Words matter, but how we follow words or disregard words matters even more. Constitution Day is observed today. Next Monday Concordia Seminary will offer special prayers, and after chapel read sections from the Constitution and give each student a copy.
“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”
In the first years after independence from England it was very clear that the governing document, the Articles of Confederation, weren’t adequate. For example, each state had its own money system, its own laws, and no obligation to neighboring states. A convention to revise the articles quickly became a convention to draft a whole new document. It was signed on September 17, 1878.
Followers of Jesus take seriously the words of the Bible. “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (John 6:68). But we’re weak in the Second Great Commandment (“You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” Matthew 22:39) when we don’t know and heed the other words and documents that order our earthly life. For example, why is freedom of religion so tied to the Fourteenth Amendment, and not only the First?
Thank You, O God, for the words that guide us to heaven, and also for wisdom in the words that guide our daily life in this nation. May our love for You through Jesus show in our citizenship. Amen.
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