Without much forethought, I ending up celebrating the Fourth in a very unusual way this past week.

 

The day started with an early morning Eucharist service, something that a student and I have been talking about doing on a weekly basis for months now. Following the student's beautifully crafted liturgy with readings and prayers drawn from a variety of sources, the two of us gathered around the Table at Clemson UMC to be reminded of who God is, to confess our sins against God and our neighbor, and to partake of the Holy Meal one more time. You might say that the two of us began our "Independence" Day celebration by recognizing our "dependence" on God and one another.

 

Later that morning I began making preparations to feed 100 folks at the Salkehatchie Summer Camp based in Pendleton, something that I had agreed to do a month ago. Salkehatchie is a wonderful ministry in South Carolina that involves over 3,000 youth, college students and other adults working at dozens of sites to alleviate sub-standard housing for many of our poorest residents. For several years now, Clemson Wesley has helped provide one of the meals for the group that gathers in Pendleton. As I looked around the fellowship hall filled with energetic, sunburned youth on Wednesday I thought to myself, "Well, this sure is a different way of celebrating the Fourth of July."

 

After lunch, I turned to my oldest daughter Griffin who had been helping me and said, "Well, what do you want to do this afternoon - it's just you and me?" With my wife and youngest daughter out of town until Friday, Griffin and I began to brainstorm how we might celebrate the holiday. By the time we reached the house, we had developed a plan. Fifteen minutes later we were headed to Atlanta for a day trip!

 

Before we left the house Griffin had researched on-line to see that the Braves were out of town and that there were large fireworks shows planned at Lenox Square and the Mall of Georgia. With that information and a map of Atlanta in hand, we began our Fourth of July adventure.

 

By the time we reached the interstate, we had talked about doing a variety of different things when I asked the question, "Have you ever been to the King Center - I think you'd really enjoy it?" She had not, so we began to plot our path to the Sweet Auburn Historic District of Atlanta. 

 

I first visited the King Center several years ago with a large group of campus ministers and chaplains from throughout the country. To be honest, I simply thought that it would be fun to visit the King Center and the MLK National Historic Site run by the Park Service. It wasn't until after we arrived that I made the connection to our visit being on the Fourth of July, a day in which all Americans celebrate their freedom. After seeing many African-American families and only a few caucasians enjoying the park, I said to Griffin, "You know, most white Americans think about the Washingtons and Jeffersons on the Fourth of July. But for many in the African-American community, Martin Luther King, Jr. is the person that comes to mind on this day."

 

The King Center and surrounding area was exactly as I had remembered. We watched a video entitled "Children of Courage" (Message: You're never too young to change the world through peaceful, non-violent means) and then made our way through the exhibits and different buildings. We also toured the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church, the congregation pastored by King's father and grandfather for most of the twentieth century. Before leaving, we visited the gift shop where Griffin purchased a postcard with the following famous quote from King:

 

Everybody can be great. Because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve. You don't have to know about Plato and Aristotle to serve. You don't have to know Einstein's Theory of Relativity to serve. You don't have to know the second theogy of thermo-dynamics in physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.

 

One of the verses that I always remember on the Fourth of July is one of my favorites, Galatians 5:13. After trying for four chapters to convince the Christians living in Galatia that they have been freed from the Law because of Jesus Christ, the Apostle Paul finally reveals in this one short verse the implications of his argument. Yes, you are free! Yes, you are free indeed! But please do not, my brothers and sisters, conclude that God has liberated you so that you might enjoy every indulgence that your heart and flesh desire! No, no. You have been made free so that you might become slaves or servants to one another. For you see, all of the Law from which you have been liberated is actually summed up in one single law found in Leviticus 19:18, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." So go, be free! And love one another and love your neighbor like there is no tomorrow!

 

To be honest, most of my Fourth of July celebrations have involved great indulgence and rarely any service. And that is why this past Wednesday was a different kind of Fourth for me. Sure, I ended the day watching fireworks with my daughter at the Mall of Georgia, but beginning and continuing throughout the day I was reminded over and over again what it means to experience freedom as a Christian. It is a freedom described by Martin Luther, the German reformer and the person for whom MLK was named, near the end of his treatise entitled "The Freedom of a Christian":

 

We conclude therefore that a Christian man does not live in himself, but in Christ and in his neighbor, or else he is no Christian: in Christ by faith, in his neighbor by love. By faith he is carried upwards above himself to God, and by love he sinks back below himself to his neighbor.

 

May God give us the wisdom to use our freedom for good, and may God give us the courage to be advocates for all who are oppressed.

 

Be grateful and be great,

lane

 

Rev. C. Lane Glaze

Director - Clemson Wesley Foundation

Campus Minister - Clemson UMC

PO Box 1703 Clemson SC 29633

864-207-9135 (c) or 864-654-5547 (o)