I wrote this prayer for our Sunday meetings. I started with this image I found around Memorial Day and kept going from there. It helps me put the holiday in perspective. I’ll be raising money for my local civic association and watching fireworks (my favorite fourth of July activities), but I will not be celebrating the same way everyone is. I think Jesus calls me to something much bigger than American citizenship

Pray with me

We pledge allegiance to Jesus Christ and to God’s kingdom for which he died, one spirit-led people the world over, indivisible, with love and justice for all.

Let freedom ring

We pledge allegiance to God-almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and every beloved creature, especially the siblings we have all over the world, both in Christ and in the whole human family.

Let freedom ring

We pledge allegiance to forgiveness, love for enemies, the weak and the oppressed, the outcast and the despised, the powers-forsaken but God-remembered, the hungry, the thirsty, the naked and imprisoned.

Let freedom ring

We pledge ourselves to others, casting off the self-centered cares that would try to bind us only to I, me and mine. Our freedom is connected with many more than those to whom the powers-that-be have bound us. We reach out beyond the boundaries of  blood, country, tribe, language, ideology, race and all other separating powers and principalities.

Let freedom ring

We pledge allegiance to the way of Jesus, to his abundance and not our scarcity, to his power and not our own, to his impossible way of resurrection made possible in his victory over death.

Let freedom ring

We pledge that we will continue to give ourselves to others, for we did not create these persons we call “I”. We receive our lives as gifts and not as rights. We receive the rights the powers give us for others. We pledge allegiance to interdependence.

Let freedom ring

Amen