Sauerkraut and the Fourth of July

Several years ago, I attempted to make sauerkraut. I had extra cabbages from our garden, so I carefully studied how to prepare the heads and make the brine. It was some trouble, but I looked forward to the fruits of my labor.

When the time had passed, I checked the container. But what I found surprised and disappointed me—it smelled like something rotten! Accordingly, I believed I had failed, so I immediately put it where all spoiled produce went at the time—in the compost pile. When I came to my senses and realized I had just tossed out a lot of very nice sauerkraut and that fermented cabbage was supposed to smell like that, I regretted my haste …

To those who want to throw out America because they have detected some unpleasant smells from her past, I wanted to tell you this story. Please don’t be so quick to judge! It takes time for a country to mature, and as it does, given the right nurturing environment, it will be pleasant and useful. 

Maybe it’s just another case of trying to downplay what we as Americans have come to cherish. But didn’t we just have another federal holiday only two weeks ago? They squeezed it in between Memorial Day and the Fourth of July, so here we go again, right?. <Insert eyeroll here.>

Are we getting a little tired of Great American Feasts that ruin our diets and rev up our grocery costs? Has Independence Day become just another time to grill hamburgers, attend sales, and not conduct business? Or can we use it as a time to reflect on what we have?

I just saw a headline that made me want to cry: “100 Year-Old WWII Vet Breaks Down: “This is Not the Country We Fought For.” The video is a gut-wrenching reminder that as I write this, most of America believes that Biden is taking us the wrong direction. We’re wondering if we’ll have a Christmas for our kids and grandkids, but some of us have already decided to have a “staycation.” 85% of us are spending less because we have run up our credit cards and used up our savings. And now we are trying to decide whether we can afford both gas and food. There is a severe cat food shortage in L.A., my cousin says. My guess is, people are using it for their own dinner, so the cats don’t have enough.

Like the vet, we’re looking at what we’ve lost and saying this just isn’t the same country. We have lost respect on the world stage. Our military was humiliated in Afghanistan. Our own people are doing the job of our enemy and burning down our cities. We’re letting coyotes drop off millions of people into the country without question, suffocating our own businesses and industries, and begging other countries for oil and credit. As we ponder that, can we still celebrate our country with fireworks and flags? 

One year, under Obama, when the Supreme Court decided that same sex marriage had to be forced on every state, Eric and I felt so ashamed of the direction of the country that we took down our U.S.flag and flew the Christian flag instead. And then we were just as excited to put that flag back up, when Trump re-instilled our national pride and put us back on the right path. But now … ?

Saturday, we took Rori to the Fourth of July parade in Delphi. Small town parades are pretty cool, homey—a great summer spectacle. Delphi had a flag about the size of the ones at the Trump rallies hung over the street suspended between two Delphi Fire Department ladder trucks. 

Rori marched in the color guard with her band, accepting her band’s cash award as she marched by the judges’ tent. 

There were clowns, equestrians, tractors, politicians, floats, and Delphi High School’s one-and-only electric bus.

But I got choked up at the beginning, because the VFW was there at the beginning of this half-hour summer spectacle, carrying Old Glory, leading the Pledge of Allegiance, and playing the National Anthem. 

I sang it with them, too, standing there on the Courthouse lawn, hand over my heart. There is something majestic about the song, and yet, there’s a burning question:

O say, does that Star Spangled Banner yet wave

O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

In context, the songwriter was talking about the Battle for Ft. McHenry during the War of 1812, as he observed it while detained on a British ship. The brutal attack was waged for 25 hours and throughout the night, and he was afraid in the morning he’d see the American flag missing. But it didn’t happen—the Americans held out and the really huge garrison flag was waving over the fort at the coming of the dawn. 

Now… I have to ask the question above in a different context. The banner yet waves, yes, but is it still the land of the free and the home of the brave? Is it the same country the vet fought for and so many brave men and women gave their lives to defend?

After the National Anthem, a 21-gun salute shattered the stillness, and a sweet rendition of Taps. Everyone knows the tune, but do you know the words?

Day is done, gone the sun

From the lakes, from the hills, from the sky

All is well, safely rest

God is nigh

Fading light dims the sight

And a star gems the sky, gleaming bright

From afar, drawing near

Falls the night

Thanks and praise for our days

Neath the sun, neath the stars, neath the sky

As we go, this we know

God is nigh

Taps was written and first used in the summer of 1862, during the Civil War, to mark the end of the day for the troops.  It is also now the traditional song used in ceremonies to honor the death of a soldier.

But the United States of America is not dead yet.

And God is still nigh. 

God is near to all those who seek Him. He heard our earnest prayers and answered them when Roe v. Wade was overturned, handing the abortion issue back to the states. HE has done this great thing in America, and so I know He wants to bless us. He doesn’t want to abandon us. And I believe that He doesn’t desire for our nation to die like a dog.

Here’s what we read in Ecclesiastes this morning:

Do not say, “Why were the former days better than these?” For you do not inquire wisely concerning this.”

~Ecclesiastes 7:10

We are America. We’ve already had to do some atoning for the national sin of slavery. A lot of American blood was spilled during a horrible Civil War over allowing this sin to be the modus operandi in our country for decades. Some would like to bring up our past all over again because, like sauerkraut, it didn’t smell good at first whiff. But that one is honestly in the past and should stay there. What we have to do now is to atone for the national sin of abortion, to continue to fight that war, and to win it.

Another headline: There are rallies in Australia protesting the overturning of Roe v. Wade. How can that happen? Why does it matter to a country on the other side of the world, what we do with our laws, with our Constitution, with our belief system… but it does.

President Reagan characterized our nation as The City on a Hill, from Luke 14, as having some kind of moral authority to which the rest of the world could look up and respect. What we do in this country really does affect the whole world. So it was weird that France should lecture us on the overturning of Roe v. Wade, when their abortion law limited all abortions to 14 weeks’ gestation, and ours was, by Supreme Court fiat, on par with China’s and North Korea’s—throughout all stages of pregnancy.

Other countries are alarmed at the sudden change. For years, we’ve been one of the world’s largest exporters of abortion, funding them in other countries and coercing countries to change their laws to allow them. But now they don’t know what to think. In France, a proposal was immediately submitted to enshrine abortion in their Constitution—as it was in California. Yes, that’s on the ballot for the fall. Guatemala, though, is trying hard to be pro-life, regardless of our Supreme Court decisions.

Truly, the abortion debate is not over. The March for Life organizers have said there will be a continuation of that tradition every year without fail, until there are no more abortions. That is a huge challenge because so many hearts are hard and our collective morality is debased.

Here is one telling statistic: After Roe v. Wade was overturned, requests by men for vasectomies has been up by 900%. Men are alarmed that they can no longer have irresponsible sex and let the girl “take care of it” afterwards. So, in order to continue to enjoy unrestricted irresponsible sex, they are neutering themselves.

All right. Here we are. I have heard some of my friends wistfully wish they had been born in a different century. Really? Like, when the slave trade was active and humans were being bought and sold in public? Like, when people were falling down dead from the Black Plague? Like before the Internet or cell phones, or indoor plumbing, or even deodorant?

No, Christian. God has placed you here, in this century, for a reason.

People who read the Book of Revelation and the letters of Jesus to the Seven Churches will usually identify with one or more of the types of churches described there. Most will hope their church is the Philadelphia type in Rev. 3:7-13. This is what Jesus said to them:

"I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name.”

“Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.”

~Rev. 3:8 and 10

If we would identify with the Church of Philadelphia, we must DO what is written in these verses:

• Go through the doors God opens for you.

• Flex your spiritual muscles and go out to battle against the spiritual forces of wickedness with what little strength we do have.

• Keep God’s Word.

• Do not deny the Name of Jesus.

• Follow His command to persevere.

You see, we still have work to do. America needs to be that City on the Hill, and she still can be, as long as we who are Christ’s are His lights in the world… until the Father removes us so that we will be kept from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world to test our fellow earth-dwellers.

God’s Church simply cannot afford to sit around like a long-term Covid patient, unable to breathe without tiring easily. We are not the Church on Oxygen. And we are not the Church that requires 12 hours to build up a charge like some Tesla. We are the Church Connected to the All Powerful God.

Make good use of the time we have left. Arise and shine, Church of America! Proclaim liberty throughout the land, and enjoy celebrating what we have. Like my experiment in sauerkraut making, do not throw away your treasure. It is working just fine.