People of Spirit,
I pray that your 4th of July was festive. Brent, his sister Liz and her wife Holly, and I spent Independence Day with my aunt and uncle in Glen Ellen. While Brent stayed and hid under the bed with my aunt and uncle’s fur baby Tucker, the rest of us went into Sonoma to sit and lay in grassy fields enjoying snacks and refreshments with several thousand people to watch the SVFD fireworks extravaganza. Unlike those we usually get on a regular basis outside our window at midnight, these were welcome, and fun was had.
When I turned on the radio Tuesday morning to hear about Highland Park, Illinois, my heart sank. Just like us, people were attending an Independence Day event replete with a parade and fireworks. Unlike us, thirty were sent to hospital and seven were killed. In a matter of seconds, a toddler became an orphan.
A New York Times article https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/05/us/highland-park-parade-shooting.html finished: “Abandoned strollers and empty lawn chairs, some with half-consumed drinks in the cupholders, were lined up along the sidewalk. A child’s bicycle was discarded along the curb. And a cheerful-looking balloon, left alone in the grass, said ‘God bless America’.”
Two different experiences of Independence Day.
On Sunday we sang “O Beautiful for Spacious Skies.” I spoke about some of the history behind the poem that became the hymn. The second verse contains this plea:
America! America!
God mend thine every flaw.
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law.
One hundred twenty-nine years later, there is still work to do. Dear God. Help us. Save us from ourselves.
May God keep you until we see each other on Sunday.
Love,
Rev. Michael Cronin
