLicense.net #A-703440. All rights reserved. From Gather Comprehensive, G.I.A. Publications, Inc., 2004
“Lady of the Harbor”: Words by Emma Lazarus. This text is in the Public Domain.
“Let streams of living justice flow”: Words by William Whitla, 1989. Words copyright © 1998, Selah Publishing Co., Kingston, NY 12401, reprinted under OneLicense.net #A-703440. All rights reserved. Music: Thaxsted, by Gustav Holst, 1921. Public Domain: reprinted from Sing Justice, Do Justice, a songbook published by Alternatives for Simple Living, 1998.
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