Welcome to this week's "Tuesday Morning"—all the usual stuff, plus a rare political emphasis this week.

 

About a century ago the Reverend Lyman Abbott, Congregational minister, theologian, and editor, wrote a strong essay about the greatness of America.  In his opening paragraph he wrote:

 

"A nation is made great, not by its fruitful acres, but by the men who cultivate them; not by its great forests, but by the men who use them; not by its mines, but by the men who build and run them. America was a great land when Columbus discovered it; Americans have made of it a great nation."

 

Abbott wrote those words before plastic, television, audio tapes, surround sound, automatic transmissions in cars, jet airplanes, and power boats. Ford was still manufacturing black Model "T" cars then. The Great Depression was more than a decade away. There were no super highways anywhere in America (at least not like any of California's concrete monster-roads). The discoveries and inventions that have helped make America great were, for the most part, introduced in the years following Abbott's death in 1922. But Abbott, a social reformer, had a vision for what America would become. That's what makes his words so mind-penetrating.

 

On the other hand, many of today's commentators are painting a word picture of America that is devoid of hope—an economic, social, educational, and spiritual wasteland. Perhaps it is time to revisit the past, at least to a point in history that encompasses the Great Depression. Today's epistle is entitled, "Have Faith in America." As you might expect, I have included a call to spiritual renewal. Continue reading below. And if you feel so led, do something! Write to your city council. Address a letter to your representatives in Washington, D.C. Write a letter to the editor of your newspaper. Talk to your neighbors. Join a service club. Donate to your favorite charity. Talk to your pastor. But do something! We all have a stake in this.

 

Tom Barnard

A Senior Encourager

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Have Faith in America

Tom Barnard

 

’m tired of hearing that the nation’s banks are near failure and that the economy is close to being un-recoverable. I’m tired of hearing about corruption in politics. I’m really tired of hearing that things are worse than they were in 1929 on the eve of the Great Depression. I will not listen to another voice that predicts that our country is doomed. People have been saying that for more than two hundred years. I choose to believe otherwise.

 

Hamilton Fish III (1888-1991) was a voice of hope during the Great Depression of the early 1930s. Son of a U.S. Representative to Congress and a veteran of World War I, Fish served as a U.S. Congressman for nearly 25 years and was recognized as a strong anti-communist, well before the spread of communism world-wide. Among his many achievements was legislation he introduced in Congress for the creation of the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia.

 

In an essay he wrote in support of our Nation’s capacity to overcome its economic problems following the Wall Street Crash in 1929, Fish wrote:

 

The American people are not looking for false remedies in the midst of their troubles; even in the midst of the worst depression in the history of our country, with over five million unemployed, and other millions on part time. We have faith in our own institutions and do not propose to substitute Socialism…for free American Individualism that has led the world in the well being, prosperity, high standards of wages and living for the working class…Let us have faith in America, and in the capacity, intelligence and patriotism of our people and our government to solve all economic problems, as they have in the past, for the best interests and welfare of the American people. Let us have faith in ourselves and in our democratic institutions. If our country is worth dying for in time of war, let us resolve that it is truly worth living for in time of peace.

 

This month our nation honors the memories of two of our nation’s presidents. We call it President’s Day, February 16. It honors George Washington, who was born on February 22, 1732, and Abraham Lincoln, who was born on February 12, 1809. Although these men were born seventy-seven years apart, their love and loyalty to their country and their confidence in the people were identical.

 

Lincoln once observed, “I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis.” And Washington once said, “The hour is fast approaching in which the honor and success of this army and safety of our bleeding country depend. Remember, officers and soldiers, that you are free men fighting for the blessings of liberty.”

 

And both Lincoln and Washington shared a reverence for God that was beyond question. Washington observed, “If such talents as I possess have been called into action by great events, and those events have terminated happily for our country, the glory should be ascribed to the manifest interposition of an over-ruling Providence.” Similarly, Lincoln said, “I am conscious of no desire for my country’s welfare that is not in consonance with His will, and of no plan upon which we may not ask His blessing.”

 

Sometime during the late 1920s an anonymous author wrote these words: “America is not a creed, not a dream, not a theory, but a breathing, living, glowing actuality, glorious because of her magnificent past, but more glorious still because of her shining future, yet unborn.” (100 Declamations, Lester Boone, ed.)

 

Contrary to the voices of doom and gloom, I choose to believe in America—not altogether because of its impressive past or its current resources that are greater than any nation that has ever existed, but because of its “shining future, yet unborn.” Am I concerned about our current economic crisis? Absolutely. I also believe in a God who cares about people and nations. And I believe that if we humble ourselves and pray and seek His face, then He will forgive our sins and heal our land. God said that, and I believe it.