As you may have heard, a significant anniversary was
celebrated recently. No, not the 30th for Christie and me, the
35th for something which may be a surprise to you. Just about 2½
weeks ago, April 30th, we marked 35 years since the first-ever
presidential address that ended with the phrase, "God bless
America." (1) Today, of course, that would not be a big deal - it
has become the verbal equivalent of wearing a flag pin in your
lapel. At the time, though, it was unprecedented. In fact, it
was the first time in modern history that it had happened.
It was the evening of April 30, 1973. Richard Nixon was
addressing the nation live from the Oval Office in an attempt to
manage the growing Watergate scandal. It was a difficult speech
for the President: he announced the "resignations" of three of
his administration's most powerful officials - Chief of Staff Bob
Haldeman, Chief Domestic Advisor, John Ehrlichman, and Attorney
General Richard Kleindienst -- but the President nonetheless tried
to sound optimistic. As he approached the end of his speech,
Nixon noted that he had "exactly 1,361 days remaining" in his
term and wanted them "to be the best days in America's history."
"Tonight," he continued, "I ask for your prayers to help me in
everything that I do throughout the days of my presidency." Then
came the magic words: "God bless America and God bless each and
every one of you."
The context was hardly an auspicious beginning for this
particular phrase in the presidency, and it did not immediately
catch on. Gerald Ford did not use it, nor did Jimmy Carter, but
Ronald Reagan, that was a different story. Reagan made "God
bless America" the omnipresent political slogan that it is today.
He used the phrase to conclude his dramatic nomination acceptance
speech at the Republican convention in July 1980, and once in
office, made it his standard sign-off. Presidents since Reagan
have followed suit, and the shift in presidential rhetoric could
hardly be more striking.
According to an intriguing new book called The God Strategy:
How Religion Became a Political Weapon in America, (2) from the
inauguration of Franklin Roosevelt in 1933 -- which most observers
view as the beginning of the modern presidency -- to the end of
Jimmy Carter's term in January 1981, presidents gave 229 major
addresses. Nixon's use of "God bless America" was the only time
in any of them that the phrase passed a president's lips. In
contrast, from Reagan's inauguration through the six-year mark of
the current Bush administration, presidents gave 129 major
speeches and they said "God bless America" (or "God bless the
United States") 49 times. Hmm. Is all this recent God talk
reflective of some shift in the basic beliefs of those at the
pinnacle of power? Or is something a bit less noble at work
here?
According to the authors of the book, it is not that the
past four presidents have simply been more pious than their
predecessors. Few would doubt the honest faith of Dwight
Eisenhower (a good Presbyterian), or Lyndon Johnson, or Jimmy
Carter. It is that "God bless America," true to its presidential
birth on that April evening in 1973, has grown to be politically
expedient. The phrase is a simple way for presidents and
politicians of all stripes to pass the God and Country test, to
let press and public know that "I am a real, God-fearing
American." Few notice if they say it, but many notice if they
don't.
For a time in recent years the embedding of politics with
religion in our nation became uncomfortably partisan as socially
and theologically conservative evangelicals like Jerry Falwell,
Pat Robertson, and James Dobson took important seats at the table
of the Republican party. Then because so much of the subsequent
Republican agenda was presented in terms of conservative
religious rhetoric - abortion, gay marriage, the creation/
evolution debate, etc. - Democrats seemed to shy away from any
references to issues of faith at all in an effort to distance
themselves from social positions which they did not support. The
"God talk divide" (if you will) came to a zenith in the election
of 2004 as Karl Rove and his compatriots put together a strategy
that maximized conservative religious support for George Bush
while John Kerry struggled to pass the "God-fearing American"
test because he was never able to articulate his deep faith in a
way that was able to connect.
By 2006, the landscape had changed somewhat. The religious
rhetoric was continuing, but voters were becoming disillusioned
with politicians whose God talk did not exactly reflect a God
walk. The sex scandals and kickback schemes finally took their
toll and the political landscape in Washington changed.
Meanwhile, the Democrats were more and more concerned that
the perception of their party was becoming one, not of religious
neutrality, but of outright religious hostility, and this was a
perception that they knew needed correction. More and more
office-holders and candidates began to talk about their own
religious background and their own relationship with God.
Last June I participated in a conference in Washington put
together by Sojourners magazine. It was called Pentecost 2007
and was organized to highlight the justice issues that Sojourners
has long been known to support. What made the conference unique
was a special "Presidential Forum on Faith, Values, and Poverty"
that was scheduled one evening. Sojourners hosted a live
broadcast on CNN of leading Democratic presidential contenders,
Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, and Barack Obama on Monday, June 4
(yes, this primary campaign has been going on for that long).
This was a first-of-its-kind event - an evening of God talk from
the Democrats as the candidates were questioned live on
television by nationally prominent religious leaders. It was a
most interesting evening.
What has followed since then has been a fairly civil
conversation about religion this election season (apart from the
exploitation of some remarks by Barack Obama's former pastor and
references to intolerant statements from televangelist supporters
of John McCain). When Hillary Clinton was asked in a forum on
faith and politics at Messiah College a few weeks ago about her
favorite Bible character, she named Esther, and she explained it
in a way that revealed her familiarity with the Bible. Obama is
a thoughtful Christian and church member. John McCain, not yet
subjected to much scrutiny regarding his religion, seems to know
his way around the Episcopal and Baptist traditions. The
questions posed to Clinton and Obama at the faith forum at
Messiah were specific and tough. "Why does God allow human
suffering?" a student asked Senator Clinton. Her answer was
disarming: "I have no idea," she said, "but I intend to ask
him." (3) Good for her. I have some questions that I intend to ask
as well.
Is all the God talk on the campaign trail a good thing or
not? Some would probably say no because they feel that religion
is a private matter that should not intrude into the public
square. As you might surmise, I disagree because as I have said
many times, religion and politics cannot be separated because
they are both reflections of humanity's efforts to reach onward
and upward to our highest and best aspirations, both individually
and as a society. Candidates, feel free to continue - you have
my blessing.
So saying, I would add that using God as a slogan, using
"God bless America" as a Madison Avenue tag line for a speech,
leaves something to be desired. For all the world, because it
has been repeated so much, and particularly when politicians are
concluding speeches trying to justify things like Watergate or
war with the phrase, it's value is diminished to the level of a
Nike ad that says "Just do it." We should just do better.
God talk is important, as this particular Sunday would
attest. Today is Trinity Sunday, the only Sunday in the long
calendar of the church year that is set aside explicitly for God
talk. Trinity Sunday reminds Christians that our God talk is
very specific - not some generic Supreme Being floating around
out there, up there. Our God talk says that this one we worship
is actually known to us, and known, in fact, in at least three
ways - Father, Son, Holy Spirit.
Nowhere in scripture do we find the doctrine spelled out.
Nowhere do we even find the word Trinity. But Holy Writ does
make the concept clear as, for example, we hear Jesus' Great
Commission to the church - "go and make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the FATHER and of the SON and of
the HOLY SPIRIT, and teaching them to obey everything I have
commanded you." We find the same thing as we encounter Paul's
benediction in our lesson - "May the grace of the Lord JESUS
CHRIST, and the love of GOD, and the fellowship of the HOLY
SPIRIT be with you all." Even in the Hebrew scriptures, as far
back as the story of creation, we find "Let US make man in OUR
image, in OUR likeness..." (4) The Trinity is there even though it
is without definition or explanation.
The early church was nurtured in the cradle of Jewish
monotheism - one God, only one. And yet they needed to express
the truth that God is more than remote and distant. God had come
to us, the church wanted us to know, in flesh and blood in the
person of Jesus Christ. And it wanted us to know that God is
still at work in our world today through the sustaining power of
the Holy Spirit. The church was trying to say to us that the
word God was limiting if it did not convey to us a God who has
come to us and a God who is with us still. Thus the doctrine of
the Trinity was born.
So saying, we confess that even the word Trinity is
limiting. If we could confine God to a formula, any formula, God
would not be God. We say God is "Father, Son and Holy Spirit"
but those three manifestations are not enough. God is also
Creator, Sustainer, Provider. God is Judge, Savior and
Deliverer. God is Light, Love and Peace. God is omniscient,
omnipotent, omnipresent. (5) "Holy, holy, holy...God in three
persons, Blessed Trinity."
Theologians have been trying to make the doctrine
intelligible from the beginning. Have they been successful?
Somewhat. They have used illustrations like H2O - we all know
what that is: water. But it is also ice. And for that matter,
it is also steam. Three different manifestations of the same
thing: H2O. Or look at me. A man. Husband. Father. Son.
Brother. Uncle. Someday, Grandpa. Even Pastor and hopefully,
friend. Same man, so many different ways of seeing me. Does
that help?
James Hazelwood is a pastor in Brooklyn, New York, and he
reflects on a sermon he preached on a Trinity Sunday. "A couple
of years ago," he writes, "I thought I did a rather fine job of
explaining the Trinity. After worship, a woman in the
congregation walked up to me and said, 'Pastor, I've been
listening to preachers talk about the Trinity for nearly 70 years
now.' Then she paused, and I thought she was going to add that I
had finally made it clear for her. But she continued: 'No pastor
has ever been able to explain it to me. And you know what
I think? I think that pastors don't understand it either.'" (6)
She is more right than she might imagine. Truth be told, no
one adequately understands the doctrine of the Trinity, and that
is all right, I think. Why should there not be mysteries too
grand for our little brains to comprehend? What fish can ever
adequately explain the nature of the keeper of its aquarium? How
can we, who are limited by space and time, even hope to explain a
God who we insist does not fit the categories of space and time?
Actually, when we talk about the Trinity, that is merely our
attempt to make the nature of God somewhat understandable to
those of us who admit that, no matter what we say, it will never
be enough.
God talk. For Christians it is more than a casually quoted
political slogan. When we get into God talk, we are speaking of
a creative power behind our universe, of a loving person who has
entered our universe, and, even more, a Divine Presence who is in
our lives today.
"The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the
fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all." This is more
than Paul's benign good wishes. This is powerful stuff. If the
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ is with us, our lives will never
be the same. If we have experienced the incredible self-giving
love of God, our lives will never be the same. If the fellowship
of the Holy Spirit characterizes our common life as a church, our
lives will never be the same. If, in fact, this benediction were
ever to come true in power, our lives - and indeed, our world -
would never be the same. (7)
"The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the
fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all." This, by the way
is not a wish, it is a promise. Paul's benediction does not
contain the word "May" which the translators have added in our
pew Bibles. It is simply, "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you
all." It is a given, a certainty. Open your eyes to see it,
open your heart to receive it, and open your life to be blessed
by it. "Holy, holy, holy...God in three persons, Blessed
Trinity."
Amen.
1. David Domke and Kevin Coe, "Happy 35th, God Bless America," TIME magazine
online, 4/29/08
2. David Domke and Kevin Coe, Oxford University Press, 2008
3. John Buchanan, "Faith Forums," The Christian Century, 5/20/08, p. 3
4. Genesis 1:26
5. King Duncan, "Who Is God Anyway?," eSermons.com
6. Quoted by King Duncan, "Building An Understanding Of God," eSermons.com
7. Carlos Wilton, "Three Great Words," unpublished sermon preached at Point Pleasant
Presbyterian Church, Point Pleasant, NJ, 6/6/93
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