From the Pastor’s Desk:
This weekend we celebrate our country’s birthday. It’s a country built upon the freedom to worship God as we believe, or to choose not to worship. Our country’s freedoms have been paid for in the blood of countless numbers of men, women and children. The freedoms to live “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” is a reality that the majority of the people of the world can only dream about. However our democracy, our freedoms have been tested over and over throughout the short history of our country.
My grandparents came from a small village outside of the capital, Prague. They came to the US for a variety of reasons; first and foremost to be able to marry. They fled before WWI and most of my uncles, as well as my father, fought in WWII. My grandparents lived to see their homeland fall behind the iron curtain and under the dictates of communism. In 1948, after the Communist regime seized power, all property owned by the churches (Catholic and non-Catholic) was confiscated. Bishops, priests, monks, and sisters were arrested and many were imprisoned. Churches were only allowed to function under the state’s strict control and supervision. Priest and minister salaries were paid by the state, and they could only preach what the government allowed them to preach. The Soviet plan was to create one of the most atheist states as an example coming from one of the most Catholic of countries. Stalin became the “god” of the Soviet Union, he was always right and his word was law.
Today the Czech Republic is basically non-Christian; there are high divorce rates, and both legalized prostitution and pornography are big business. The great majority of the Czech people (69%) see no need for churches. That is the legacy left from Stalin and the Soviet plan to form the atheist state.
So, as we celebrate this 4th of July this weekend, let us thank God for all the freedoms we enjoy. Thank God that we live in a land that can feed itself and provide jobs for her people. The food may not always be what we like, but it’s always better than what two thirds of the people of the world could even dream about. There are jobs here, even if some of those jobs are not what people would like to do or for the salary they want. On an average we spend more money on entertainment (movies, cable, internet, sports, and vacations) during the year than the great majority of people in the world even make.
Take time this weekend to THANK GOD for all that you/we have been given. So many people of the world are giving everything they have to be able to come to this country, WHY? They are looking for a place to work in safety from the fear of gangs, to work for a wage that will allow them to raise their families, for a right to education for their sons and DAUGHTERS, for the right to worship God. Those were many of the same reasons my grandparents came to this country over a hundred years ago. Those freedoms were what my Uncle Lewis died fighting for in WWII so that this country would be free and a place where immigrants like us would be welcomed. Immigrants are the workers in our produce fields, building trades, medical field, our military, the meat packing plants. Our immigrants of the past and today are what helps to make our country strong.