Every few weeks, on my podcast, posted right here every Wednesday, I do a segment called “That 70s Kid.” Therein I give myself free rein to wax nostalgic about those halcyon days. I might talk about the great cereals we used to have, like Quisp, Freakies or cinnamon Mini-Wheats. Or I might speak about the horror show that was 70s fashion. I do this, in part, because I enjoy it. I enjoy it because I had a heck of a childhood. Those days blessed me.
Living through the Bicentennial blessed me. The 200th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence was a much bigger deal than our 250th anniversary celebration. Back then, red white and blue appeared on everything, everywhere. (Including patches on the uniforms of my beloved Steelers, who won their second, and second consecutive Super Bowl in January of 1976.) We had historic ships in our harbors, special bicentennial coins.
We also had educational programs galore. In school it was all bicentennial all the time. But even outside school it was the same. Schoolhouse Rock interrupted our Saturday morning cartoons with educational cartoons, brief 2 minute videos explaining how a bill becomes a law or westward expansion and manifest destiny. In the evenings, during primetime, CBS aired The Bicentennial Minute, a brief lesson on what happened that day two hundred years ago. Each television network aired its own multi-day celebration.
President Gerald Ford lit a third lantern in the Old North Church in Boston, marking the beginning of our third century as a nation. Washington DC held a parade and a national fireworks display that aired on television across the country.
Fifty years later the national divide grabs our attention more than national unity. Many consider gratitude for the blessings of our country and its history equivalent to racism, jingoism, a defense of every failure in our history. On the other hand, the left attacks the very principles on which our country was founded. Equal protection for the unborn is nowhere to be found. Governments are seen as the providers for the people rather than protectors of liberty. It was just less than a decade ago that governments shut down churches and commanded us to stay inside.
What then should we do? Simple enough, we do the same thing we do when looking back at our own lives. We repent of our failures, and give thanks for His grace. To acknowledge God’s providence over our history is not to embrace American exceptionalism. God’s providence has guided every nation in history, from Egypt to Estonia, from Babylon to Bahrain, from Rome to Rwanda, from Great Britain to Guyana. Every nation has much to repent of and much to give thanks for. Every country is God’s country.
Let there be no shame in the thanksgiving, nor denial in the repentance. Rather let God be true, every man a liar, and by His grace and for His glory, let freedom reign even as the one who set us free reigns now and forever.