a service to remember thevision of freedom
Sunday, July 3, 201610:00 am
Washington National Cathedral
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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 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.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General
Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the
rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good
People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United
Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States . . . . 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.”
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—The Declaration of Independence, ratified July 4, 1776
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carillon preludeGod of our fathers, whose almighty hand National Hymn; arr. Edward M. Nassor (b. 1957)God bless our native land America; arr. Edward Lee Cobb (b. 1963)O beautiful for spacious skies Materna; arr. Leen ‘t Hart (1920-1992)‘Tis the gift to be simple Simple Gifts; arr. Richard Giszczak (b. 1948)Prelude on ‘Nettleton’ Jim Dalton (b. 1957)Mine eyes have seen the glory Julia Ward Howe (1819–1910); arr. L. ‘t Hart
organ preludeVariations on ‘How Firm a Foundation’ Janet Linker (b. 1938)
introit Finlandia Antonín Dvorák (1841-1904); arr. Michael McCarthy (b. 1966)
This is my song, O God of all the nations, A song of peace for lands afar and mine. This is my home, the country where my heart is, Here are my hopes, my dreams, my holy shrine. But other hearts in other lands are beating, With hopes and dreams as true and high as mine.
My country’s skies are bluer than the ocean, And sunlight beams on clover leaf and pine. But other lands have sunlight too, and clover, And skies are everywhere as blue as mine. O hear my song, thou God of all the nations, A song of peace for their land and for mine.
The people stand.
entrance hymn717 • My country, ‘tis of thee America
words of welcome
opening acclamationofficiant Let the peoples praise you, O God;people let all the peoples praise you.
officiant Let the nations be glad and sing for joy,people for you rule the world with justice.
officiant With fairness you rule the peoples,people and guide all the nations upon earth.
officiant Let the people praise you, O God;people let all the peoples praise you.
vision of freedoma service to remember the
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hymn of praiseWe’ve come this far by faith arr. Richard Smallwood
collect for independence dayofficiant The Lord be with you.people And also with you.
officiant Let us pray.
Lord God Almighty, in whose Name the founders of this country won liberty for themselves and for us, and lit the torch of freedom for nations then unborn: Grant that we and all the people of this land may have grace to maintain our liberties in righteousness and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
people Amen.
officiant Let us now remember our history, that our past may inform our future.
The people are seated.
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• • •Voices of Native Americans
The Constitution of the Iroquois Nations: The Great Binding Law (Gayanashagowa)Rights of the People of the Five Nations
The original Five Nations: Mohawk, Onondaga, Seneca, Oneida, Cayuga • 1390-1500
native american fluteCathedral Canyon
The people stand.
native american prayer attr. Sioux Chief Yellow Hawk
leader O Great Spirit, whose voice I hear in the winds and whose breath gives life to all the world, hear me. I come before you, one of your children. I am small and weak. I need your strength and wisdom. Let me walk in beauty and make my eyes ever behold the red and purple sunset. Make my hands respect the things you have made, my ears sharp to hear your voice. Make me wise, so that I may know the things you have taught my people, the lessons you have hidden in every leaf and rock. I seek strength, not to be superior to my brothers, but to be able to fight my greatest enemy: myself. Make me ever ready to come to you with clean hands and straight eyes, so that when life fades as a fading sunset, my spirit may come to you without shame.
people Amen.
The people are seated.
• • •Voices of the Founders
The Declaration of Independence Thomas Jefferson, principal author • July 4, 1776
Letter to John AdamsAbigail Adams • March 31, 1776
The people stand.
hymn718 • God of our fathers National Hymn
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prayer for the nationleader Lord God Almighty, you have made all the peoples of the earth for your glory, to serve you in
freedom and in peace: give to the people of our country a zeal for justice and the strength of forbearance, that we may use our liberty in accordance with your gracious will; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
people Amen.
The people are seated.
• • •Voices of a Divided Nation
“The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro” Frederick Douglas • July 5, 1852
The Gettysburg AddressPresident Abraham Lincoln • November 19, 1863
“I am pleading for My People”Sojourner Truth • 1878
anthem
Deep River Gerre Hancock (1934-2012)
Deep river, my home is over Jordan, deep river, Lord, I want to cross over into campground. Oh don’t you want to go to that gospel feast, that promised land where all is peace? Deep river, Lord, I want to cross over into campground.
The people stand.
woodrow wilson’s prayerleader Almighty God, ruler of all the peoples of the earth, forgive, we pray, our shortcomings as a
nation; purify our hearts to see and love truth; give wisdom to our counselors and steadfastness to our people; and bring us at last to the fair city of peace, whose foundations are mercy, justice and goodwill, and whose builder and maker you are; through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
people Amen.
The people are seated.
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• • •Voices of a Nation during World Conflict
Third Inaugural Address
President Franklin D. Roosevelt • January 20, 1941
A Japanese-American in an Internment Camp Mary Tsukamoto • 1943
The Tuskegee AirmenDr. Roscoe Brown, former Commander 100th Fighter Squadron, 332nd Fighter Group • 2007
The people stand.
hymnLift ev’ry voice and sing Lift Every Voice
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prayer for the human familyleader O God, you made us in your own image and redeemed us through Jesus your Son: Look with
compassion on the whole human family; take away the arrogance and hatred which infect our hearts; break down the walls that separate us; unite us in bonds of love; and work through our struggle and confusion to accomplish your purposes on earth; that, in your good time, all nations and races may serve you in harmony around your heavenly throne; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
people Amen.
The people are seated.
• • •offertory
The people remain seated while an offering is received to support the Cathedral’s ministry of sharing God’s love with the
world.
music at the offertory
Mine eyes have seen the glory Peter Wilhousky (1902-1978)
Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord; He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored; He hath loosed the fateful lightning of his terrible swift sword; His truth is marching on.
Glory, glory, hallelujah! Glory, glory, hallelujah! Glory, glory, hallelujah! His truth is marching on!
I have seen him in the watchfires of a hundred circling camps; They have builded him an altar in the evening dews and damps; I can read his righteous sentence in the dim and flaring lamps; His day is marching on. Refrain
In the beauty of the lilies, Christ was born across the sea; With a glory in his bosom that transfigures you and me; As he died to make men holy, let us die to make men free; While God is marching on.
The people stand and join singing the final chorus.
The people are seated.
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• • •Voices of Social Change
Report to the American People on Civil Rights
President John F. Kennedy • June 11, 1963
Supreme Court Ruling on Marriage EqualityJustice Anthony Kennedy • June 26, 2015
anthem Set me as a seal René Clausen (b. 1953)
Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm, for love is strong as death; many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it.
The people stand.
prayer for social justiceleader Grant, O God, that your holy and life-giving Spirit may so move every human heart and
especially the hearts of the people of this land, that barriers which divide us may crumble, suspicions disappear, and hatreds cease; that our divisions being healed, we may live in justice and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
people Amen.
The people are seated.
• • •Voices of Hope for the Future
hymn response
We shall overcome
Address to the Commonwealth Club of CaliforniaCesar Chavez • November 9, 1964
all sing We’ll walk hand in hand, we’ll walk hand in hand, we’ll walk hand in hand some day, Oh, deep in my heart, I do believe, we shall overcome some day.
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“Remaining Awake Through a Great Revolution”The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. • March 31, 1968, delivered at Washington National Cathedral
Through our scientific and technological genius, we have made of this world a neighborhood and yet we have not had the ethical commitment to make of it a brotherhood. But somehow, and in some way, we have got to do this. We must all learn to live together as brothers or we will all perish together as fools. We are tied together in the single garment of destiny, caught in an inescapable network of mutuality. And whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. For some strange reason I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. And you can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be. This is the way God’s universe is made; this is the way it is structured.
John Donne caught it years ago and placed it in graphic terms: “No man is an island entire of itself. Every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.” And he goes on toward the end to say, “Any man’s death diminishes me because I am involved in mankind; therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.” We must see this, believe this, and live by it if we are to remain awake through a great revolution.
Secondly, we are challenged to eradicate the last vestiges of racial injustice from our nation. I must say this morning that racial injustice is still the black man’s burden and the white man’s shame.
It is an unhappy truth that racism is a way of life for the vast majority of white Americans, spoken and unspoken, acknowledged and denied, subtle and sometimes not so subtle—the disease of racism permeates and poisons a whole body politic. And I can see nothing more urgent than for America to work passionately and unrelentingly—to get rid of the disease of racism.
Something positive must be done. Everyone must share in the guilt as individuals and as institutions. The government must certainly share the guilt; individuals must share the guilt; even the church must share the guilt. We must face the sad fact that at eleven o’clock on Sunday morning when we stand to sing “In Christ there is no East or West,” we stand in the most segregated hour of America.
The hour has come for everybody, for all institutions of the public sector and the private sector to work to get rid of racism. And now if we are to do it we must honestly admit certain things and get rid of certain myths that have constantly been disseminated all over our nation.
One is the myth of time. It is the notion that only time can solve the problem of racial injustice. And there are those who often sincerely say to the Negro and his allies in the white community, “Why don’t you slow up? Stop pushing things so fast. Only time can solve the problem. And if you will just be nice and patient and continue to pray, in a hundred or two hundred years the problem will work itself out.”
There is an answer to that myth. It is that time is neutral. It can be used wither constructively or destructively. And I am sorry to say this morning that I am absolutely convinced that the forces of ill will in our nation, the extreme rightists of our nation—the people on the wrong side—have used time much more effectively than the forces of goodwill. And it may well be that we will have to repent in this generation. Not merely for the vitriolic words and the violent actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence and indifference of the good people who sit around and say, “Wait on time.”
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Somewhere we must come to see that human progress never rolls in on the wheels of inevitability. It comes through the tireless efforts and the persistent work of dedicated individuals who are willing to be co-workers with God. And without this hard work, time itself becomes an ally of the primitive forces of social stagnation. So we must help time and realize that the time is always ripe to do right.
all sing We are not afraid, we are not afraid, we are not afraid today, Oh, deep in my heart, I do believe, we shall overcome some day.
The New Jim CrowMichelle Alexander • 2010
all sing We shall live in peace, we shall live in peace, we shall live in peace some day, Oh, deep in my heart, I do believe, we shall overcome some day.
Wesleyan University Commencement AddressBryan Stevenson • May 22, 2016
all sing We shall overcome, we shall overcome, we shall overcome some day, Oh, deep in my heart, I do believe, we shall overcome some day.
Matthew 5:43-48
Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
The people stand.
prayer for our countryleader Almighty God, you have given us this good land as our heritage. Grant that we remain mindful
of your grace and seek to do your will. Bless our land with honest industry, truthful education and lives filled with honor and integrity. Save us from violence, discord and confusion; from pride and arrogance; and from every evil course of action. Grant that we, who came from many nations with many different languages, may become a united people. Support us in defending our liberties, and give those to whom we have entrusted the authority of government the spirit of wisdom, that there may be justice and peace in our land. In the time of prosperity, fill our hearts with thankfulness, and in the day of trouble, do not let our trust in you fail. All this we ask in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.
people Amen.
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hymn607 • O God of every nation Llangloffan
thanksgiving for the national lifeofficiant Almighty God, giver of all good things:
We thank you for the natural majesty and beauty of this land. They restore us, though we often destroy them.
people Heal us.
officiant We thank you for the great resources of this nation. They make us rich, though we often exploit them.
people Forgive us.
officiant We thank you for the men and women who have made this country strong. They are models for us, though we often fall short of them.
people Inspire us.
officiant We thank you for the torch of liberty which has been lit in this land. It has drawn people from every nation, though we have often hidden from its light.
people Enlighten us.
officiant We thank you for the faith we have inherited in all its rich variety. It sustains our life, though we have been faithless again and again.
people Renew us.
officiant Help us, O Lord, to finish the good work here begun. Strengthen our efforts to blot out ignorance and prejudice, and to abolish poverty and crime. And hasten the day when
all our people, with many voices in one united chorus, will glorify your holy Name. people Amen.
hymn Choir sings stanzas 1 and 2; the people join singing on stanza 3
719 • O beautiful, for spacious skies Materna
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closing prayerofficiant Loving God, we gather this day to give you thanks for the gifts of our freedom and liberty, to
honor those whose vision, wisdom and sacrifice secured these ‘unalienable Rights’ for us and every generation, to confess that while we believe that all are created equal, we have not always allowed others to enjoy that freedom or those rights; we ask your forgiveness and call upon your unconditional love and boundless mercy to grant that we may be given the strength and courage to live more fully into our faith and beliefs. Make us instruments of justice and freedom for all your people.
people Amen.
blessing
The officiant blesses the people, and the people respond, Amen.
dismissalleader Be watchful, stand firm in your faith, be courageous and strong. Practice justice and mercy and
let all that you do be done in love.
people Thanks be to God.
national anthem
O say can you see, by the dawn’s early light,What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming,Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight,O’er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?And the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air,Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there;O say does that star-spangled banner yet waveO’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
postludeThe Washington Post March John Philip Sousa (1854-1932)
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participants
The Right Reverend Mariann Edgar Budde Ninth Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington
The Right Reverend James B. MagnessBishop Suffragan for Armed Services and Federal Ministries, The Episcopal Church
The Reverend Canon Paula ClarkCanon for Clergy Development and Multicultural Ministries, Episcopal Diocese of Washington
The Reverend Dr. Rosemarie Logan DuncanCanon for Worship, Washington National Cathedral
The Reverend Sarah E. Slater Chaplain to the Intermediate and Lower Schools, Saint Andrew’s Episcopal School
readers
The Honorable John H. Dalton Seventieth Secretary of the United States Navy
The Honorable Jack EvansMember, District of Columbia Council
Dorian GrandaCathedral Scholar
Leon HarrisEvening Anchor, ABC7/WJLA-TV
The Honorable Eleanor Holmes NortonDistrict of Columbia Delegate to the
United States Congress
Cokie Roberts Columnist & Commentator, ABC and NPR News
Telia WaltonCathedral Scholar
musicians
The Cathedral Singers
Canon Michael McCarthyDirector of Music
Dr. Edward M. NassorCathedral Carillonneur
Benjamin StraleyOrganist and Associate Director of Music
Karen L. RuggNative American Flute
vergers
Dr. Torrence N. ThomasHead Verger
Kevin R. ThomasCathedral Verger
Joyce Michelini
Verne Rinker
3101 wisconsin ave, nw washington, dc 20016
cathedral.org • @wncathedral
about the cover image
This lively and abstract window symbolizes the search for freedom that led to the founding of this nation more than two hundred years ago. The darker blue glass suggests tyranny and repression, while dashes of brilliant red recall the bloodshed of the struggle for independence. Grey-green glass in the side lancets suggest smoke from fires, central to Native American life. The yellow-green shape in the center lancet symbolizes the growth of the nation.
The Founding of a New Nation, 1976Nave, south main arcade, George Washington Bay artist: Robert Rinartfabricator: Dieter Goldkuhle
permissions We’ve come this far by faith: Text: Albert A. Goodson. Music: Albert A. Goodson; harm. Richard Smallwood. Text and music © 1965, Manna Music, Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission. Reprinted under LicenSing license #606022. All other music is in the Public Domain.
cathedral scholars program
The Cathedral Scholars Program is dedicated to furthering the expansion of equity in opportunities to improve access to and success in postsecondary education for promising youths who are traditionally underrepresented on college campuses. The program provides a summer institute, year-round programming, postsecondary guidance and support to Scholars. All three components are designed to develop Scholars’ leadership skills, and to be successful in their present and future academic careers.
The texts of today’s service readings can be found at: cathedral.org/worship.
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