‘THE LIVELY EXPERIMENT

September 13, 1987, il: 00 a.m. Worship: Service

John M.. Buchanan

Fourth Presbyterian Church: Chicago

-Scripture=
Matthew 5:17-20°5
‘Galatians 5:1,13,14°-

"For freedom Christ has set us free."
= , -Galatians 5: la(RSV) |

I/can.remember the occasion as if it were yesterday. It was a)
pleasant’ spring: morning, made: even’ more agreeable ‘by the fact that our
Easter break: began at’ the. end of the school day. (This - story: ‘takes place |
back -in:> the days when there* was such a thing as an Easter break: in the”

public schools: It was’also the’ time when school ‘began, each morning; with ie

ten verses of Seripture, the Lord's Prayer and the. Pledge’ of Allegiance.) -

Miss Moore, the teacher. of-our fifth grade class, chose what seemed
to her a: logical: portion’ of the Bible ‘to-read tous. on the last morning -
. before Easter vacation, the account of the crucifixion: of Jesus in the 19th
Chapter of the Gospel according: to John... Now. that is-a very. powerful
narrativesI ‘kiow how: what: no one in: the ¢lassroom had. any way of* knowing - a

namely that: the Gospel. of “John was: written rather late, “perhaps Seventy or BSELS

eighty. years after the fact, in ‘a period: of sometimes ‘intense conflict:
between. the Christian Church in: Jerusalem and the Synagogue... And meres
furthermore -that* when John uses. the term -"Jews," he means often, the
‘particular. leaders of the nation who were in an unholy alliance withthe
occupying. Romans’ to keep. Palestine under control. John's view. of these
people is roughly equivalent ‘to -a*patriotic Frenchmen’s view -of those who
collaborated with the Nazis, fee:

I- \giowAnow that: when John uses the term."Jews" -pejoratively, he: means _
those collaborators nota: whole-race-or nation’ of: people. But E didn't

know it -then-and neither did the boy “whose “seat. Was “next to: mine. His. name mee

was Charles: Kaminsky. He ‘went’ to ‘Synagogue - on “Saturday. ‘On Sunday~
afternoon. ‘when mynéxt> door. neighbor’ best: friends, ‘Baptists, were
incarcerated on- the: front. porch, allowed: to do: nothing ‘which might suggest
fun ~‘actual- ‘human pleasure — Charlie was down. at’ ‘the: Jewish Center.
shooting baskets. which: accountéd for my first. serious flirtation with
Judaism: My. parents had’ explained: _ the difference is they” Just don! t
believe “in Jesus. : : ;

I “pemember: that day elearly. ‘Miss Moore read from John 19° = “they
cried out crucify him.” ‘Pilate said, "Take hin. yourself and crucify: him;

for [ find no crime in him." The Jews answered, "We have a law, and by
that law he ought to die."

I can recall Charlie Kaminsky that day, and how he looked down at his
desk as Miss Moore read about the Jews demanding Jesus' death. And,
although I didn't know a thing about John Locke and Thomas Jefferson on
liberty, I knew that something very unfair and something very un-American
was happening.

I jearned later what it was. After high school Civics and
Constitutional Law in college and a life long love affair with history -
which always leaves me with tears in my eyes when I stand in Independence
Hall, or walk the cobble stone streets of Old Philadelphia - I learned that
the Constitution of the United States of America is based on a concept of
a free society in which that sort of thing will not happen, in which
Charlie Kaminsky will] not have to be a part of an exercise in state-
sponsored religion. I learned, over the years, that. the Constitution is
based on a radical, unique notion of liberty, of human rights - not as an
océasional luxury - but as the very essence of the system. I learned that
this is one of the only places in the world where Charlie Kamisky's rights
come before the right of the state to affirm theological truth. I. also
learned that it has always been a fragile enterprise, that the people who
wrote the Constitution regarded it as an experiment, a bold, brave
enterprise. moving off in a direction different from the entire flow of
human history, thought it might not work. and that-they might have to. revert
to a Kind of monarchy.

It was an experiment from the start. At his inauguration as the
first President elected under this radical. new. system: of government, George
Washington said - :

“The preservation of the sacred fire of liberty and the destiny of
the republican model of government are... finally staked on the experiment
entrusted to the hands of the American people."

Fifty years later President Van Buren was still referring to the
Federal: System as a test.... (See Arthur Schlesinger, The Cycles of
American History, p. 10} And, of course, it still is... not a week passes
without someone suggesting that what the Constitution guarantees ought to
be limited, redefined —- for cur own good, of course.

It was May, 1787 that delegates from the twelve states (Rhode Island
did not elect delegates), pathered in Philadelphia to create a new
government. Among them were names we know: Alexander Hamiiton, Benjamin
Franklin, James Madison, George Washington, and names only historians know:
Gilman and Langdon, Gerry.and Ellsworth and Gorham. Thomas Jefferson, the
architect of the republic, was in Paris representing the United States.
"The fifty-five who would actually take part in the deliberations were men
of wide experience." (see William Peters', A More Perfect Union, p. 23
ff). .Twenty-one had fought in the Revolutionary. War, their average age was
forty-three, (older than those who Declared Independence}, the youngest was
twenty-six and Franklin, at eighty-one, was the oldest. Most were men of
means: half had graduated from college, most were church members but. the
general-consensus is that they were men of the enlightenment, rationalists

9/13/87

who believed in a Supreme Being, divine providence, but were hardly zealous
in their orthodoxy. "They could take their religion or leave it alone,"
says one historian. (Ibid, p. 24)

James Madison had prepared for the convention by intense study,
reading anything he could get. his hands on about republican form of
government. Jefferson sent him books and pamphlets from Paris. He became
a dominant figure at the convention and took copious notes, an hour by hour
record - an invaluable resource for historians. George Washington was
elected to preside. The deliberations were in secret. And.in the middle
of what seemed an irresolvable conflict, Franklin suggested daily prayer,
but the convention decided against it because they couldn't afford to pay a
chaplain and the matter was dropped.

They considered a limited monarchy but decided on a President anda
two-house: Legislature and an independent Judiciary. Three branches - in:
tension. They decided how to elect representatives, how te finance the
operation-and how the new Federal System would relate to the states. . They
did not deal with slavery, aithough many, perhaps a majority, would have
preferred to end it on the spot. They did not address individual rights
which disappointed Jefferson; five states ratified a Bill of Rights anyway
and four years-later ten amendments were added. They concluded their work
in September. On September 17, after a magnificent address authored by
Franklin,. who was too sick to deliver it himself, the convention
unanimously approved the Constitution. Thirty-eight delegates signed it
and at four-o'clock they adjourned and walked several blocks to the City
Tavern for a farewell dinner.

It is, I submit, the 17th day of September, 1787, the most important
day in our history. It will not edge out the Fourth of July. It is not as
colorful, romantic and heroic. Martin Marty quipped last summer, that
there would probably be no tall ships, fireworks. or parades - that it is
difficult to toast a piece of parchment. But it is-the occasion of the
creation of -this republic. There are-lots of ‘revolutions to celebrate.

But there is only one day like this. Those fifty-five men knew it... They
knew, I believe, that they had done something unique in all of history.
And its 200th Anniversary this.week is an occasion if not for shouting and
singing, atleast for thoughtful reflection and profound gratitude.

The experiment is still being challenged. -The tensions within that:
Constitutional Convention are-still very much present in our common life.
There is almost. daily debate somewhere in our system about the
Constitution... And much of the debate and a good portion of the original
experiment had to de with religion.

Article VI reads: -"No religious test shall ever be required as a
qualification to any office or public trust under the United States."

And the First Amendment: “Congress shali make no law respecting. an-
establishment: of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or
abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the
people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress
of grievances." ;

9/|3/87

That.is new. In all-of history -— that is a-radical notion. - No:
established religion and no-prohibitions about its expression. . The rights
of the individual. No one in history had ever tried to build a nation on
that. In fact, the full weight of human history is on the opposite side of
that equation. Until 1787 the human assumption in the West, particularly,
was that religious uniformity, an. established church, a spiritual
commonality, is one of the things that makes a nation. The assumption was
that religious uniformity is so essential to.the existence of the state,
that non-conformists are actually guilty of sedition, treason.

The Inquisition thought it was acting in the best interests of the
people... John Calvin presided over the execution of fifty-eight people in
Geneva - for the good of the city. Outside Moffatt, Scotland where we lived
for a summer, there is a monument to John Hunter, who was shot fleeing from
British troops. Hunter was a “Covenanter." The: Scottish and English
crowns had become one - and now in the 17th Century, the crown was-trying to
foree the church of Scotland to become Anglican... for the good of the
realm. The Covenantors were Scots who insisted that the church remain
Presbyterian. And they were ready to die for that. John Hunter was shot -
Fleeing English troops. He had been caught at a Presbyterian Kirk service
- an act of treason against the crown. Across the street from the manse is
the Black Bull Inn where Claverhouse, the British Commander stayed —- while
raiding the Kirk worship services held out in the hilis and ravines. When
settlers came to this country they thought like that. Virginia established
the Anglican Church. New Amsterdam established the Reformed Church. The
Puritans made Congregationalism the official and only faith of the Bay
Colony. Each persecuted non-conformists. Francis Mackemie, a Presbyterian
minister, was arrested in New York and jailed. Quakers were barred in
Massachusetts. Peter Stuyvesant kept Jews out of New York as well.

It was Jefferson's idea - religious freedom. He fashioned the
concept in Virginia. It is there in the Constitution. When they created a
government, they did not create.a church to go with it. They did not
invoke the name of God-at-alli. They said, "We the people..." and in case
anyone. misunderstood, the very First Amendment spelled it out.

What makes a nation a nation here is not religious conformity but a
brand new notion ~- religious freedom. What makes this a nation is liberty:
“not people thinking the same thoughts, but people free to think whatever
they think: -to believe in Jesus or Mohammed or nothing: to read what they
want to read, not what the government thinks is helpful, moral and
edifying: to get together and talk about whatever is on their minds, even
to assemble to complain about the government. That is a rare and beautiful
thing. People who understand it and agree with it get nervous when someone
suggests that a board of review knows what movies we should see, or books
we should read. We abhor the philosophic-political conelusion of Marxists
and Fascists - that the party knows what truth is - and therefore what can
be read, listened to or talked about openly. And we do become
uncomfortable when a government, for its internal security, or the progress
of its revolution, shuts down the newspapers. And we are offended when
clergy are jailed, silenced: or banished.

It is still a lively experiment. The issue comes at us in the
concern that this nation has lost its moral fiber, that secular humanists

9/13/87

are taking over, that we are becoming a godless culture and that what we
need is government supported praying in schools, and tax supported nativity
scenes in City Hall or at least an official nod in the direction of
something called the Judeo-Christian tradition. To which Martin Marty
asked recently, which Judeo-Christian tradition do we-have in mind? After
ali, he pointed out, four prominent Baptists would have very different
notions of what the tradition is. If you don't believe it ask the four of
these: Jesse Jackson, Jesse Helms, Jerry Falwell and Harvey Cox who writes
about the other three from his desk at Harvard.

{in the midst of all the heat and hand wringing this issue generates
it is time for someone to say what the Constitution itself says: namely
that a “Christian America" is a contradiction in terms. There is room for
everyone in Mr. Jefferson's experiment.

In the place of privilege, we received freedom. In the place of
state sponsorship - a Department of religious affairs in Washington (which,
by the way, Russia has) - we received the right to be responsible for
ourselves. In the place of establishment, the Constituion forced the
church in America to redefine itself and to be relevant and interesting or
to disappear. In the place of tax support we had to learn how to be
responsible stewards. And it has been the best thing that ever happened to
us.

There is, in fact, a very vigorous institutional church in this land.
[t is far more vigorous and creative and lively than the churches which are
established and supported and sponsored by governments.

There is a wall of separation between church and state and the intent
of the wall is to keep the state out of the church's business for the
benefit of each. It is net to keep religion and politics separate. In
fact, by freeing the church from state support the Constitution invites the
church to relate to the state, to advise, complain, pray for, protest
against the state in radical freedom.

President Kennedy understood that. In the midst of nuclear test ban
negotiations with the Russians and Kennedy's decision to resume testing, a
delegation from the World Council of Churches came and asked how they could
be helpful. “Perhaps you shouldn't be" he answered. He understood that to
be the church, they ought not simply to be applauding, blessing and
baptizing everything the state does, but on occasion objecting to what he
felt he had to do: that the function of the church in this society is, on
occasion, to remind the government of a higher authority and a high moral
standard than political necessity.

Why this homily on political liberty? Because the system is ours
and this week all of us who are blessed by it — ought. to celebrate it and-
express gratitude for it. Because the system reflects values that are
ours, values which by frequently originated in the Biblical tradition.

Freedom for instance. God, we believe is very interested in it. -God
is a liberator from the beginning. God hears the cries of a captive,

oppressed people and goes to work to set them free. And that, we believe,
is the way God can be counted on to act.

5

9/13/87

Where people. want to. be: free =. the Spirit: of the Lord-is at.work. .In
South-Africa, in Korea,- in Central. America, in Poland, in East: Germany, -in Ben,
Chile, in Chicago, God -is- the outside agitator,- pressing for ‘the: ‘end to
oppression, planting: dreams of liberty in the hearts and: minds of people,
the end to everything that imprisons: and: limits: ‘the humanity of people.

And. it is personal: “God -is -interested in: your freedom -~ from
whatever imprisons and..limits you.... In-fact,: freedom. - glorious, .personal
freedom — is a synonym for the salvation: Jesus Christ gives to us.

-At-Nazarath, .early.in- his ministry, Jesus defined his. vocation: as
“Good News" to the poor... release to-the captives... liberty to the
oppressed. : fe : :

[learned that late... that salvation is not just a good warm feeling
in the. soul ::but freedom... what: Paul: called. "the glorious. freedom. of the
children.of God" 3... and that what it feels like to be a Christian: is to be
released from prison...

“What. God has done for us. is provide for. our freedom.

. If your. prison is- guilt ~ in: Jesus Christ, you may be. forgiven and:.
experience ~ your -freedom..

If. your: prison.-.a‘:painfully:low estimate of your worth.— God frees
- you from that by. calling: you. his--child.: :

If your. prison is duplicity, dishonesty — God frees you. by. knowing
your. : : ep :

- -Tf.your. prison. is: depression, despair — God frees you by saying "I
love. you." mann : ; : a

If. your prison is fear - about death-.and.what will happen when-you
-die-- in Jesus Christ Ged sets you free of that.

So in Christ - we are free.- - to. live without fear, without burden of
. guilt,-free.to walk -into-our future with: joy. and: courage and:hope;.°:"For.
freedom:.Christ.has.set. you free," Paul. wrote:to the early church in Galatia,

But: that does not mean self-indulgence, the moral anarchy which
insists.on “doing its own thing." That, Paul understood, is simply a-new.
kind of: slavery - slavery. to. self...

The. final enemy of freedom, personal and also political, is
selfishness... Where. there -is no .commitment to -the:- public welfare, the- good
of the-whole,.. individual. personal freedom. deteriorates in noisy, moral
anarchy, each: clamoring. for. rights with no.obligations, no
responsibilities. . And. personally, when there is no commitment. to a: greater
good than making myself feel good, Freedom leaves the bitter taste of
selfishness, or sin, in our-.mouths. :

Christians have always known that it is in commitment to Jesus.
Christ, in putting ourselves in his service, that we are truly. free: -

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One of my favorite poems is by Charles Peguy. I think it is
hauntingly beautiful. It is called "Freedom."

“When you have once known what it is to be loved freely,
submission no longer has any taste.
All the prostrations in the world
are not worth the beautiful upright
attitude of a free man as he kneels.
All the submissions, all the dejection in this world
are not equal in value to the soaring up point,
The beautiful straight soaring up of one single invocation
From a love that is free.”
(Freedom, Charles Peguy]

The United States of America was an experiment. It still is - a very
lively experiment. It is based on the notion that people should be free.
it is related to the faith that God creates us to be free, wants us free,
works with us for our freedom, strengthens us te be free.

I didn't realize it until someone pointed it out to me that the first
verse of our "National Anthem ends with a question... "Does that star-—
spangled banner yet wave o'er the land of the free and home of the brave?"

A good question for this week, in September, 1987.

A good question for those of us who gather in trust and praise of one
about whom it is said -

"For freedom Christ has set us free."

0 God, you are author of liberty and to thee we do Sing. We thank
you for our freedom. We thank you for our system of government, our
Constitution and for those who created it. We thank you for your spirit,
the spirit of freedom which rested gently on them and which enlivens people
who love freedom in every age. O God, bless our nation. May we be worthy
in our day of this legacy. And may we pass on to those who follow us this
lively experiment, through Jesus Christ in whom we find perfect freedon.
Amen.

8/13/87