Day: July 5, 2026

We’re gathered here today to read the Declaration of Independence, adopted 200 years and one day ago, in Philadelphia, signed by delegates from the thirteen original colonies and sent out, by horseback, to all the land.

It arrived here in Massachusetts sometime after July 13, and before the 17th, when it was printed in Worcester by the presses of the Massachusetts Spy, owned by Isaiah Thomas — whose printing office now resides in Old Sturbridge Village just down the road.  

The website <revolution250.org> tells us that….  Tradition states that Isaiah Thomas, the “Patriot-Printer” read the broadside form the front steps of the First Parish Church on Worcester Common.  

The Provincial Congress considered how best to publicize the arrival of the Declaration and on the 17th of July, 1776 they reported to the House:

“In Council, Ordered, That the Declaration of Independence be printed; and a Copy sent to the Ministers of each Parish, of every Denomination, within this State; and that they severally be required to read the same to their respective Congregations, as soon as divine Service is ended, in the Afternoon, on the first Lord’s-Day after they shall have received it  . . . 

We’re reading this Document today, because this is the time and the place where it was read in 1776 – on the steps of the church building that stood here in those days (and under the trees because it’s too darned hot to actually stand out on the steps today)

It’s important to remember, that what you are hearing is not a description of how things were in 1776, not a description of how things are in 2026.  What the Declaration is, is the declaration of an American Dream.  This is what our ancestors wanted; it’s what we want our world to be too, this is the goal towards which we always work.

It was never perfect — The Boston Globe noted this week that there were changes in the text of the Declaration right up to the last minute.

There are 27 detailed grievances against the king outlined in the Declaration — but there was meant to be a 28th. Thomas Jefferson’s scathing indictment of the slave trade was struck from the document on the eve of the signing, after protests by southern and northern delegates alike.

Slavery then, racism now, help us see the distance between the dream and the reality.  So we read to remind ourselves of the task we join in as citizens of this country — to acknowledge the gaps and to work for the dream.

You’ll be invited, at the end of the reading, to join us in pledging your lives, your fortunes, your sacred honor to this dream, this American dream, just as our ancestors did on that first Independence Day.

Let the reading begin!

© 2026, Virginia H. Child

July 5, 2026  Independence Day   First Congregational Church UCC, Brimfield MA  

Romans 7:15-25 I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree that the law is good.  But in fact it is no longer I who do it but sin that dwells within me.  For I know that the good does not dwell within me, that is, in my flesh. For the desire to do the good lies close at hand, but not the ability. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do.  Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it but sin that dwells within me.

So I find it to be a law that, when I want to do what is good, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God in my inmost self, but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind, making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.  Wretched person that I am!  Who will rescue me from this body of death?   Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O God our Rock and our Redeemer.  Amen.

Back in the day, Maine storyteller Jo Radner tells us, every meal includes pie — well, that’s what her dad believed, and her mom made a new pie every day so that he could have pie at breakfast, lunch and dinner.

One day, her mom died, and the family gathered.  As the day progressed, with horror they realized that none of them were pie makers, and their dad expected, needed, a pie to be there for dinner.  Jo’s aunt might have tried, but she was a terrible cook, and so Jo’s parents jumped in — her dad would fix a steak dinner and her mom —- who hated baking — would make a pie.

You need to understand,  her mom had never made a pie before.  She persevered, gave it her best, whacked the daylights out some recalcitrant pie crust, and ended up with a pie that could have been bounced on the floor without breaking… not to mention that it hadn’t occurred to her to mix the ingredients up when she assembled the filling — producing a pie that had layers of apples, then sugar, then flour, then lemon, and then the various spices.

Eating the pie was an experience – she says that to this day, you can break the family up by saying, “have you tasted the lemon yet”…. but each of them ate their slice and their stalwart Maine Yankee farmer father, praised it.  Everyone knew it was terrible, but they all thanked Jo’s mom, who then said, she’d make another pie the next day.

And over the days, her mom’s pies got, not just better, but really good.  

Today’s lesson doesn’t look as though it’s about pie making, any more than it looks like it’s about being a citizen on this Independence Day weekend, but it is both, and more.

St. Paul wants us to stop and take some time to think about what it means that we so often fail in our endeavors…. What does it mean that we are not perfect?  And on this day, so close to the official two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, what he writes applies to our responsibilities as citizens of a country, of this country in particular, though we believe the responsibilities apply to all nations.

What does it mean to be a Christian and a citizen of a country that is not perfect?  Are we, as Christians, supposed to unquestionably support everything our country does?  Or is it our responsibility to ask questions?

And what does it mean that the church itself is no more perfect than we are?  So, does the fact that we are broken mean we have no standing?  Or can/must we speak, even in spite of the ways we’ve fallen short of God’s vision for us?

The most important thing to remember today is that it is our job to stand up for what our faith tells us is right —- that love is the operating principle of the world, that honesty matters, that justice leavened with mercy creates good community.  It tells us that means children need to be loved, housed and fed.  It tells us that everyone is supposed to be welcome.  We build hospitals, create and support public schools, enact laws to help establish safety.

And it doesn’t all work out the way we hoped, but that doesn’t mean we don’t try.

Paul’s lesson encourages us to not stop just because we’ve not yet managed to do it right, not to get discouraged at the failures of others, or even the failures of our country.  We are engaged in a life-long journey of making the world better, one step at a time.  Sometimes, it has to start with us, in our personal lives.  Sometimes, we’re able to go further, to work on issues that cross town or even state boundaries, like establishing the Last Green Valley National Heritage Corridor.  And sometimes, we stand up for national issues —- like in the years when we called for truth about what was really happening in our war in Vietnam.

Being a Christian and a citizen is something like being a Christian and a parent.  You’re never going to get everything perfect, but you’re going to continue to work at it, hoping that every day is a little better than the day before.  And just as parents are expected to speak up when their children need guidance, so also are citizens expected to speak up when their country needs their feedback.

That’s what we did in the years before the War for Independence.  Conscious of our own imperfections, humble about our vision for tomorrow, we spoke up, and so we do today as well.

God has called us, in spite of our failures, to be followers on the Christian path.  Strengthened by our faith, let us continue on this way.

Amen.

© 2026, Virginia H. Child