Seven Score and Five Years Ago

145 years ago today, President Abraham Lincoln stood on a recent Civil War battlefield with 15,000 others, and listened respectfully to the keynote speaker’s two-hour dedication speech, which was well-crafted and wonderfully received. [The speaker, Edward Everett, was actually the 1860 VP-nominee of one of the three major-party tickets that ran against Abraham Lincoln’s Republicans—and he had asked the event-organizers to postpone the original October date so he could have enough time to compose the “oration.”]

Minutes after Everett concluded, Lincoln stood up to give a brief 10-sentences of remarks. Eyewitnesses reported that there was little or no applause, and reporters noted nothing substantive about the address. But to this day, the two to three minutes that Lincoln spoke at the graves of some 7,500 dead soldiers remain etched in the American soul: The first sentence was this: “Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.” His final sentence ended with this:

… we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. -Gettysburg Address, Nov 19, 1863

It’s a poignant reminder of what patriots know implicitly: the most precious things are never free. Freedom isn’t. Love isn’t. Living the faith isn’t. Anything of value requires sacrifice— if not to obtain, then at least to keep.

In contrast to the sacrifices of those farmers & tradesmen-turned-soldiers, the sacrifice that God has asked us to pledge to this coming Sunday are humblingly small: a day of our week, a
percentage of our treasure, and the thrill of sharing our talents.

I pray that as you and your family walk your pledge-cards up to the cross this Sunday, you’ll give thanks for the people of faith who worked hard to teach us the faith, to fund our church’s start-up years, and to donate the land we’ll soon occupy. And I pray also you’ll look forward to the days when, years from now, our grateful children, grandchildren, and community will look back at the pledges and sacrifices we’re making now, and give thanks to God that we did not make them in vain.

-Pastor Dan