Date or Direction
On July 2, 1776, a motion passed in The Second Continental Congress. That vote meant that the thirteen American colonies were officially declaring that they were independent from England.
John Adams was excited about the vote and wrote the following to his wife:
The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America.—I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.
If Mr. Adams would have had his way, we would be celebrating our independence as a nation a couple of days earlier than we have grown accustomed to do. History hasn’t been very kind to his prediction about the date.
I’m thinking that history hasn’t been very kind to one other thing. While many of John Adams’ predictions about how our independence should be celebrated sound very familiar to our ears today, one actually sounds more than a little strange and/or outdated. Today, we seldom if ever hear about “…solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty…”
I’m not arguing against parades, fireworks, cookouts and a lot of the other things that regularly characterize the holiday we celebrate as Independence Day. I enjoy all of these things as much as anybody else. I guess that I wouldn’t object if we celebrated on both July 2nd and July 4th.
All I’m asking all of us to do is to take some time from the activities we have come to associate with this day for something much more important. Let’s not leave out the one activity mentioned by John Adams that has a direct impact on whether or not our nation survives “forever more.” In fact, our relationship with and devotion to God Almighty has a direct impact on each individual’s eternal destiny.
A lot has changed since 1776. It is obvious that, as the saying goes, we’ve come a long way. The question that sort of hangs in the air has to do with the direction we’ve traveled.
I’m not as concerned about the date of a celebration as I am concerned about the direction of a nation – and the direction I choose to travel.
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AUTHOR: Jim Faughn
