07/10/2026
Last Sunday, I attended my home church – Salemsborg Lutheran – just south of Smolan. Substituting for our regular Pastor was my good friend and former student in the High School Sunday School Class I taught for ten years in the 1960’s, Tom Holmquist. I thought the message deserved a larger audience, and I am glad to be able to share it with you here.
By: Tom Holmquist – Sermon for July 5, 2026
Grace to you and peace from God our father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
A long time ago, when I was a very mean 8th grade history teacher, I demanded that my students memorize and then recite to me an extended quote from Thomas Jefferson's Declaration of Independence. After all the complaining and moaning was over, they did it, and I hope they remember those words to this day. This then is a part of that quote:
"When in the course of human events, .... We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. – That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, – That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute a new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness."
Good words, great words, perhaps among the most important words in the history of the human race.
This document was signed by the Founders of our Country on July 4, 1776, 250 years ago, as of yesterday. Ben Franklin is quoted as having said while he signed, "Well gentlemen, we must now all hang together or we shall all hang separately." Four days later, on Monday, July 8, 1776, 250 years ago, this Declaration was read aloud in public squares all across the 13 colonies as the bells of innumerable church steeples loudly rang out announcing the birth of a new nation, this nation, our nation.
Nearly 8 years later, having won the Revolutionary War, the new country's senior officers, impatient with a government and a Congress that was getting nowhere, (sound familiar,) conspired to overthrow the Continental Congress and proclaim General George Washington as king. Washington learned of the plan and chose to address his officers. On March 15, 1783, in a barn near Newburgh, New York, Washington, in the midst of a conspiratorial rally, surprised his officers and walked into the barn intending to give a speech. A hush came over the crowd. He stepped onto the platform, took his notes from his pocket, looked at them, then paused, and from his pocket, took out his spectacles and put them on. (At that time wearing glasses was considered a sign of weakness). Before beginning his speech, he said: “Gentlemen, you will permit me to put on my spectacles, for, I have grown not only gray, but almost blind in the service of my country.”
After a moment of shocked and stunned silence, these courageous soldiers, commanders of men who had seen way too much of violence and death, broke down and wept. In that instant, they realized that they were conspiring to throw away the very thing they had spent so many years fighting for. George Washington never delivered his intended speech. He looked around, saw the devastated expressions on the men's faces, stepped down and walked out the door, but at that very moment the American Revolution was truly won, not on the battlefield, but in a cold drafty snowy barn. They realized the greatness of this man was not in his intention to bring honor, power and glory to himself, not to become a king, but to be in service, the humble servant to others, his people, his country. The indispensable man, at the peak of his greatness and power soon after resigned from being general of the army, and returned home to Mount Vernon, to become a peaceful farmer. Like the great Roman general Cincinnatus did nearly two thousand years ago, he melted down his sword and reformed it into a plowshare.
Most of us, when we pretended to pay attention in history class, learned about the American Revolution. Of course, you remember the stories of Paul Revere's ride, the minutemen who defied the British at Lexington and Concord, the crossing of the Delaware River on Christmas Night, the suffering at Valley Forge and ultimately, how the war ended with the great victory over the British at the Battle of Yorktown. The history books do not recount the true lasting victory, won in a cold drafty barn near Newburgh, New York. But for George Washington, his yoke was heavy and his burden nearly unbearable, in service to others..... And because of his carrying that burden and pulling that yoke, we have a country, a democracy, a republic, as intentionally messy as it is, now, some 250 years old.
So why am I telling this story today? In the Gospel of Matthew, the 11th chapter, Jesus said. "Come to me, all of you, and I will give you rest. All of you, take up My yoke and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble of heart, and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy and My burden is light!"
As in all times throughout history, including the great crises of our country's history; the Revolution, the Civil War, the Great Depression, World War 2, Civil Rights and Vietnam at the same time, 911, we face, in our time, these same heavy burdens. For some it is financial, everything is more expensive, failing health, family troubles, Kansas weather, a broken-down car, or tractor or combine, relationship problems, drug and alcohol abuse, hate, envy, prejudice, and who knows what else. Sometimes these burdens just seem to be too much to bear. We can't handle them and all but give up. But then Jesus arrives. He says to each of us: lay your problems at my feet and find your rest, for my Yoke is easy and my burden is light.
Really? He was the one who took on the suffering; the sins of the world upon his shoulders. He was the one who resisted the temptations of the devil; the agony of Gethsemane. Then the road to Calvary, the nails pounded through his wrists and the most brutal way of all to die, by crucifixion! And yet, on the third day, he rose from the dead. In 1st Corinthians 21, Paul writes: "Let it be exclaimed, "For as in Adam all die, so as in Christ, all will be made alive!" And we can rejoice in the Resurrection that each and all of us can aspire to eternal life. And all that is required of us is faith!
Often this life seems to be too much. The hardships we face, the disappointments, the wrongs we do to each other, the sins from which we cannot escape, the feeling that there is no hope, the thinking that I have sinned too much, of not being good enough, undeserving of God's love, and because of my failings, that God most assuredly must reject me.....and yet, ....there is hope.
In Matthew 5:14, as part of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said. “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and puts it under a basket, but rather on a lampstand, and it gives light for all who are in the house!"”
In George Bush's Inaugural address of January, 1989, he made a reference to America being that City on the Hill, a beacon of hope in the world for what is good and righteous, where the teachings from the Sermon on the Mount are actually practiced! President Bush went on to call each of us to be one of a thousand points of light, challenging us to be one capable of taking on the yoke, pulling the wagon, relieving the burdens of those in darkness. Lighting the lamp!
Jesus said: All of you, take up My yoke and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble of heart, and you will find rest for yourselves." Easy to forget in our troubled world, our troubled lives.
Gentle and humble of heart. What can we do in service to others, especially those who are difficult, demanding and annoying, those whom we wish to ignore, the last person we want to spend time with, but at the same time, the one who needs us the most? But we do for those who are weak, those who are different from us, those who are most in need. In Matthew 25:40 Jesus said: “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these, brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” Someone once said: "There is no end to the good we can do if we don't care who gets credit for it." And in the doing, we find contentment, peace of mind and heart, and the rest we so much desire.
So, what do we do now? Our country and world face enormous challenges. Can we solve the world's problems? Probably not, but we can light those 8 beacons that shine upon those towers above us, or go visit that neighbor, family member or friend who is in despair, lost in utter darkness. Could we invite them, or better yet stop and pick them up and bring them to church, to a potluck, to a Lenten supper, to a picnic. We CAN be one of those thousand points of light, right here in this parish. And maybe by lighting that little lamp right here, that fire will grow, spreading beyond these walls, beyond this parish, and maybe to all the world.
Our country came into being because of many brilliant and courageous people, John Adams, John Hancock, Thomas Jefferson, and so many unnamed others, but led by the indispensable servant, George Washington. Our world was saved by the most important person who ever lived, and that was Jesus Christ, who taught us the way, the truth, and the life, and that no one comes to the Father except by me. And we know that he will take up the yoke, relieve us of our burden, guiding us to find the contentment, peace and happiness that we seek.
Each of my students was required to end their recitation with the last sentence of the Declaration of Independence. Oh, and they couldn't just stumble through it, they had to pass with an A, which meant getting it right, from memory, and hopefully retaining that passage in their hearts, in their minds and in their souls.
But in this instance, I am using the following quote in two ways, first to honor our country on her 250th birthday, but even more importantly to honor our God and his son, Jesus Christ.
Thomas Jefferson ended his great Declaration of Independence with the following: "And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm Reliance on the Protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other, our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor." Our country asks us to fulfill this pledge on earth.
More importantly our God asks us to pledge our Lives, our Fortunes, and our Sacred Honor to him and his son, Jesus Christ. And for that, he promises us a place in paradise... for eternity.
Amen!
