"Declare Equality!"... 

Counting the dozen years prior to 1776 when colonists began to protest the injustice of taxation without representation, it took nearly one generation to move from unrest to realization. As loyalists struggled to retain supremacy and patriots pursued dreams of self-government, lives were stunted by fear and mistrust. Hundreds of battles raged in all 13 colonies and even extended to the Caribbean. Thousands of lives were lost and private hopes extinguished. Thomas Paine described those years as "a time to try men's souls."

In 2012, we still struggle with the most famous words of that declaration- "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal." What is it about our fragile sense of self that we constantly feel the need to tip the balance in our own favor? Why do we feel compelled to ignore the rights of others in order to gain more for ourselves?

If each of us could only comprehend the depths of God's love, we would never compete for a place at the table. Each person has the opportunity to feel valued beyond compare and confident in God's immense love. From the security of our innermost being, we would freely invite others to share that privilege!

Just this morning I read a benediction given by President Bill Clinton at his high school graduation when he was 17 years old. He prayed that God would:  

"leave within us the youthful idealism and moralism which have made our people strong. Sicken us at the sight of apathy, ignorance, and rejection so that our generation will remove complacency, poverty, and prejudice from the hearts of free men. . . .Make us care so that we will never know the misery and muddle of life without purpose, and so that when we die, others will still have the opportunity to live in a free land."

Every time we hear Jesus' challenge in the Golden Rule (Matthew 7:12) to do to others what we would like them to do for us, we need to remember our inherent equality. Every time we notice that another person is thirsty and do everything we can to quench that thirst, we enact equality. Every time we acknowledge a widow's sacrificial gift, we equate her generosity with ours. Whenever we pray for our enemies, we recognize our Father loves them equally. May all of our actions declare equality!

Debbie Eisele

Pastor for Congregational Care