Rambling Rector
The Magna Carta was signed in June 1215 between the barons of Medieval England and King John. It was signed by royal seal at Runnymede near Windsor Castle. The document was a series of written promises between the king and his subjects that he, the king, would govern England and deal with its people according to the customs of feudal law. Magna Carta was an attempt by the barons to stop a king - in this case John - abusing his power with the people of England suffering.
In 1689, the British Parliament passed the Bill of Rights: an act declaring the rights and liberties of British subjects and the settling of the succession of the Crown. It was a legislative codification of a thousand years of rights and liberties, what today we call civil rights, developed piecemeal by the judicial processes of English Common Law. The Bill itself was strongly influenced by the philosophical voice of John Locke.
On the 4th of July 1776, the Congress of the United States passed the Declaration of Independence. Echoing the voice of Thomas Jefferson, the declaration boldly stated that: 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. Before its final passage the draft was subjected to a number of amendments including excision of Jefferson's indictment of the slave trade under pressure from Georgia and South Carolina. The Northern States did not object to the Southern excision for while they owned few slaves, most, like our own State, were at the time pretty considerable transporters of slaves, southward.
It is clear that the Declaration of Independence lies within a long succession of documents asserting the natural rights of the subject against the forces of tyranny. In this sense the Founding Fathers were simply asserting the natural born rights of all British subjects. Jefferson wrote later that the Declaration was not intended to be something new but: to place before mankind the common sense of the subject, in terms so plain and firm as to command their assent... Neither aiming at originality of principles or sentiments, nor yet copied from any particular and previous writing, it was intended to be an expression of the American mind.
It is clear in the long march of history that the definitions of universal human rights, be they in Magna Carta, the Bill of Rights, or the Declaration of Independence were all limited by the intentions and cultural meme or worldview of their framers. It is the responsibility of successive generations to interpret back into such documents those whom we now see to have been left out. This is a noble and deeply Christian process.
The Gospel of Jesus Christ is an invitation for the inclusion of all humanity within the love of God. I believe this to be a process that we, at St Martin's are deeply committed to. So, as members of this generation, we engage with the often, difficult task of living in our own time, and place. We are guided by the values and sacrifices of those who have preceded us, yet, ready to move beyond the cultural and religious blindness of the past, in the service of the needs of the present time.
Happy Independence Day Weekend to all at St Martin's and our many friends beyond!
Mark+
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